David Chelsea's Blog, page 42

Extreme Corrections!

Since my latest book Extreme Perspective! came out last year, l have received mostly favorable comments, but also a number of complaints from readers about errors that made it into print despite my publisher's and my best efforts (these consist of a few panels where image and caption don't match, or where a second color is misaligned, and one whole page that's just WRONG).

David Chelsea is reading:

Sex, Bombs, and Burgers: How War, Pornography, and Fast Food Have Shaped Modern Technology

by Peter Nowak





The latest request for clarification comes from Yeong-jin Ahn, who is translating the book for the South Korean publisher Viz and Biz. I was happy to provide corrected pages so that their edition will be free of those particular mistakes, and I see no reason not to share them with you, my readers (You have got your copy, right? If not, click here.). I have created an album at Comics Lifestyle where you can view image files of the pages in question- pages 22, 45, 46 and 52. Further pages may join them if and when diligent readers spot any more errors.

Readers who wish to own an error-free copy can wait for the next printing, or buy a copy of the South Korean translation, which will appear later this year.

We're #9!

Nick Hanover, a writer for the website Comics Bulletin, has put together a list of Top Ten Breakup Comics in the wake of a breakup of his own- and my maiden opus David Chelsea In Love (recently certified a "minor landmark" by the Onion A/V Club) charts at #9! Other titles include such classics of romantic misery as Paying For It by Chester Brown, Blankets by Craig Thompson and Black Hole by Charles Burns. Read the full list here.

I hope you're feeling better soon, Nick.

David Chelsea is reading:

The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt: A Novel in Pictures

by Caroline Preston

RIP, Etta James

Trading Card from Blockbusters Of Rhythm & Blues set, 1994

David Chelsea is listening to:

Bossypants

by Tina Fey

RIP, Johnny Otis

Trading Card from Blockbusters Of Rhythm & Blues set, 1994

David Chelsea is reading:

Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks

by Ken Jennings

RIP, Kim Jong Il

Kim Jong Il with George W. Bush, INX illustration, 2003

David Chelsea is reading:

The Death-Ray

by Daniel Clowes

RIP, Christopher Hitchens

Hitchens with Rabbi Schmuly Boteach, illustration for New York Observer, 2008.

David Chelsea is reading:

Is That a Fish in Your Ear?: Translation and the Meaning of Everything

by David Bellos

David Chelsea In Love: "A Minor Landmark"

WHAT did you say your name was?

My first graphic novel David Chelsea In Love made it into the the Onion's A.V. Club autobiographical comics primer this week, along with such heavyweights as R. Crumb, Art Spiegelman, Harvey Pekar and Will Eisner. Since the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about, I am on balanced pleased  to be included, even though what's written is hardly an unqualified rave and even though the writer (one Sam Adams, presumably not the mayor or the beer) got the name of my main female character wrong (for future reference, it's "Minnie" not "Millie"). Here's the relevant section:

David Chelsea is listening to:

The Table Comes First: Family, France, and the Meaning of Food

by Adam Gopnik

"There's not much to David Chelsea In Love, which is sort of the point. For not quite 200 pages, the Manhattan illustrator tries—and occasionally succeeds—to get a variety of young women to sleep with him, most frequently and most frustratingly the inconstant aspiring actress Millie. Chelsea's gorgeous thin-line drawings and fluid layouts contrast pointedly with his frequently less-than-admirable behavior, although it's of a more mundane variety than many of the genre's practitioners. Chelsea has been focusing his attentions on illustrations and how-to books in the years since, but he left a minor landmark behind him."

You can read the entire article here.

Thanks to Jacob Mercy for bringing the piece to my notice.

The Things That Turn Up When You Google Yourself

David Chelsea is watching:

Pirates of Silicon Valley





I had a fine time at the opening of the Welcome To My World exhibit last night. Many thanks to Laura Russell and everyone at 23 Sandy Gallery, my fellow artists, and all the people who came.

Meanwhile, here are some nice mentions of the show, and my piece in it, from Bob Hicks at OregonLive.com, and the strange and wonderful blog Map Of The Week (which also recently showcased this hilarious strip about map projections from the webcomic xkcd).

Re-up: Rebecca's Room

Rebecca's Room on a globe

I am rerunning a blog post about one of my spherical paintings from 2009, because it is in the show WELCOME TO MY WORLD, opening this Friday at 23 Sandy Gallery here in Portland:

David Chelsea is reading:

And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut: A Life

by Charles J. Shields

This 360° spherical view was painted in acrylics on a world globe I bought at a yard sale. It depicts my son Ben and daughter Rebecca in Rebecca's room circa 2002. Here is what they and the room look like today:

Ben and Rebecca today

For reference, I took digital photos at the scene in all directions and loaded them into Lightwave, a 3-D animation program, where I arranged them around a central point in a kind of digital mosaic to form the view. The painting was begun in 2002 but languished for years while I was busy with other projects; I finally finished it last year during a lull between jobs. You can take a virtual spin on an immersive panorama constructed by Tom Lechner at Flickr (Shockwave required).

detail

detail

Welcome to My World

December 2 – 31, 2011

23 Sandy Gallery • 623 NE 23rd Ave • Portland, Oregon •

Located 3 Doors North of Sandy Blvd on NE 23rd Ave. •

503-927-4409

Artists reception on First Friday, December 2, 2011, 5:00-8:00 p.m.

Welcome To My World

I am in a show opening this Friday at Portland's 23 Sandy Gallery, WELCOME TO MY WORLD, along with other area artists Mary Bennett, Allison Bruns, Chandra Cerrito, Susan Collard, Anna & Leo Daedalus with Samuel Miller, Kerry Davis, Tamara English, Adrianne Feldstein & Sonja Sujo, Heidi Kirkpatrick, Laura LeHew, David Meeker, Bonnie Meltzer, Cynthia Nawalinski, Jim Neidhardt, Jane Schiffhauer, Joanna Thomas, Robert Tomlinson and Renee Zangara. I quote from the catalogue on the gallery website:

"A stellar list of area artists were invited to consider a similar, unusual, three-dimensional object as canvas—a vintage world globe. This invitational exhibition was conceived and co-curated by new-to-Portland artist, Robert Tomlinson and is co-curated and hosted by 23 Sandy Gallery. The artists were asked to transform, build, infuse, reduce or reinvent the globe using the expressive power of cartography, exploring the form of the globe to create a compelling new work of art."

David Chelsea is listening to:

Unfamiliar Fishes

by Sarah Vowell

Although most of my fellow artists seem to have created new work for the exhibit, I just so happened to have a painting on a globe already completed, a view of my daughter Rebecca's room in spherical perspective. And while many of the artists were inspired to make some kind of statement about global warming or genocide, I chose to regard the globe merely as a conveniently spherical painting surface with its own handy display stand.

I'll be at the reception this Friday from 5 to 8pm. Be sure to stop by.

Previous blog post about Rebecca's Room.

WELCOME TO MY WORLD catalogue page

Welcome to My World

December 2 – 31, 2011

23 Sandy Gallery • 623 NE 23rd Ave • Portland, Oregon •

Located 3 Doors North of Sandy Blvd on NE 23rd Ave. •

503-927-4409

Artists reception on First Friday, December 2, 2011, 5:00-8:00 p.m.