Art matters
“Art Matters,” a quaint blue book with the sub-title, “Because imagination can change the world,” is a collection of four of Neil Gaiman’s extraordinary writings aptly illustrated by Chris Riddell. Of course, I set about to read it because, as a writer, imagination is of great essence in my line of work.
“I love the way words and pictures work together on a page,” says Chris Riddell in the preface. When you begin your perusal of the book, you understand that Chris is true to his word. His cartoons blend not only with the candid content of Gaiman’s writings but also with the font used to present the text.
Now, I am not one to identify font styles, so I cannot say exactly what it is called but all I can tell you is the entire text of the book is made to look as if it is written by hand, in all caps. This feature doesn’t make the reading difficult; in fact, it only adds to the quirkiness of the book because it portrays the ‘bold’, ‘rebellious’ theme of the book while maintaining the fluidity of the writing.
Gaiman says that “ideas do not have to be correct to exist,” but “if you are making mistakes, it means you are out there doing something.”
“Whatever discipline you are in...whatever you do...you have the ability to make art.”
He suggests that it is especially when things go wrong in life that we must make art.
“The rules, the assumptions... are breaking down. ...You can be as creative as you need to be to get your work seen.”
He finishes by saying, “Make interesting, amazing...mistakes. ...Leave the world more interesting for your being here.”
Oh, and by the way, the pages of the book are not numbered. But does it matter?
Vidya Shankar
Published in The Gulf Today / Short Take, dt Feb 02, 2019
gulftoday.ae/portal/f3cf0061-439e-4169-b8e9-c4852f792f4f.aspx
#TheQuintessentialWord #TheFlautistofBrindaranyam #DauntlessInTheDark
Here's my first book! An ensemble of poetry and photographs.
Click the link below to watch a 30-second promo video.
https://youtu.be/5BhbjMaIwpk
You can buy it at this link:
https://notionpress.com/read/the-flautist-of-brindaranyam
www.facebook.com
“I love the way words and pictures work together on a page,” says Chris Riddell in the preface. When you begin your perusal of the book, you understand that Chris is true to his word. His cartoons blend not only with the candid content of Gaiman’s writings but also with the font used to present the text.
Now, I am not one to identify font styles, so I cannot say exactly what it is called but all I can tell you is the entire text of the book is made to look as if it is written by hand, in all caps. This feature doesn’t make the reading difficult; in fact, it only adds to the quirkiness of the book because it portrays the ‘bold’, ‘rebellious’ theme of the book while maintaining the fluidity of the writing.
Gaiman says that “ideas do not have to be correct to exist,” but “if you are making mistakes, it means you are out there doing something.”
“Whatever discipline you are in...whatever you do...you have the ability to make art.”
He suggests that it is especially when things go wrong in life that we must make art.
“The rules, the assumptions... are breaking down. ...You can be as creative as you need to be to get your work seen.”
He finishes by saying, “Make interesting, amazing...mistakes. ...Leave the world more interesting for your being here.”
Oh, and by the way, the pages of the book are not numbered. But does it matter?
Vidya Shankar
Published in The Gulf Today / Short Take, dt Feb 02, 2019
gulftoday.ae/portal/f3cf0061-439e-4169-b8e9-c4852f792f4f.aspx
#TheQuintessentialWord #TheFlautistofBrindaranyam #DauntlessInTheDark
Here's my first book! An ensemble of poetry and photographs.
Click the link below to watch a 30-second promo video.
https://youtu.be/5BhbjMaIwpk
You can buy it at this link:
https://notionpress.com/read/the-flautist-of-brindaranyam
www.facebook.com
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