Visual art exhibitions and events with a platform for critical writing
By: Dave Miller
Lots of ideas for short stories and not sure what to do with them. I'm thinking a series of webcomics is a good solution...
Can a webcomic be art? Should it be mentioned here? I see my work overlapping art and commerce, and maybe by discussing the development of the work here, then it'll start to feel more comfortable in an arts context ... or maybe not?
All comments welcome at dave.miller.uk@gmail.com
Dave Miller tells stories through images and text-based works, mixing topical social and political real-life issues, news and events, with his own experiences, views and observations. His practice spans several art forms, from net art exploring collaboration, networks and generative forms, to live mapping events and printed booklets and prints. He often deals with contentious issues, researched in depth, told with integrity, in an accessible manner. Often he is motivated by a desire to campaign against injustice.
# 5 [14 December 2007]
Been thinking about the stories, and have lots of questions. Is it better to focus on one story rather than 7 ... it's important to make all this manageable otherwise it will fizzle out. 7 rotating stories sounds fun, but might be too much.
What sort of storytelling style do I use? Again I think the stories need to be simple, easy to grasp, and easy to make. The drawing style needs to be fast, otherwise takes too long. Often simple is good. Do I go for a professional look - like graphic novels - or a quick off the cuff style? Sometimes the simpler formats work best. Here's an example:
http://xkcd.com/353/
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Dave Miller, ‘The lyrical terrorist’.
# 4 [13 December 2007]
One of the stories - the lyrical terrorist - I've already started this to be honest. But I'm thinking of reworking what I've done and re-using it as part of this project, so that this is just one of the stories. This is actually a true story - about Samina Malik.
# 3 [13 December 2007]
I wish people could post comments here - I'd like to get feedback and make this blog more of a community thing. Why can't we do that here? It's a standard feature for blogs ...
# 2 [13 December 2007]
I've picked out stories I think I can use:-
- the lyrical terrorist
- based on real event
- IT manager - dark and funny but based on personal experience
- the search for an england manager - based on real events but fictionalised
- lost in france (lost expats) - satirical spoof
- fear of office jobs - based on my own phobia
- the political hairdresser - fiction
- the making of little britain (or how mediocrity in the arts is rewarded)
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Dave Miller, ‘IT_manager’.
Study for a character
# 1 [13 December 2007]
Practically this is going to be a webcomic that contains lots of separate mini-stories - each one is a running series. The webcomic acts as the 'container' for the stories.
A theme/ overall subject/ name is needed. What could it be? A name which sums them all up? - collectively and individually - so then each story will work within this overall container. I suppose the idea is a bit like the Fast Show. Some stories deep and others just plain silly. Some one-off jokes, others longer stories which continue. One of the characters is an IT manager (pictured).