On Thursday at SDCC, I was racing through the Fantasy Artists section of the main convention hall on my way to somewhere else when I happened to glance up at Allen Williams’ booth and came to a screeching halt. As in, I literally screeched “WAAOW!” and stopped in my tracks. (Hopefully that wasn’t too weird! I imagine Allen must be used to it by now.)
I’d seen his work before, but only online, and never in any sort of higher resolution, and… oh. Just… Oh. Seeing it up close… So very special.
I don’t talk about this much, but I have a kind of sound/texture synesthesia with some visual crossovers. Once in a great while, a piece of art will set it off. Some of Allen’s more surreal, textural work makes it go absolutely nuts.
I spent a good fifteen minutes shyly smiling at Allen and his splendid partner Vicki and thumbing through the racks as they spoke with other con-goers, trying to decide what to buy. They had a bunch of beautiful stuff for sale, including some affordable giclee prints. I finally settled on the top image, because seriously, that looks exactly like what my texture/sound/visual synesthesia feels like when I’m engrossed in a piece of music. (As does the final image I’ve included in the above gallery, which I hope to own a print of someday.) I paid for it and blurted out some praise before staggering away in a daze.
All day, I kept staring at the delicate, feathery pencil linework, feeling music and hearing textures, wishing that I could have been more articulate when I met Allen. But what was I gonna say? “Hello, stranger! My heart and gut-strings aren’t often twanged by visual art in quite this way, but holy shit, somehow this looks exactly like what my sound/texture synesthesia feels like and I am totally freaking out right now”? That’d be a bit full-on, even for me!
Fast-forward to today: I was rushing through the Fantasy Artists section once again, buried in my phone, when my dear friend Neville, who I haven’t seen in years and have missed terribly, called my name. I rocket-launched myself at him for huggings. It was only after I’d calmed down a little that I realized we were standing *in* Allen Williams’ booth. Vicki remembered me from before!
Turns out Neville and Allen know each other very well. Which makes sense, because Neville’s work is amazing, too. So I found myself standing there once again, trying to put together words to explain to Allen that the texture of his work makes my synesthesia go nuts, when filmmaker Kevin McTurk, who I make music for, and whose work is also completely mind-bogglingly lovely, showed up to say hello to everyone, and more huggings ensued!
So then I just stood there, all melty happy DERP, surrounded by art that makes my brain go into automatic bliss overdrive, listening to Neville talk about the amazing new project he just announced at a panel, watching Kevin show clips from his new Victorian ghost story puppet movie to Allen and Vicki, and feeling quietly bolstered, because it’s always so nourishing to be in proximity to kind and brilliant people who are that genuinely invested in what they do, and interested in what their friends do.
And I realized that that’s why I keep coming back to SDCC, even though it’s exhausting and frustrating and smelly and sort of a corporate carny shitshow in many ways. Because it’s still populated by creative folks who are full of enthusiasm and kinship and kindness and excitement, and those are My People.
Allen even gave me a hug me goodbye! But I *still* couldn’t figure out how to tell him “your art makes my brain go fizzzzz” without sounding ridiculous. So I’ve decided I’d write it here instead. Hopefully it makes sense/isn’t too weird. I dunno. Sometimes when I get this overjoyed I just gotta yarf up a blog.
TL;DR: Yay art, yay friends, yay music, yay hugs, yay SDCC, and an extra big yay for Allen Williams’ exquisite art.
Good night. See you next year, lovelies.
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