review #9 - Audrey & Audrey
Thu 10/7/2014 Insomnia and not being able to afford non-PBS listed medication sort of caught up with me the last few days...so while this is being written today, the review meant for yesterday will also be written today. No one would know if I didn't admit it, but it feels like cheating. I don't have excuses (but if you are interested in reasons: 1. my grandmother died a month ago 2. my car, unbeknownst to me, had had its registration cancelled and I had no idea whatsoever till cops pulled me over and 3. couldn't afford medication for insomnia on the one week it seemed to be vital to survival. When sleep debtors collect (after 3-5 days) they collect (for 12-48 hours at the most extreme. Average 36 hrs). It was, and is, up there in the humiliation stakes, if we're in a 'confessional-like-the-ether-gives-a-toss' mood. Onto the review. Name: Audrey & Audrey, written and illustrated by Ayano Takeuchi. Media/publication details: black, textured cardboard square booklet-comic with gold embossed illustration of a girl on front and back. Black and white narrative, artwork and text. $5 AUD Issue: none specified (mine might be a previous reprint? on Sticky's mail order department, it's now $6) Cover photo? http://instagram.com/p/qQhl18vt4T Summary: A girl waits for a train with someone and gets lost once she boards. Should you read it? Yes! Again, with illustration-heavy narratives, there's not much reading, but gosh, what a gorgeous piece of artwork. How do people make such gorgeous things?! It is as beautiful to hold as it is reread. Why? I read a bit, I listen to music and somehow am able to do so and really concentrate on it (surprises me too). With illustrations or purely visual art (as opposed to audio-visual, The Wire in binge-watch mode, musicals or plays, or the serious but 'raunchy' films your friends recommend that is really just 4+ hours of simulated pr0n), my attention span is either panicked, or non-existent. It's so easy to look, stare for a few seconds, flip a page or walk to the next photo/painting in some supposedly prestigious exhibition - tick it off a cultural bucket list. I tried very hard not to do this and it was, embarrassingly, difficult. Then several narratives started to emerge - some whimsical and comforting, some gruesome and mirrored or parallel to what was shown. How could so much delicate cuteness stir up such jarring, discordant images? Oh! That's the deal with visual art, nice one. I can be slow with these 'realisations'. That’s *your* opinion. Why should OTHERS read the zine? Others may have a completely different set of interpretations to this zine. That's where the allure lies and some might have personally know the maker or not, which may change the impressions you have about what actually happens in this vignette? The idea, execution and artwork is just gush-inducing, like having this miniature art-flipbook that you don't want to crease because it's so dainty and produced with so much care. Contact info for the maker/s? e-mail: a.takeuchi at hotmail dot com & online - www.theotheraudrey.com