Exploded Comic
Assignment: Create an exploded comic out of physical materials (paper, pen, string, objects, etc) that uses all X, Y and Z axes (up/down, side to side, front/back). It should aesthetically refer to comics (which could include color or b/w choices, comic tropes that might include expressions of weather, violence, fast movement, time passing, speech bubbles, typography, and so on). It must include at least 3 “events” that make their connections through space- nodes. Through these nodes, we understand that a narrative is embedded in the work. The connections are as important as the nodes. It can be as small or large as you wish.
For this assignment, I created a wire-sculpted mobile consisting of the following icons from the "Peanuts" comic:
- Schroeder's Piano
- Lucy's Psychiatry Booth
- Charlie Brown's Football
- Snoopy's Dog House
- The Sad Little Christmas Tree
Unfortunately I lost this sculpture before I got a chance to document it. My goal in creating it was to experiment with the notion of comic iconography. I dislike the comic Peanuts for its saccharine and morose qualities, but find it intriguing how pervasive it is in our culture, and how imbued with meaning a single image or object can become, to the point where they are as evocative as characters. For instance, the football to me symbolizes failed dreams; the piano: unrequited love, etc. I was curious to see whether viewers would find these objects equally recognizable and symbolic. In showing the piece, it took a minute or two for someone to recognize the objects, but once this context was established, others were able to identify them all. Some valuable critiques were that the piece did not convey my feelings about the comic strip (as the objects were somewhat lovingly depicted), and that the sculpture itself didn't necessarily read as something more meaningful than a crafty homage.