Chris Ware
Chris Ware is a graphic novelist
who works in a somewhat unique way. Ware doesn’t tell stories like a typical
graphic novel, where you read from one panel to the next, left to right and
then continue down the page. Instead, Ware treats the page as a whole and creates
one full scene with lots going on and dialog that doesn’t have to be read in a
certain order; but once all read it will have built up a full scene. He also
uses the language of architecture, almost personifying the buildings in his work,
delving into the way the characters live and interact with the space to help you
understand it further. He likes to start off working by hand then scans his
work into the computer to add colour but doesn’t use the computer to add non-realistic
colours, from the millions he has available at the click of a mouse, he sticks
to colours that are more real and believable.
A piece
of work Ware created called Building Stories, was not published in a typical
way. It was a box that contains a number of separate graphic novels, a coupe of
newspaper style broadsheets, a fold out games bard showing the building and
rooms where the novel takes place and many more extras. The multiple graphic novels
included can be read in any particular order and build up the bigger picture
for the life of the protagonist who is an unnamed woman.
The way
Building stories is displayed is similar to that of Marcel Duchamp’s Box in a
Valise (Box in a Suitcase); a fold out suitcase containing copies of 69 pieces
of his own work. Box in a Valise was created in the age of mechanical reproduction;
Duchamp wanted to see if it would be equally successful with art.
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