TogetherAlone

Drew Martin Cartoons presents....TogetherAlone - Drawings of Unity and Solitude

TogetherAlone is a collection of forty, black and white, inked drawings that explore the overlapping states of unity and solitude. This theme extends from the microcosms of the "line beings" to the relationship of this lone artist with his meditative drawings...and even further, to the inter/inner-action of the viewer with the pictures.

The drawings were made in two very different places over twelve years apart: Prague and Usti nad Labem in the Czech Republic (1995 - 1996) and Ridgewood, New Jersey and New York City (2008 -2009).

Drew Martin was born in Sacramento, California in 1969 but was raised in Montvale, New Jersey. He was graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara with a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts, lived in the Czech Republic from 1992 -1997 and then returned to the States and earned a Master's Degree in Media Studies from The New School in Manhattan.

Following, is an overview of other books, publications and projects that have been created since 1988 under the name of Drew Martin Cartoons...

Bob DeLusion

Bob DeLusion is a series of three-panel comics featuring the character Bob DeLusion. His appearance, name and the fact that he is (at least in the first few strips) a photographer is based on the real-life personality of Bob DeBris (ex-husband of the artist Ann Hamilton), who I was friends with when I lived in Santa Barbara in the late 80's/early 90's. The idea behind the comic is that in the first frame of each strip Bob finds himself in a situation that the average person would develop a common narrative from but what Bob experiences and concludes is always quite the opposite. For example, pictured here, in the first frame, Bob is on safari taking pictures of wildlife: specifically a lion and lioness eating a zebra. In the second frame, a Maasai warrior interrupts him and the lions look up from their game. In the third frame, we see Bob posing with the very willing cats over their trophy as the Maasai snaps a picture with Bob's camera. The humor in each strip is easy and predictable in an unpredictable way but the real motive behind this strip is more of a social goal...to plant a seed of alternative thinking in our minds, which are not necessarily neutral to ideas because of conclusions we draw based on formulas offered to us in film, literature and music. The title and end to each strip suggest that the outcome is not necessarily reality but more of a state of delusion in Bob's mind. Perhaps, in this case, he is really speared by the Maasai or devoured by the lions.

DIOVOID

DIOVOID (slated for 2015) will be the third comic book in the trilogy: Infinous Space, The Search for Depa, DIOVOID (originally referred to as Void of Drew). DIOVOID will pick up where The Search for Depa left off...my placing the exploding dream helmet on Edgar Allen Poe's head atop the Pyramid of the Moon on Planet Mexico and will follow me through a non-universe.

The Search for Depa

The Search for Depa is the second comic book in the trilogy: Infinous Space, The Search for Depa, DIOVOID. Unlike Infinous Space, which ran 2,000 copies, The Search for Depa was not mass printed. It was drawn when the author John Beckman (The Winter Zoo) read Infinous Space and suggested I continue the series. The Search for Depa was made in 2003. The story picks up where Infinous Space ended, my falling asleep after losing a friend named Depa. In The Search for Depa, I am determined to find Depa, who has apparently died on this planet but resides with her cats on Mars (Planet Mexico). My father reveals to me that I am clone of him and that my mother is actually a robot. He makes me a special dream helmet to navigate my dreams. Eventually I end up on Planet Mexico, Depa's dreamworld, but Edgar Allan Poe is terrorizing the inhabitants. The Search for Depa spans dual New Jersey universes, the Forest of the Dogmen, Planet Mexico and Colonial Williamsburg through dreams and portals.

Infinous Space

Infinous Space: an explanation, a love story, a vision of life and death...where the outer limits reach inner emotions was my third self-published book from 1991. It is the first comic book I created, which was designed as a comic book. It is a story my childhood, growing up with a nuclear physicist father and contemplating the dimensions of the universe. Originally meant to be a monthly science comic book series, the project was put on the back burner after being printed when I left the United States to live in Czechoslovakia. Twelve years later Infinous Space was followed by The Search for Depa and the "trilogy" plans to be finished with DIOVOID in 2015.

Bovina

The Tale of Bovina: a tragic cow story was published in The Daily Nexus (Santa Barbara) and The Stranger (Seattle) in the early 1990's. It was probably my most popular comic strip. It is about a cow who is untimely ripped from her mother's womb and leads a life in search of freedom and justice. Bovina begins with her being conceived in a small village dominated Murdero, the new butcher who kills Hefiera after Bovina's father, Cattello horns himself to death. In Bovina's adventures she inadvertently kills an ant collective and frees Aphida, an enslaved ant cow. Together they travel through the center of the Earth to India. Aphida dies upon their arrival and a depressed Bovina bids the reader farewell. This ending was created because I was leaving the United States to live in Europe for several years and I wanted to complete the cartoon. The series was then compiled and self-published in 1991 and sold at Pluto Books in Isla Vista and other locations. (if you click on the page and only get a small image, click again to zoom)

Wearing Only Our Undies

Wearing Only Our Undies is my first self-published book of drawings. Made in 1991, it is a compilation of all of The Daily Nexus cartoons, excluding Bovina, which was self-published seperately. Wearing Only Our Undies includes all of the cartoons published as Drew Martin (about my childhood) as well as, The Color Seeing Cat and the Colorblind Boy, Ms. Greengrass, Beagle-4357 and The Story of Memsahib: the tabla-playing cow. The Color Seeing Cat and the Colorblind Boy was reviewed by Charles Schulz and was given a Howard Scripps award.

Logos

For several years (2004-2008) I created editorial drawings for Logos: a journal of modern society & culture.

"Logos is a quarterly journal of modern culture, politics and society that features articles on the arts, politics, culture, the social sciences and humanities as well as original fiction and poetry."

Not unlike my earlier work for The Daily Nexus, I read the articles and came up with an image that complemented and summarized the authors' ideas. My very first drawing was for an article about Lula da Silva. Lula was elected president of Brazil and the article was about his being the very first "worker" president in the Americas. So I created a drawing where the flag of Brazil became the surface of a road and the blue circle with "ordem e progresso" became a manhole cover, lifted and resting on the flag. A white ladder sticks out of the hole showing that this president has either come up from the lower rungs of society or that he has rolled up his sleeves and gone under the image of Brazil to fix things.

The New School and The Fall of Korebus

I attended the The New School between 2002 and 2006, where I received my Master's Degree in Media Studies. My 115 page thesis was on the relationship of image and text, which included a lot of writing, a lot of drawings, a website, audio interviews, a comic book and a graphic novel.

The graphic novel was called 2020: The Fall of Korebus. It is about a fictitious land, Korebus, where only images live. The main characters, Art Clip and iCandy, are clipart stock photography images of models. The graphic novel starts with Art and iCandy hanging out in their swanky apartment. A revolution starts outside their window and the National Museum of Stock Photography is looted and burned. Images of Art and iCandy are mutilated as they watch. The crowd of unknown characters wants their heads so they put on Burkas and escape through the city's sewers with the assistance of Subby the Submarine but they are killed by a sea monster. Subby drags them to shore and signals for help from Helicoptress, who brings them to a clearing in the woods where they are discoverd by Bovina and Beagle-4357. They are brought to my trailer in the mountains of Santa Barbara (where I once lived), where I am drawing comics. With machete in hand Beagle-4357 and I work our way through the jungle to the Valley of the Cats and trade a television for two hearts. The transplants are made back at my trailer and Art and iCandy are revived. But they are doomed in Korebus so I redraw them as unsuspecting characters to smuggle them out into the real world where they can reestablish their careers. I create a comic called Coffee Break. In it, Art is recreated as Fill-up "a dying, blind, scruffy Bohemian musician with an undying adventurous spirit". iCany is reincarnated as Sweet-n-Low (a.k.a. Sweetie) "a perky waitress/aspiring actress always one day away from the role that would make her famous". Fill-up is a constant in the joint and the whole comic is about their conversations. Coffee Break becomes a huge hit and is published all over the world. Art and iCandy love their new lives and feel freer than ever before. Art even requests to not have his eyes drawn back on him. After leading a life of vanity and egotism the darkness was soothing and not stressful.

The Prague Post

The Prague Post grew out of the Prognosis. The latter closed their doors and The Prague Post remains as an English newspaper in Prague. I wrote much longer articles for this publication and my articles were accompanied with photographs I took and my drawings. Pictured left is a drop cap that began the article about geological formations of northern Czech Republic, which highlighted a walk from the volcanic basalt mountains of Usti nad Labem to the sandstone hills of Litomerice.

Prognosis

I arrived in Prague in the beginning of 1992. The older staff of my college newspaper, The Daily Nexus, graduated a year before me and moved to Europe, eventually calling Prague their home where they started the Prognosis. When I arrived the paper was well established and was still in its old town location. I did not intend to stay in Prague but was immediately hooked. I contributed various articles, photographs, illustrations and comics to the Prognosis.

The Daily Nexus

I attended the University of California at Santa Barbara between the years of 1987-1991 and was graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts. The highlight of this education was studying under the tutelage of Ann Hamilton for two years. The part of campus life which was most inspiring was working on The Daily Nexus. For my sophomore and junior years I provided editorial illustrations every day and from sophomore year through my senior year I also provided daily cartoons...first published as Drew Martin and later with character names such as Bovina. Pictured left, is one of the editorial illustrations.

Character

Character was a short-lived, emailed periodical about "cartoon characters and mascots and the role they play for corporations, organizations, families, politics and athletics." It grew out of a New School business plan project for a media management course with Richard Lorber.

Each issue featured a character and a Leditor (a letter from the editor):

January 14, 2006
Purchasing and managing images of people for a company’s printed and electronic media is a risky business. Even though stock photography has become more creative and diverse, it still sends out the message that the company’s actual employees are not as sharply dressed, good-looking or happy as a hired-for-a-day model. The “Who are these people?” knee-jerk reaction to such images increases the divide between employees and employers. Taking pictures of staff is just as tricky. There are legal questions of permissions to consider and a change of heart or termination means swapping out photos, more expensive photo shoots and unnecessary headaches. Introducing a cartoon mascot to a company is a smart and diplomatic move. A cartoon mascot is an ideal employee and it does not alienate anyone in the work place. It is not going to take anyone’s job. A cartoon mascot can be anything; a person, object or even an idea. It can act as an ambassador, comedian, scapegoat, foil, competitor or messenger. A cartoon mascot can be the company pet or voodoo doll. A cartoon mascot can exist simply as a small, electronic icon or live on billboards. It can be indoor (internal), just for your employees, outdoor (public), or both. The best thing about a cartoon mascot for the employer is that there are no strings attached, no commitments. A cartoon mascot carries the weight and personality of an employee, but does not require the perks and benefits.

February 13, 2006
Pablo Picasso once remarked: “Drawing is no kidding. It is something very grave and very mysterious that a simple line could represent a living being. Not only his image, but moreover, what he really is. What a marvel! Isn’t it more surprising than all of the prestidigitation and all the coincidences of the world?” If it is not too late to answer this question I would reply, “No,” because it is even more remarkable that a simple line has the ability to become a vital creature. A drawn character literally takes on a life of its own from the moment of conception when a pen touches paper and the ink flows, like blood, into the new character. Most characters have a name and a body, which they articulate with human purpose even if they are non-human. The personification of a character is most evident in speech/thought, through which a dog, for example, can philosophize and a lamp can expound truths. A character eventually becomes not only accepted by human readers but anticipated as well; and, the other end of a relationship, which in certain regards is nothing less than a friendship. We fool ourselves into taking up this relationship because it has its advantages. Characters are a constant in a world where relationships are often disrupted by relocations, falling in and out of love, envy, illness and death. Characters can be so constant that they can be found in the same place every day and maynever change their clothes or expression.

March 14, 2006
The most insightful, honest and interesting character you can think of and develop is yourself. Sketching your likeness is a good way tostep back and look at yourself, slay childhood dragons, rewrite your history, make your life an adventure and save money on therapists.In a cartoon you can exorcise brooding thoughts, turn the table on a ruthless enemy, breathe water and spit fire, fly through space, save the world or just hang out and have a good time. Making a character of yourself puts a “me” in media and is forthright about the reason to extend your personality into the world; to bear your soul, to spread your tail feathers and to send out the distress signal, “Am I all alone?” Philosophically, emotionally and practically you and your “you” character are a perfect match. Not only are your moods and personality aligned but the precision of your “you” character is something that cannot be truthfully copied by others. Your “you” character lives and dies with you so it is never orphaned or widowed like other characters. Your “you” character can live in the past to keep your childhood alive; tag along with you in the present and be a shoulder to lean on; and, even scout out your future. The only limits of your “you” character come from how you see yourself. Perhaps you will decide to be invisible, invincible, impossibly large or small, as lively as a flame or as still as a stone.

April 13, 2006
Characters are best known for their character. In fact, a character is simply a manifestation of character. Characters are defined by their physical and “vocal” expressions, and special, if not super, powers. Characters’powers are either “polytheistic” where talents are delegated to several associated individuals or “monotheistic” where a character is all-powerful. Powers are usually super-human abilities but they can also be very human, like Greek Mythology’s Chiron, the Centaur who was blessed with the ability to teach well. The most interesting characters are perhaps the hapless underdogs, the “mortals,” who lack brawn and socially embraced cuteness and are challenged by their inabilities. Their recourse in dire situations is not a display of their powers but chance, luck and desperation. Though we may not aspire to be like the underdogs, we certainly cheer them on with admiration during their efforts to escape, avoid and survive threats and injustice. Perhaps this is because we know the fragility and rank of our own powers and that challenged underdogs in their best moments are more powerful than the strongest of us when caught off guard. A truly mortal character dies. Although such a conclusion seems pointless to the creator and fans, it is perhaps in the abstract death and sacrifice of a character that we can recognize and learn about the distractions with which we occupy ourselves to avoid the conclusion of death.

Min Magazine and Vector Drawings

Min was a magazine of minimalism, which was distributed every full moon to a small audience. It was a project to explore what minimalism could be and was a reaction to magazines like Real Simple, which were just like every other magazine in terms of production, size and distribution. It was clear from the start that Min needed to only be one page and very shy. The one page started off busy and what seemed fitting was to devolve Min into a state of nothingness after a year and a half. What became interesting was how using easily reproducible characters changed the way a drawing was made. Min Man, Genghis Khan on Horseback, Desert Snowman wearing a sombrero, cacti, leaves, bowling pins soon became minimal patterns that took over the issues. The vector art, set in the pdf file could also be explored by zooming in to the image in Adobe Acrobat. This became very important in an issue like the one that followed the September 11, 2001 tragedy. For that issue Min Man sat in his office talking on his phone to his wife with a picture of his family on his desk. This office was replicated and stacked into two towers, but the personal details needed to be zoomed in on. Min was emailed and never resided on the web because it needed to be free of a web host and a constant presence.