Fine Art Comics

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The Elder Sister, 1869

William-Adolphe Bouguereau

Fine Art Cartoons refers to the epitome of aesthetic expression reached in which images convey information that forms a narrative in the mind of the viewer. Fine art cartoons are differentiated from traditional comics, which are often juxtaposed by "the arrangement of pictures or images and words to narrate a story or dramatize an idea" (Will Eisner, Comics and Sequential Art, 1985) by their beauty and meaningfulness.

WIP 

© Shenn

The purity of fine art cartoons is achieved when both meaningfulness, i.e., conveyed in relevant historical, psychological, mythological, religious, or otherwise recognized human expressions; and the highest purity of a given medium are perceived as existing in close relation or in harmony with one another. Fine art cartoons can be philosophically equated to Rousseau's highest Noble Savage merging with the highest Eurocentric views of equality, advancement, and refinement.

Marie-Antoinette

© Shenn

In Martin Heidegger's wesen (essence) from The Origin of the Work of Art, we recognize the presence of fine art cartoons, found in the questions the origin of the work of art asks us with respect to the work's essential provenance, compounded by the common understanding that springs out from and through the composition, allowing the viewer of the art to know the artist by tracing back the purity or essence of the composition to its original meaning.

Epifania

Michaelangelo

This cartoon is drawn with black chalk on 26 sheets of paper and is over two metres high. The cartoon is a final preparatory drawing on the same scale as the finished painting or other work of art. The word, cartoon, is derived from the Italian word for a large piece of paper: cartone. This is one of only two surviving cartoons by Michelangelo. 

All art forms, be they painting, sculpture, pen and ink comics, eventually reach a higher form of aesthetic expression whereby two separate, but equally pure concepts, meet in a harmonious composition. This symbiotically expressed aesthetic, conveyed in a form of artwork, is recognized as both art existing in itself while simultaneously heightened by its mutual relationship to the work.

Portrait of Doña Isabel de Requesens (1500 - 1577)

Raphael

Derrida, The Truth in Painting, stated that Kant made a distinction between the Greek terms ergon, or "work," and parergon, or "outside the work." Fine art can be described as both ergon and parergon existing parallel or harmoniously close to one another. Derrida further explained that the integrity of the work (ergon) depended on the necessary secondariness of the outside (parergon) or the context, which further solidifies the definition of fine art in relation to its highest expression in works of art.

Probable Portrait of Raphael

Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino

While the relation of cartoons to fine art might be considered MAD, a concept historically silenced by, firstly the institution of law, which designated madness as a crime, and secondly the institution of medicine, that saw madness as an illness; cartoons can indeed be examined by their "systems of thought" (Michael Moucault, French theorist, 1926 - 1984) in that one must employ archaeology to investigate the structures and transgressions, i.e., "madness" within the composition of the structure against the revealing aspects of truth that the composition epitomizes.

Notably, one of the most intriguing aspects of cartoons is their entanglement with theory. Masterful cartoon artists, like masterful fine art artists, also integrate research methods and scientific knowledge into their artistic process to such a degree that it even seems to be developing into an independent form of fine art knowledge on its own. This blurring of the lines between art and theory is where cartoons find their entrée into the world of fine artistic expression.

Self-Portrait of Shenn

© Shenn

The spectrum of that which can be substantiated under the term fine art cartoons or comics is just now beginning to be explored. The site, Fine Art Comics, is dedicated to artistic research of the subject, which is, at present, very broad and not in the least homogeneous. It ranges from the simple integration of philosophical or scientific knowledge, to the establishment of artistic research as a form of institutionalized self-examination and scientification of artistic cartoon expression and practice. For this reason, it is advisable to consider information contained herein under the term "artistic research."

The Rise of Comics

Colored by the Sun

© Shenn

Comics are a potent symbol of change in the way we create and consume media, one which we're just now beginning to explore in terms of deeper philosophical significance. Comic artists, like 17-year old Shennendoah "Shenn" Hollsten, have been skillfully tackling the deep questions raised by society, with a refreshingly diverse and engaging range of aesthetic styles.

Vous êtes ici 

© Shenn

Brilliant and whimsical in turn, Shenn's creations entertain, instruct, and, above all, expand the imagination. Her work demonstrates the power of disciplined thought to shed light on one of the most widespread and historically fascinating aesthetic practices. 

Boy and His Dogs

© Shenn

Recently I had the privilege of interviewing Shenn for this article and found her insight into the deeper philosophical meaning of comics tantalizing. I realized how little attention this area of study has received, if any. When I began researching the topic of comics, I confirmed to myself that very little, in terms of scholarly work, had been shared on the subject. If fact if you didn't know any better, you'd think that there were only three countries that have ever produced comics: the United States, Japan, and Europe; despite the widespread influence caricaturization of people and concepts have on every society around the world. 

Star Gazer

© Shenn

It's not so much what Shenn says in her comics, it's how she depicts thoughtfulness, contemplation, and other highly sought after emotions and experiences - by not saying anything at all. 

Had Shenn not said that "You have to look deep down into my characters' eyes to hear what they're saying", I might not have had this revelation about the deeper significance of comics and the rise of this aesthetic in the world. 

Whenever a search is conducted on nearly any topic on the Internet, invariably a comic comes up. Depicting what, at first blush, seems like nothing other than a parody or joke about a subject, the fact that there's a comic thrown into the mix indicates the range of concepts comics can convey. What's really coming through the wires here is the world's fondness for iconic images - images skillfully depicted to represent something deeper, something more than that which they appear to be, something more than "just comics". 

Bed Head

© Shenn

As I skimmed through Shenn's gallery of images (both online and offline), I realized that there was something about her work which offers an almost philosophical meditation on the many thoughts embedded within the human mind, represented by simple lines, shapes and colors. The curvature of the lines... the intensity of the colors... the potency behind the subject's gaze... all contribute to a more sublime as well as contemporary comic-human interaction that sheds more light on the comic as well as on ourselves. 

Violette

© Shenn

Every morning growing up, I read the comics in the newspaper. When I was 10-years old, my grandmother took me to our local newspaper for a meeting with the Editor in order to show him a comic strip I had been drawing after school and on weekends. No doubt influenced by my grandparents' bomb shelter (built after WWII and actively maintained during the Cold War, i.e., my childhood), I had drawn a comic called The Bomb Family. Each character's body shape was fashioned out of a little bomb: a mom, a dad, a son, a daughter, a grandma, a grandpa, an aunt, an uncle, and loads of cousins making their way through the many adventures of living in a bomb shelter. 

According to the Editor that day, had Charles Schultz not just agreed to run a strip in their paper, my own career as a comic artist might have taken off at that very moment. While I was disappointed at the time, the experience obviously stayed with me, an effect of comics most people I speak with admit to sharing.  

I'm sure you can imagine how delightful it is for me to return back to the subject of comics from the deeper perspective of my own field of study (philosophy) in order to once again enjoy that which I so  immensely enjoyed and experimented with as a kid. 

School Girl

© Shenn

Leave it to my daughter, a 17-year old school girl to bring me back to one of my favorite subjects. A talented young artist who has undeniably developed certain aesthetic proclivities and understanding that is being translated into material from which philosophers across the globe might consider in terms of its deeper philosophical significance.