{"id":21229,"date":"2019-12-04T08:00:14","date_gmt":"2019-12-04T08:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=21229"},"modified":"2019-12-02T18:07:05","modified_gmt":"2019-12-02T18:07:05","slug":"the-artist-the-circle-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2019\/12\/04\/the-artist-the-circle-of-life\/","title":{"rendered":"The Artist: The Circle of Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" \"\"
\nBy Anna Haifisch<\/strong><\/strong> (Breakdown Press)
\nISBN: 978-1-91108-107-4 (HB)<\/p>\n

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Picture Perfect Grown Up Fun\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 9\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Like Norwegian \u00c3\u00a9migr\u00c3\u00a9 and cartoon superstar Jason, Anna Haifisch is a compulsive visualiser and raconteur with a devastating touch of whimsy that is impossible to resist.<\/p>\n

Born in 1986 in Leipzig, the illustrator and screen printer is a truly dedicated purveyor of captivating comics that exude charm and wit whilst tackling big issues in accessible ways. She’s also very sly, and very funny. It’s made her something of an international celebrity\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

In 2017 her book The Artist<\/b> introduced an effete intellectual avian utterly in love with the fashionable concept of being a creator and this long-awaited sequel delivers another clutch of wry, vainglorious, heartfelt, pompous and charming episodes detailing how tough it is to dedicate one’s life to the Muse\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 especially if you only want to draw birds and snakes\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

A vivid hardback collation, sequel volume The Circle of Life<\/b> collects strips from 2016 that first appeared online at Vice.Com and shares even more insights in powerful line and flat colour combinations, beginning with an eponymous self-deprecating introduction\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Delivered as short 2-3 page cartoon colloquies, the drama dioramas open on a wearying, pharmaceutical-fuelled night out with Owl<\/i>, leading to an origin of sorts and a challenging confrontation with that bane of all artists, the wealthy but clueless collector\/sponsor\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Most episodes are brief and untitled but some earn themselves notoriety and utility through names such as ‘Art Rap’<\/i> which follows a deliriously engaging vignette about St. Luke<\/i> (Patron Saint of artists). After that blending of imagery with devious street patter, an idealised day segues into a faux documentary on lost painter Edzard F\u00c3\u00bcnfhauser<\/i>, an incident of excoriating self-recrimination, a visit to the psych ward and a restorative trip down memory lane\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

A fanciful sojourn amidst Art’s Great Ones and a historically significant moment of letter-writing leads to a temporary abandonment of dreams and principles before a sordid session of tool fetishism restores equilibrium via a period of Japanese impressionism and Haiku drafting.<\/p>\n

There follows and Interlude: On Birds<\/i> enquiring ‘What Happened to All the Aspiring Cartoon Birds<\/i>‘ (such as Donald<\/i>, Woodstock<\/i> and Tweety<\/i>), after which a dissertation on being online and painful interactions with a non-artistic relative lead to a re-examination of favourite themes and a brief commission in frozen Greenland.<\/p>\n

A sad tryst with a cage bird triggers ‘3 Jolly Autumn Strips’<\/i>; a visit to the Jail built for Artists and the horrors of tawdry commercialism and hawking your work to the public (so clearly autobiographical, as Haifisch is co-founder of Germany’s The Millionaires Club Indie Comics Festival <\/b>in Leipzig) before concluding on an uplifting high note with an illustrative paean to creativity and a singalong tribute to ‘Sorority’<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Outrageous and charming, these exploration of the fabled life and anxiety-drenched traps of the creative spirit are a delight for everyone who’s ever picked up a pencil or looked at a masterpiece and thought \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I can do that\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6
\n\u00c2\u00a9 Anna Haifisch Breakdown Press 2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Anna Haifisch (Breakdown Press) ISBN: 978-1-91108-107-4 (HB) Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Picture Perfect Grown Up Fun\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 9\/10 Like Norwegian \u00c3\u00a9migr\u00c3\u00a9 and cartoon superstar Jason, Anna Haifisch is a compulsive visualiser and raconteur with a devastating touch of whimsy that is impossible to resist. Born in 1986 in Leipzig, the illustrator and screen printer is … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “The Artist: The Circle of Life”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[81,125,216,105],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art-books","category-humour","category-lifestyle","category-mature-reading"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-5wp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21229\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}