- Hardcover: 272 pages
- Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly (Aug 15 2009)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1897299893
- ISBN-13: 978-1897299890
- Product Dimensions: 29.8 x 23 x 2.6 cm
- Shipping Weight: 1.4 Kg
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #239,423 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Quill & Quire
The most fascinating thing about Marc Bell’s Hot Potatoe is the stream-of-consciousness artistic sensibility that permeates every page, from the cover to the contents to the numerous essays within. Nonsensical words, doodles, and character drawings are found everywhere in this luxurious book, as are echoes of Bell’s influences from comix, pop culture, and the world around him. Bell honed his style while attending an arts high school in London, Ontario, with a group of likeminded, comics-obsessed artists including Peter Thompson and Jason McLean. They shared a keen interest in comics like Ralph Smart Adventures and Boris the Bear, and collaborated often, a practice that Bell continues today.
Hot Potatoe is filled with gorgeous reproductions of Bell’s convoluted, dizzying drawings, paintings, and mixed-media constructions. It’s a visual feast, interspersed with several essays, some of which will thoroughly mystify anyone unfamiliar with the linguistic intricacies of Bell’s world. There is a transcript of an enlightening interview between Bell and Drawn and Quarterly’s creative director Tom Devlin, occasionally interrupted by inane remarks from the audience. Similarly, an essay about Bell by Tommy LaCroix begins innocently, before devolving into an excruciating glimpse into the writer’s bout with severe alcoholism.
Bell’s “fine ahtwerks,” as he calls them, owe a debt to the American painter Philip Guston, and allow Bell to free himself from the boundaries of linguistic meaning through the use of an idiosyncratic cast of characters and neologisms. The words “bloo chip,” “gneppotism,” and “buncake” all feature prominently in his work. In 2008’s Shoo Slog (included in this collection), words, scenes, and characters seem to stop just short of overlapping on the page. So crammed with imagery are his works that Bell must suffer from horror vacui (the artistic term for fear of empty space). Even his biography overflows into the year 2075, when he will be killed trying to defend himself against Prime Minister George Stroumboulopoulos.
Hot Potatoe is a book for a particular audience, but what a book! It will inspire fans of Bell’s work, and intrigue, confound, and bewilder everyone else.
Review
“Boundary-destroying,wacked-out (and beautifully drawn) material from Canadian artist Marc Bell that will leave you feeling as if you have bees in your head.” —Minneapolis Star-Tribune
“Marc Bell is a riddle wrapped in a conundrum further wrapped in salty bacon.” —L.A. Weekly
“Marc Bell is a riddle wrapped in a conundrum further wrapped in salty bacon.” —L.A. Weekly
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.5 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic!, Jan 2 2010
By Buffy - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Marc Bell's Hot Potatoe: Fine Ahtwerks: 2001-2008 (Hardcover)
I was a little surprised when this book came out because although I love Marc Bell's drawings and artworks up til now his illustrations have only been reproduced in comic book or graphic novel type formats. But this is a beautiful, large, thick hardcover collection that gives you all the Marc Bell artwork you could want. If you know his work then you can't go wrong here. One of my favorite books from 2009.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Amazing Volume That Reveals Itself Over Time, Dec 18 2009
By David K. Sarpal "If you want your dreams to c... - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Marc Bell's Hot Potatoe: Fine Ahtwerks: 2001-2008 (Hardcover)
"Hot Potatoe" is full of delightful details, quirky catchphrases and drawings that make the impossible seem normal, and even rational in this strange world of Marc Bell. If you enjoy taking your time to delve into idiosyncratic worlds full of visual puns, then this book is most definitely for you.After having the book in my possession for just over a month, I have opened it here and there and returned to it over and over again. The result has been a body of work that has revealed itself over time. It's an immersive experience, really, and one that asks viewers to reconsider what they think they know in favor of something else that challenges perception itself.
An added bonus to the book are the essays, which are well-thought out and complement the entire monograph nicely.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Well..., Dec 19 2011
By Esn024 "esn024" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Marc Bell's Hot Potatoe: Fine Ahtwerks: 2001-2008 (Hardcover)
...yes, the art style is quite interesting. Yes, it is obvious that a huge amount of work was put into this, and it is not hackwork by any means. And yet, I am having a very difficult time of making any sense of the art, and because of that, the book is boring to me no matter how much I try to like it.I don't think I'm very hostile to the concept of stream of consciousness line art... I'm a big fan of the works of some other artists who try something like this (I'm thinking of Bruce Bickford and Theo Ellsworth). But most of the drawings here I just can't figure out. I'm having trouble finding the right wavelength to make sense of all this seemingly very random material.
It does seem that other reviewers here don't have the problem, so obviously Marc Bell has succeeded in getting his message across to SOME people. Make sure you're one of them before you buy this book - check out some of his stuff online first by doing an image search on your favourite search engine.
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