The fine arts world, to be quite frank, looks down on books and printmaking as a creative medium. They’re strongly and obviously tied to commercialism (though we can look to the beautifully decorated Sistine chapel and remind painters that Michelangelo too was paid to promote the church’s agenda), and for an artist who is used to spending hours on a one of a kind piece, the idea of an edition—with each copy an original work of art—is antithetical to how they operate. Still, as easy as it is to understand their logic, it doesn’t make the pill any less bitter to swallow. And it doesn’t solve the problem of printmaking and book making as skills going under-acknowledged and under appreciated. Fortunately for this, we live in a time where humanity is more connected than ever.
My first experience with the internet was through media fandom, a portmanteau of the words fan + kingdom. Think of fandom like sports fans; there are many levels of obsession but ultimately it’s a group of people excited about a mutually loved piece of media. Online, people will share (fan)art and (fan)fiction based on the original stories and characters, as well as musings, theories, and breakdowns of the source material, all for free.
What does this have to do with book arts?
I engaged with fandom using my graphic design skills to layout “fanzines.” The name is archaic as the modern fanzine is more artbook than zine, but the communal collection of art and stories has strong ties to historical zinemaking and printmaking history. And it’s through these spaces I learned that there is a real hunger for that history in younger artists who might not have access to a more traditional art education. Outside of fanzines, artists create casebound books out of fanfiction to show off online that captivate people, and digital artists share fledgling attempts at linocut with familiar pink Speedball Easy Carve and a cheap set of tools. People want to express their love of someone’s work through their own creation, and do so even with the most basic knowledge gleaned from youtube tutorials or elementary school art projects.
This is the space I want to share my work. To that end, I have created Threadhunters, a comic that utilizes traditional printmaking to create comics. Think Frans Masereel, only instead of wordless woodcuts I am utilizing multiple printmaking methods and digital typesetting before running it through offset lithography, in the tradition of classic American comic books. The book, for this project, does not matter so much as the tools I’m using to create the mark and tell the story. But the story and the art will draw attention and curiosity to the methods being used. It will generate discussion and interest in creation, and as someone who is interested in passing on the tools of the trade, I can help guide younger artists in how to safely use these tools and engage with the larger historical narrative they’re taking part in.
I also take part in these spaces because of their accessibility. Young people (and many other people, but my focus here is on those still growing up) cannot afford our expensive, handmade books. And as a storyteller, I focus on giving people the language they need in order to express themselves, especially in matters such as gender identity and mental health. Language that I myself did not have growing up. It would be almost hypocritical of me if I did not seek out a way to share my stories in as accessible a way as possible. And the internet in general creates a way for me to share this comic and similar stories widely and freely, both by hosting it online for free and offering print on demand copies for $10 versus the $40+ of the traditionally printed and bound copies.
Threadhunters (v.1, p. 13) offset lithography
The internet is not an easy place to translate a book, but neither are formal gallery spaces. For me, it’s more important to share the story, as well as the mechanical process of creation, than it is to show off a beautifully put together codex that can’t be touched because it’s under plexiglass. There is space for both, but I have learned that the internet and the people who desire to learn are far more accommodating and far more interested than traditional spaces.
Icarus Key is a recent MFA graduate of the University of Arts. He hopes to use printmaking and narrative storytelling to empower the next generation to tell their stories and engage meaningfully with the community around them. His work will be updated on instagram at @happysadyoyo.
