An Artists Dilemma

[laura_seabrook]

Two friends of mine - Carol Wood and Susan Butcher - are underground comic artists who besides producing Pox magazine are currently contributing to Artillery:killer art on text. Now Artillery is an arts magazine distributed for free in California, and a few other locations (like New York and Chicago) across the United States. They do fictional cartoon biographies about artists - the current issue features one about Munch.

But here's the thing - neither Carol or Susan get any feedback about how the strips are received - they get no feedback at all. I just had a phone call from Carol who was experiencing an artistic crisis. They are really good at doing parody pastiche (see image left), but without getting any feedback for over two years, she was doubting whether she and Susan should continue contributing to the magazine.

There wasn't much I could say to her, as I've had similar experiences with my own stuff. And I'm really at a loss to find out just if and how their stuff has been received. They tried contacting the editor but they don't really say anything in response.

Suggestions please.

Comments

[lisalees.livejournal.com]

That's also been my experience. I've heard the same comment from a few people who work at magazines. I think it's part of the whole information overload thing. There is so much available that it's hard to feel any personal connection. Whatever you're looking at, whether it's on the web or not, seems to be simply the click between the previous click and the next click.

[rashelleym.livejournal.com]

Income minus costs equals profit. Collecting and collating such information isn't cost free, and it's unclear exactly how relaying reader feedback to contributing artists would would increase the magazine's income. Too, acting as an intermediary for encomiums could very well have the effect of encouraging the artists to assume that their work may be more valuable to the magazine than it actually is. Pretty elementary (hence primal)!

[laura-seabrook.livejournal.com]

Hmm, but no response at all will lose them contributors, so I suspect a sensible course would be some middle ground.

[rashelleym.livejournal.com]

Yes, if by "sensible" is meant "financially advantageous". So the tone of the little feedback they've gotten should be telling. Of course, there are sure to be many other factors: I'm seeing no names at all under an "Original Artwork for Artillery" masthead entry. I may do a reading when I wake up. But that the moon begins waning in less than a day seems to mean there's no hurry.

[rashelleym.livejournal.com]

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In relation to a changing 2nd line, the Baynes construction refers to
familial nourishment, including ritual consumption by persons and
entities not present. This suggests to me that the crisis mentioned
might have the potential for mutual resolution by revisiting their "menu"
somehow. (I like the pastiche trope, by the way). And a changing 5th
line suggests to me that Artillery might be agonizing a little bit, too,
probably in the convulsive life-changes younger ones sometimes jump into.
Phht--I got nothin'.

[laura-seabrook.livejournal.com]

Maybe, maybe not.
Perhaps what my friends should do is somehow market their stuff elsewhere.