Abstract Archive

MIRED IN INTERNET DETOURS du jour, it can take me years to get around to printed matter that matters. So I’m indebted to East Lake Library for setting out Marjane Satrapi’s Complete Persepolis. The movie version was a treat, but I’m over the moon for the original comics. I’ve raced through 30 years in the life of an Iranian child-prophet/radical/ex-pat/artist in a couple days. Satrapi’s flat, unfussy drawings somehow perfectly complement the epic sweep of a memoir punctuated by war, prison, suicide, puberty, punk and political revolt. It makes the First-World banalities of contemporary American graphic artists feel especially scant.

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It’s with serious pride (and a little envy) that I watch Sarah’s Rectangle Designs efforts fully bloom in 2010. Nearly a thousand inky hands took turns at block-and-leaf printing during her one-woman workshop at the Walker Art Center. Meanwhile the discerning eyes at the Walker Shop have made her shirts their marquee spring display (get a load of ‘em below). She’s doing a massive environmental art piece with Edison High School students later this month and an artist profile in the ‘Strib is expected this week. And so our family’s fame grows. Wealth can wait.