Up until it met its sad and somewhat soggy demise, my camera nearly never left my side. Yes, I was that girl, taking pictures of everything and nothing, just because I could or because something somehow caught my interest.
Among my favorite things to photograph were (and still are) graffiti and street art.
I’m not entirely sure why I find these things so fascinating – I think there’s just something fun about finding unexpected bits of color as I go about my daily routine. I don’t think too much on whether they count as art or defacement; I simply see them as part of the landscape.
Sometimes I like to puzzle over messages carefully scribbled or sprayed on walls and doorways.
Sometimes I’m stopped in my tracks by bold or striking imagery.
And sometimes, it’s just fun to share a laugh or a moment of silliness with the universe.
It makes my walks so much more interesting. Photographing graffiti becomes a game, like looking for Easter eggs or playing “Pokémon Snap” - hunting City strangeness instead of anime critters.
Let's start with something from the archives, shall we?
When I was fifteen or so, I decided that comedic science fiction was the best. thing. ever.
I was absolutely crazy about “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” and “Red Dwarf” and really wanted to create something that would follow on in that legacy. Heck, I would have been happy to have created something as campy and ridiculous as “Galaxy High”.
After a few false starts, I started work on a project I called “Bottom of the Barrel” which was, quite honestly, a not-very-good variation on the bottled sitcom-in-a-spaceship dynamic of “Red Dwarf”. I had a bunch of characters that couldn’t stand each other, a planet that was destroyed due to highly improbable means, and a spaceship that was fueled by stupidity (inspired by Harlan Ellison’s assertion that hydrogen and stupidity are the two most common elements in the universe). Beyond that, I didn’t have a clue.
Much like HHGTG, I found it hard to contain this project to one format. At various points, it has taken the form of a novella, a radio script, and (of course) a comic book...none of which quite made it to completion.
The comic book version especially caught my imagination and for some time I could usually be found working on panels between classes. At one point I even convinced the computer graphics teacher to let me use the then-newfangled scanning technology to upload the pages so I could try to ink and color them on Photoshop (5!) Sadly, most of the original scans were lost in the Great Computer Crash of 1999, but a few low-res panels remain:
Every now and again I still like to pull this project from the files and give it another try.
I can’t say I have a better idea now as to what it’s meant to be – as always, there are just the characters and the setting, and the characters simply do whatever they want.
It never gets finished, but it’s always fun and it’s always slightly different.
Welcome to my art blog - the place where I post snippets my creative life which quite frequently goes ignored as I attempt to make my way through the twisty winding world of academia.
This is me:
I am Kae, a would-be cartoonist and writer and a sometimes-photographer, -voice actor and -sculptor in New York City. For the longest time, I wanted to get into animation or comic books, some of my major influences beingChuck Jones, Phil Foglio, Jeff Smith, and Mike Kunkel. Life has clearly led me down a different path, but I still like to indulge in creative endeavors whenever I can.
As you will see, I continue to draw, photograph, and sculpt when time permits and I can occasionally be found to contribute writing or voice work to the audio productions of Dream Realm Enterprises.
Thank you very much for visiting - I hope you enjoy what you find here and I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Onward! ~Kae
***Ye Olde Disclaimer - This probably goes without saying, but unless specifically noted otherwise all artwork, photographs, etc. posted here are copyright (c) by me, all rights reserved. I am generally very happy to share my work - just be sure to ask first and give credit! Thanks!***
