Jim Woodring, Weathercraft p. 20, 2010
Jim Woodring (born 1952) started drawing minicomics for his own amusement in the 80s while working as an animator. These leaked out into the world and he began publishing a regular comic called Jim in 1986. The comics reflected Woodring's own visionary outlook, which he came to as a child experiencing what he described as terrifying hallucinations. The stories in Jim were often dream journals and frequently featured jivas, strange angelic creatures that appear like floating colorful tops. In 1994, he began drawing Frank, a comic set in a surreal landscape called the "Unifactor" which though bizarre has its own rules and structure. The piece in this exhibit is from a graphic novel set in the Unifactor, Weathercraft, which depicts the dreadful, miserable character Manhog coming close to achieving enlightenment before casting it away. Woodring has said his work is all about piercing the wall of maya, the web of illusion that in Hinduism and Buddhism forms our consensus reality.
Most of Woodring's comics are available in books, as are his drawings and paintings. Woodring shared an exhibit with Marc Bell at Lawndale Art Center in 2011.
