Over the years a few people have continually hounded me,
“Why don’t you do THIS ?!
“Why don’t you do THAT ?!
“Why don’t you make a BOOK ?!”
My favorite response to a, “Why don’t you … ?”
is a, “Well, why don’t I ?”
That darn leash of the silly artist’s path(ological) direction!
Though, a book of what ?
Other items to address: I don’t have what some would call a “following.” I also need more distance before doing anything with my abandoned poster and design work. Why not move forward instead of taking steps back?
I have been creative writing and taking notes over the last fourteen years. In 2013, I noticed a change in my approach, notably in the build of a substantial amount of quick little ditties – poems, I guess – that kept coming to me out of the nowhere and everywhere that is the reservoir. Some arrived fully formed and flooded, others I smoothed out after a kink’d trickle from the tap.
After a while I began corralling and finessing my words further. Realizing I had something (Maybe?), a goal was put in place to pull the cork and release it via an online self-publishing platform. Why not utilize the resources at hand? As I was prepping a book of some sort, and fumbling with software and screen barriers, even more poems poured out. I never did fare well with word problems, but saw it as a good one to have. Naturally, I hunched and listened. I responded with words and pictures.
Life would find me losing momentum on the project … I’d also take breaks to focus on other art, following those impulses when rhythm and routine are kin. On occasion I’d glance at both new and old art piled up and find even more ways to translate the images into writing, further explaining a thing I was inspired to make.
The collision of everything began to make sense. Everything has a story. I began to see patterns and groupings form in the little equations. I just kept going. It became an organizational situation. I wrote, typed, scribbled, printed, cut and sorted. I bundled poems and notes with clothespins, stored and stacked in little boxes on my desk. Images were stacked and stored for safe keeping as well.
Soon, I had compiled more than one book. Silly me, even more poems slipped out! I weeded out the duds and tucked others away. (B‑Sides & Sketches) I finally stopped at five books, thinking that was a good handful – a whole fist!
Throughout the process, I struggled with format and presentation. Do I clumsily handwrite, or neatly align type? Do I construct all illustrations to be of unison, or create things in various ways like I have always been inspired to see fit? Do I study poetry trends and tutorials, or just roll with my own low-level grammar punches? I struggled with even wanting to share these extra-curricular things I’m doing. Oh, the fear of releasing something wild into the zoo! However, I’m quite happy with the results, and feeling better about who I am and what I have to make and show of it and the world around me and my musings. If anything, it gave me more confidence to be me, and/or some sort of weird therapy.
Most creators tend to list the logs in their inspirational wood box, so I figured I should too. If curious where all these jumbles might find fit and direction from the perspective of the pop-cultural canon, I guess it’s okay to place them in an odd inspired basement apartment chipping paint and tapping on pipes somewhere off the grid of the likable-likes of the following … Shel Silverstein / Jim Henson / Pee-wee’s Playhouse / Ren & Stimpy / Edward Gorey / Edward Lear / Alan Fletcher / Monty Python / Dr. Seuss / Dr. Demento / ’50s – ’60s – ’70s – ’80s pop, jingle and novelty songs / Roger Miller / Steve Martin / John Lennon’s In His Own Write / Harry Nilsson’s The Point! / Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream / humor sprinkled in Bruce Springsteen lyrics / children’s books / nursery rhymes / folk art, etc.
Does that make sense? But, yeah, it’s not as good and with imagery all over the map! And in general, mix that with a whole lot of the muck my mind has stewed on a daily basis for decades, good and bad and ugly. Not to make a list of life, but here we go: Illumination, beauty, chaos, mood, anxiety, daydream, obsession, observation, alienation, faulty wiring and gut reaction. It’s all in there.
Largely, I look for much head scratching and neck crick(et)s! But, it is my head. All you really have to do with yours is nod and move on. As for me, once these books are banged out, there are other ideas (some well on their way) for means of collection and archival of both the present and the past with the documentation of all the things I do. We’ll see. Oh, to stuff one’s own scarecrow! I’ve said enough.
Anyway, BUY BOOKS.
The 5 titles available are:
A Window to Crawl Through at the Foot of the Bed
That Tingle You Feel is God Pulling Loose Threads
It’s a Tipped-in Image By Human Hands
I am also working on some new books. Thanks!
—danny joe gibson
Born to Missouri farmers in a 1970s blizzard, flommist Danny Joe Gibson is an artist in Kansas City, MO USA. He became a footnote as graphic artisan DJG Design (2001–11) with a pile of work, notably music posters and packaging. Copyright © DJG.
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