Ben - Sam - Melissa - Hunter
Sam's Story
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Herbert’s soul was resigned. At least the part of it trapped in cardboard in front of
U-Haul. First he tried being positive, but his situation was hopeless, his fate
sealed.
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One day, a baseball came flying towards the window and smashed it to pieces.
Herbert was free! He made the decision to leave U-Haul forever. |
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He immediately realized the consequences of his decision.
As his eyes adjusted to the hazy afternoon, he saw someone under a
tree -- the Chupacabra, his old nemesis.
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Please old friend. Join me. We've spent far too long trying to end one another.
So many tears. So much anger. Perhaps it is time we start anew.
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Ben's Story
Ben's Story
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| Tom woke up early, and showered and shaved. He neatly parted his hair, he pressed his shirt and dressed for the day, people complimented his spiffy tie all day long. |
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| It finally happened, Tom's tentacles had killed someone. Suddenly "accepting Tom for who he was" didn't seem as great a policy. Clearly the HR department had a lot to discuss. |
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Tom stood on the prow of a boat.
Despite his pleas, his coworkers still planned to throw him overboard.
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| Tom crashed into the sea. As he sank downward, he passed by a titanic sea monster. The monster didn't even notice Tom. |
Artist Statement
Stories occupy a strange space between the personal and the communal, and this assignment blurred the division between the two. It was interesting to create a short story, then to see where other people took it. It kind of revealed a bit about the person behind the story. And not only did the stories do this, but the illustrations as well (both in the illustrations themselves and in the method of illustration). Those illustrations turned out to be the most distinguishable aspects of our work.
For example, Melissa always did her illustrations on Photoshop because she wanted things to look clean. Everyone else used various methods of illustration: hand drawing, Paint, etc. The others were well done and showed a bit of who the creator was. That personal aspect was present in the stories themselves too, but the often-absurd nature of those stories made it difficult to discern who wrote which segment. This also gave us common ground.
All of the stories dealt with people. This indicates that we prefer stories about people; it’s something we can relate to. All of the characters had something they needed to overcome. Ben’s story, though absurd, dealt with the human struggle of being different. We are human and all have trials, just as the characters did. These odd and playful stories represented things about us. Furthermore, this micro example of an Exquisite Corpse translates to large scale. As we talk about worldwide collaboration, it can show deep-seated philosophies and speak for a generation.
In a recent episode of Radiolab called “In the Dust of This Planet,” the hosts talked about nihilism appearing in pop culture. They noticed the trend when a book called In the Dust of This Planet was cited as a source for a nihilist character in the recent HBO show True Detective. The book cover has since appeared on apparel in fashion magazines and even on Jay Z’s back. They speculate this trend is a result of crises around the world, with global warming etc.; that it is cool, maybe even comforting, to take on this nihilist view point and say, “I don’t care.” This Exquisite Corpse is telling us about cultural trends and attitudes. Totems without Taboos: The Exquisite Corpse states, “The way I see it: whenever humanity tries to really grapple with the deep issues — life, death, taxes, you name it — it becomes a game.”
It’s important to note that the fundamental nature of the assignment is a game. We played Exquisite Corpse as a means to create but it was also fun. Expression through sometimes spontaneous collaboration is fundamental to the artistic experience, not only for the purpose of play but also to bring to light “deep issues”.
Just as the example from Radiolab illustrates, the pop culture we discuss and access for fun evidences issues we are grappling with in society. The same thing went on with our stories. The different stories we created gave clues into who each author was and what we care about. As a group we cared about people and overcoming challenges. As a society it seems we are talking about nihilism, among other things. These realizations come through the process of play and creativity and help us to answer deep and difficult questions about ourselves.
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