{"id":8396,"date":"2010-12-01T11:43:20","date_gmt":"2010-12-01T16:43:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=8396"},"modified":"2010-12-01T12:29:23","modified_gmt":"2010-12-01T17:29:23","slug":"lynda-barry-on-picture-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2010\/12\/01\/lynda-barry-on-picture-this\/","title":{"rendered":"Lynda Barry on ‘Picture This’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Lynda Barry is many things: a cartoonist, best known for her long-running strip, <\/em>Ernie Pook\u2019s Comeek; the author of two illustrated novels, <\/em>Cruddy<\/a> and <\/em>The Good Times Are Killing Me<\/a>; and the sought-after instructor of the workshop \u201cWriting the Unthinkable.\u201d In her two memoir-cum-workbooks\u20142008\u2019s <\/em>What It Is<\/a> and <\/em>Picture This<\/a>, published last month by Drawn & Quarterly\u2014Barry puts her many talents into play. The books\u2019 dense collages, lively cartoons, and hand-drawn text use autobiographical tidbits and philosophical flights of fancy to explore the creative impulse, asking such questions as What is an image? and Why do we stop drawing? Barry, a friend of Matt Groening\u2019s since their days at the Evergreen State College in the seventies, agreed to meet me for breakfast, where we talked art, writing, and cigarettes.<\/em><\/p>\n

One of the themes of Picture This<\/em> is forgetting in order to remember, which seems pretty counterintuitive. When you combine it with Don\u2019t\u2014the name of the cigarettes, which are a running gag throughout\u2014the meaning of the lines becomes very contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Forget to remember to forget to remember, or remember to forget to remember to forget. Yeah, it just makes your brain go uuuuuuuhhh<\/em>. That\u2019s exactly what I wanted: to get to the point where you realize you don\u2019t know what you\u2019re looking at. Plus, it\u2019s fun coming up with slogans. \u201cWhat would you do for a don\u2019t?\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t consider it.\u201d <\/p>\n

I stumbled on these magazines called Grade Teacher<\/em>, which were sent to grade-school teachers every month, and I have a pile of them from the late twenties to the sixties. They have stuff like \u201cFun Things to Draw\u201d or \u201cLet\u2019s Do Our Bulletin Board.\u201d But the big ad sponsorship is from coal companies and asbestos companies: \u201cFree giant charts for your class about how wonderful coal is!\u201d The weirdest things are the art projects with asbestos powder, like \u201cLets make beads and make necklaces and wear them.\u201d I am not joking. <\/p>\n

I wanted to piggyback on that idea. We all know that smoking cigarettes is bad for your health, and I wanted to put something in there that people would unconsciously associate with \u201cnot.\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t,\u201d like \u201cnot drawing is bad for your health,\u201d like \u201cnot doing this stuff is bad for you.\u201d But also, it\u2019s fun; any picture\u2019s improved if you draw a cigarette in it. There\u2019s nothing that doesn\u2019t look better. Seriously, get a Sharpie and an old Vogue<\/em> magazine. Every page you have to add a cigarette. You\u2019ll laugh your ass off. It\u2019ll be sad because you\u2019ll be alone.<\/p>\n

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