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Lovf: An Illustrated History Of A Man Losing His Mind
This sketchbook chronicles the encounters, and the state of mind they create, of a mentally ill man on the run. LOVF is the sketchbook companion of a man literally losing his mind. Homeless and broke after giving all his stuff to punk-rock heroin dealers, he ends up off his meds and on a secret quest from Portland to Brooklyn, DC, LA, San Francisco, and Seattle. Jammed with cartoons, mad schemes, psychedelic portraits, and notes from the road, LOVF is a travel journal and a mirror of the post-traumatic dreamworld its author can’t escape from, a Kerouacian meltdown of cross-hatching, spattered marker, crayons, glitter, tape, nail polish, Wite-Out, finger-painting, rain, wine, stickers, and word balloons. Full-color illustrations throughout.
172 pages, Paperback
First published July 23, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
October 2, 2016
LOVF: Not Quite Love
Or, Looking for Love in all the Wrong Places
Not for the faint of heart, but an important document of a descent into madness by the author, published with the help of Kickstarter and several comics friends who help him complete the project. What pictures do we have of madness? We happen to have many in literature, art, film, actually. A lot of creative people, as it turns out, are both insightful and crazy, and in the process create insights into crazy. But when I have gone through the darkest, maddest periods of my life, I almost have no record of them. I'm a writer, but in these times I usually stop writing. Here, in LOVF, the talented zinester and comics guy Reklaw (which is Walker, spelled backwards) creates a record valuable for understanding this darkness. Not fun, but useful. Brave, and admirable, really.
Also at turns sad and puzzling and scary, LOVF is the sketchbook of a man going nuts. We see psychedelic drug-fueled images of him losing his house, job, partner of nine years. Homeless and broke after having given all his worldly possessions away, Reklaw ends up off his meds and on the road--as if on a quest for love and understanding--from Portland around the country. We can see it is a train wreck, though, no one can reasonably connect with him. We see him on the streets every day and look away, after all. He has no money, so he sleeps on the streets or on people's couches if he is lucky. He steals food and other things he needs.
What kind of crazy? Reklaw is diagnosed bipolar, but he also has PTSD, and he has terrible chronic back pain. The art is not a coherent story, of course--though he and his friends manage to pull it together to greater coherence--but primarily a patchwork of pages painted, watercolored, finger painted, crayoned, with stickers, word balloons (as if comics), as if it were found in one of the dumpsters Reklaw actually dived in. Not for everyone. But if you have been crazy (as I have been, though not this bad) or have someone in your family who is crazy (as I do), it could be useful to take a look at. I picked it up, started reading and couldn't put it down. I won't soon forget it, but I sure wish I could.
Or, Looking for Love in all the Wrong Places
Not for the faint of heart, but an important document of a descent into madness by the author, published with the help of Kickstarter and several comics friends who help him complete the project. What pictures do we have of madness? We happen to have many in literature, art, film, actually. A lot of creative people, as it turns out, are both insightful and crazy, and in the process create insights into crazy. But when I have gone through the darkest, maddest periods of my life, I almost have no record of them. I'm a writer, but in these times I usually stop writing. Here, in LOVF, the talented zinester and comics guy Reklaw (which is Walker, spelled backwards) creates a record valuable for understanding this darkness. Not fun, but useful. Brave, and admirable, really.
Also at turns sad and puzzling and scary, LOVF is the sketchbook of a man going nuts. We see psychedelic drug-fueled images of him losing his house, job, partner of nine years. Homeless and broke after having given all his worldly possessions away, Reklaw ends up off his meds and on the road--as if on a quest for love and understanding--from Portland around the country. We can see it is a train wreck, though, no one can reasonably connect with him. We see him on the streets every day and look away, after all. He has no money, so he sleeps on the streets or on people's couches if he is lucky. He steals food and other things he needs.
What kind of crazy? Reklaw is diagnosed bipolar, but he also has PTSD, and he has terrible chronic back pain. The art is not a coherent story, of course--though he and his friends manage to pull it together to greater coherence--but primarily a patchwork of pages painted, watercolored, finger painted, crayoned, with stickers, word balloons (as if comics), as if it were found in one of the dumpsters Reklaw actually dived in. Not for everyone. But if you have been crazy (as I have been, though not this bad) or have someone in your family who is crazy (as I do), it could be useful to take a look at. I picked it up, started reading and couldn't put it down. I won't soon forget it, but I sure wish I could.
September 27, 2018
This is certainly an unusual book...it's not a comic in any traditional sense, and frequently not even linear. The creator is definitely a talented artist, having a special talent for human faces. Each page can best be described as fever dream imagery, in which people and objects surface out of a fog of shadow and color.
September 1, 2018
if I hadn't had ("had") to read this to finish a challenge, I would have bailed by the 12th page. It wasn't great for my mental health, to be super honest.
May 18, 2021
More of a sketchbook rather than a coherent story but It seems to be a blend of Dave McKean and Lynda Barry art with some Ellsworth thrown in, so it has a nice palette of colors.
September 2, 2016
What a trippy book! Don't try to understand all of its content because its part sketchbook and part graphic memoir. If you ever w0ndered what the thoughts of a mentally ill person who's off his meds look like, this book is about as close as you can get on paper. Fantastic!
April 12, 2020
Ce que je trouve si fascinant dans l'art brut c'est comment la pathologie mentale s'y exprime souvent sans retenue, sans complexe, ni social, ni personnel, ni rien. C'est un état enviable, ou en tout cas préférable, quand on est un artiste, mais tout le monde n'est malheureusement pas libéré de ce carcan. Les artistes bruts laissent souvent leur imagination aller dans les directions les plus, littéralement, extra-ordinaires.. C'est débridé. C'est passionnant. Même si ça ne fait pas toujours sens.
Le journal de Jesse alterne des pages de sketches/dessins sans mise en contexte, des fragments d'un récit qui penche du côté de l'heroic-fantasy, et des pages de journal intime à proprement parler. Dans la forme, ca part dans tous les sens. Dans le fond, c'est une plongée au premier degré dans l'esprit d'un écrivain et artiste maniaco-dépressif (?) dont la maladie n'est pas toujours traitée, ce qui l'entraine dans des situations précaires, où on le sent démuni, mais en même temps flottant dans une espèce d'absence à sa propre vie..
Ce genre d'œuvre m'intéresse énormément, mais ce n'est sans doute pas pour tout le monde. Une chose est sûre, on doit laisser ses jugements au placard et accueillir cette œuvre non traditionnelle avec bienveillance et humanité.
Side note, j'ai beaucoup aimé son utilisation de la couleur. Mr Walker est loin d'être dépourvu de talent.
"Friends took turns putting me up and putting up with me. I was starting to view my quest as a recon mission to discover which pals I had met over four decades could accommodate my mental illness, now in its full bloom."
Le journal de Jesse alterne des pages de sketches/dessins sans mise en contexte, des fragments d'un récit qui penche du côté de l'heroic-fantasy, et des pages de journal intime à proprement parler. Dans la forme, ca part dans tous les sens. Dans le fond, c'est une plongée au premier degré dans l'esprit d'un écrivain et artiste maniaco-dépressif (?) dont la maladie n'est pas toujours traitée, ce qui l'entraine dans des situations précaires, où on le sent démuni, mais en même temps flottant dans une espèce d'absence à sa propre vie..
Ce genre d'œuvre m'intéresse énormément, mais ce n'est sans doute pas pour tout le monde. Une chose est sûre, on doit laisser ses jugements au placard et accueillir cette œuvre non traditionnelle avec bienveillance et humanité.
Side note, j'ai beaucoup aimé son utilisation de la couleur. Mr Walker est loin d'être dépourvu de talent.
"Friends took turns putting me up and putting up with me. I was starting to view my quest as a recon mission to discover which pals I had met over four decades could accommodate my mental illness, now in its full bloom."
November 24, 2018
I always have mixed feelings when I see work like this. I would love to be able to be this prolific but I don't want the mental illness that goes with it.
In no way is this a quick read. One should study each page to absorb all the layers of chaos. Reklaw uses just about every technique, drawing style and art medium one can think of. Each page is overpopulated with words, images and symbols that demand notice, even if they are hiding in a corner. Some pages have no narrative at all: just random thoughts in the form of haunting images.
Reklaw takes us on a bittersweet roller coaster ride through his chaotic life. Yet he writes it in a matter of fact way; almost without emotion: which makes it even more disturbing.
Definitely recommended.
In no way is this a quick read. One should study each page to absorb all the layers of chaos. Reklaw uses just about every technique, drawing style and art medium one can think of. Each page is overpopulated with words, images and symbols that demand notice, even if they are hiding in a corner. Some pages have no narrative at all: just random thoughts in the form of haunting images.
Reklaw takes us on a bittersweet roller coaster ride through his chaotic life. Yet he writes it in a matter of fact way; almost without emotion: which makes it even more disturbing.
Definitely recommended.
September 27, 2018
I don't even know where to start or what to rate this - I really think that this book loses something by being read digitally - it feels like the only way to read and truly appreciate this book, which is really not a comic or graphic novel but more of an art book, would be to flip through Reklaw's actual sketchbook while he was hovering somewhere nearby. It took me a really long time to get through this one, and while I don't think I would read it again or recommend it as a graphic novel, the art is often quite lovely and extremely layered - I would love to see a page of this being made!
May 8, 2018
A very good look at a man losing his mind. Very good art.
June 15, 2018
3.5 *s. I had no idea what was going on half the time while reading this (probably the point), but the illustrations are phenomenal!
July 22, 2020
At first it was like trying to read the walls in a pub toilet but then it really grew on me.
June 25, 2023
A harrowing, compelling intelligence and artistry, yet gutting reality. Abstraction paired with double tales (mental illness, D&D quest).
January 17, 2024
3.5 stars
September 21, 2016
INSANELY REMARKABLE.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews