Celluloid

A work of erotica meant to be as stimulating mentally as it is visually by famed illustrator/director McKean (MirrorMask). The book's story, of a bored woman waiting for her partner to get home from a late night at work who discovers a film projector with a mysterious pornographic scene loaded onto it, serves as simple setup for a tale told without words. McKean's ability to master many artistic styles and use them to present an ever-changing surreal visual narrative is on full display. As the woman's night brings her from one mysterious encounter to another, McKean employs pencils, inks, charcoals, paint, photographic collages, photography with live models and more, mixing them together as the story builds in its visual complexity. The work has a dreamlike quality throughout, sometimes confusing, sometimes nightmarish, sometimes bizarre, as shapes and people meld and twist into one another. Nothing is ever really explained or resolved, putting the burden on reader to take their own meaning away from the night's events. (June)