Archived Interviews
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Art Is a Potent Weapon: Interview with Eric Drooker 11/18/09
Eric Drooker has proven to be one of the most original and captivating artists of the modern era. His distinctly powerful work has graced the cover of the New Yorker nearly twenty times, been personally selected by Allen Ginsberg to accompany his poems, and, in Flood!: A Novel in Pictures, garnered the prestigious American Book Award.
Drooker’s latest epic, Blood Song: A Silent Ballad, comes to Dark Horse in November in a beautifully remastered second edition. The 300-page book is printed on 100 percent recycled paper with soy ink, in keeping with Drooker’s strong social convictions, which define his art as much as his life.
Despite his hectic work schedule, Drooker had some time between projects and traveling to answer some questions for the Dark Horse website.
Blood Song, like much of your work, was created in scratchboard. Can you explain the process to people who might be unfamiliar with it?
Scratchboard is akin to woodcut or linoleum. You scratch the ink off with a blade, and in the case of Blood Song, I then added watercolor.
It seems that in Blood Song there are two jungles, one natural and one concrete. In the latter, truth and love are ignored by the majority of people and squelched by the powers that be. Yet your work has been seen as an organic growth, in part, from Manhattan’s Lower East Side. What do you see as the benefits and drawbacks of the way modern cities are structured?
One of the most glaring problems is the grid. Architecture follows the grid too closely, so city dwellers like me grow up in various-sized cubicles. I’d love to live in a cylindrical structure someday. Or a sphere.
You became friends with, and worked with, Allen Ginsberg on Illuminated Poems. Did that experience change you artistically, and if so, how?
The poet Allen Ginsberg continues to inspire me in so many ways. In fact, I’m currently putting the finishing touches on the animated portion of the upcoming film Howl, which will be released in 2010.
Howl focuses on the 1957 obscenity trial surrounding the famous poem. Is this your first animated piece? Can you talk about what audiences should look forward to seeing?
The film dramatizes the writing of the cold war poem and its subsequent obscenity trial. I was hired to animate the poem itself, which is at the heart of the film. It’s been a difficult and exciting three years -- animating for the first time, assisted by a large team of 3-D animators. It’s a hallucinatory film noir vision, unlike anything seen before.
You’ve become well known for creating posters for a variety of causes, and for your New Yorker covers. What makes you want to work in the sequential-art medium?
Since childhood, I’ve always responded strongly to narrative art. Art that tells a story. A painting for a New Yorker can suggest a story -- or create a mood. But stringing together hundreds of images gives me the opportunity to spin epic tales, full of subtlety and adventure.
Like Flood!, Blood Song is a wordless story. Why have you chosen for these books to be wordless?
As a visual artist, I’m challenged to see how much I can communicate visually—without resorting to words. And as an author, I’m concerned that words could easily become a crutch. Pictures hit us on a more primal level.
The Library of Congress now houses the original art from Flood! in their public prints collection, resting next to work by Lynd Ward. Were you influenced by Ward’s art in any way? And how do you feel having your work alongside his?
I’m incredibly humbled and honored to sit next to Lynd Ward in the Library of Congress. I stumbled upon his wordless woodcut novels as a teenager and was inspired to see rare examples of wordless epic narratives.
Would you say that politics inspire your art, or that art inspires your politics?
Politics inspires my farts. But seriously, art is a potent weapon which can be used to elevate consciousness and organize the sleeping masses.
What do you see as the biggest issues facing American society today?
Historical amnesia. Ignorance of our own history. Ignorance of the fact that we’re the only industrial society without public health care -- everyone else has had it for over fifty years now. And our terminal habit of dominating societies that have so much to teach us. Our military culture is leading us on a downward spiral.
What current art or artist moves you?
The street musicians who play in subway stations, under bridges, and on street corners in cities around the world. They inspire me to continue. All power to the imagination!
Click here to read a 40-page preview of Blood Song: A Silent Ballad by Erick Drooker. And here to be redirected to Drooker’s personal website with beautiful galleries of his other work.
Drooker’s latest epic, Blood Song: A Silent Ballad, comes to Dark Horse in November in a beautifully remastered second edition. The 300-page book is printed on 100 percent recycled paper with soy ink, in keeping with Drooker’s strong social convictions, which define his art as much as his life.
Despite his hectic work schedule, Drooker had some time between projects and traveling to answer some questions for the Dark Horse website.
Blood Song, like much of your work, was created in scratchboard. Can you explain the process to people who might be unfamiliar with it?
Scratchboard is akin to woodcut or linoleum. You scratch the ink off with a blade, and in the case of Blood Song, I then added watercolor.
It seems that in Blood Song there are two jungles, one natural and one concrete. In the latter, truth and love are ignored by the majority of people and squelched by the powers that be. Yet your work has been seen as an organic growth, in part, from Manhattan’s Lower East Side. What do you see as the benefits and drawbacks of the way modern cities are structured?
One of the most glaring problems is the grid. Architecture follows the grid too closely, so city dwellers like me grow up in various-sized cubicles. I’d love to live in a cylindrical structure someday. Or a sphere.
You became friends with, and worked with, Allen Ginsberg on Illuminated Poems. Did that experience change you artistically, and if so, how?
The poet Allen Ginsberg continues to inspire me in so many ways. In fact, I’m currently putting the finishing touches on the animated portion of the upcoming film Howl, which will be released in 2010.
Howl focuses on the 1957 obscenity trial surrounding the famous poem. Is this your first animated piece? Can you talk about what audiences should look forward to seeing?
The film dramatizes the writing of the cold war poem and its subsequent obscenity trial. I was hired to animate the poem itself, which is at the heart of the film. It’s been a difficult and exciting three years -- animating for the first time, assisted by a large team of 3-D animators. It’s a hallucinatory film noir vision, unlike anything seen before.
You’ve become well known for creating posters for a variety of causes, and for your New Yorker covers. What makes you want to work in the sequential-art medium?
Since childhood, I’ve always responded strongly to narrative art. Art that tells a story. A painting for a New Yorker can suggest a story -- or create a mood. But stringing together hundreds of images gives me the opportunity to spin epic tales, full of subtlety and adventure.
Like Flood!, Blood Song is a wordless story. Why have you chosen for these books to be wordless?
As a visual artist, I’m challenged to see how much I can communicate visually—without resorting to words. And as an author, I’m concerned that words could easily become a crutch. Pictures hit us on a more primal level.
The Library of Congress now houses the original art from Flood! in their public prints collection, resting next to work by Lynd Ward. Were you influenced by Ward’s art in any way? And how do you feel having your work alongside his?
I’m incredibly humbled and honored to sit next to Lynd Ward in the Library of Congress. I stumbled upon his wordless woodcut novels as a teenager and was inspired to see rare examples of wordless epic narratives.
Would you say that politics inspire your art, or that art inspires your politics?
Politics inspires my farts. But seriously, art is a potent weapon which can be used to elevate consciousness and organize the sleeping masses.
What do you see as the biggest issues facing American society today?
Historical amnesia. Ignorance of our own history. Ignorance of the fact that we’re the only industrial society without public health care -- everyone else has had it for over fifty years now. And our terminal habit of dominating societies that have so much to teach us. Our military culture is leading us on a downward spiral.
What current art or artist moves you?
The street musicians who play in subway stations, under bridges, and on street corners in cities around the world. They inspire me to continue. All power to the imagination!
Click here to read a 40-page preview of Blood Song: A Silent Ballad by Erick Drooker. And here to be redirected to Drooker’s personal website with beautiful galleries of his other work.
