Overview

"""Individuality, the essence of our current cities and communal rites / capitalist meaning, is only possible when we see the bigger 'we'."" - Terre Theimlitz The Weight: A Small Book with 167 Drawings of People Waiting, Waiting in a line...waiting on the phone...waiting patiently...working at home, contains 167 wonderfully expressive silhouettes of MP Fikaris's Everyone. The figure stands alone with a phone or shopping bags or arms folded, helpless or eager or inquiring; sits, reading documents held at arm's length, or on an unseen chair in a waiting room; stands in a group, individuality increased by the presence of others. Everywhere the background is blank, subtly encouraging or threatening. The figure always wears a hazmat suit, faceplate serving for a face, air filter serving for a nose. All these figures are stark and vulnerable, minutely observed and drawn with affection. They are us - they know as much or as little as we do, are as much as the mercy of their bags and baggage, or as hopeful, as we are. They're a silent army of our habits and ways, archetypal as Tarot cards. The drawings in the Prologue were selected from a number of diary entries Fikaris created during Melbourne's stay at home orders. The four pages shown here have been redrawn and refined from the originals. The section ""Be Meta"" was originally commissioned in the early months of 2021 by the Flash Forward project, aimed at revitalizing forty of Melbourne's less-known laneways. The figures Fikaris drew for that project formed a mural and an affirmation chart of ways to be in a pandemic. Each character was drawn from photos people sent to the artist, depicting people at work during the third and longest stay at home order. ""The Weight"" was originally commissioned as a set of prints in late 2020 by Backwoods Gallery. Fikaris describes the Epilogue as ""part of a new series of works... not meant to be a negative finish to this small book of illustrations, only a reminder that this pandemic is not over."" The figures on the covers sit on visible chairs, the only figures in the collection with an explicit context. They drip oil they don't seem to see. As if footnoting the epigraph, those two images seem to suggest that communal meaning doesn't only consist of being among other people, but also of being in a physical world, among geological weights and consequences. File under: Comics; Poetry; Pandemic Funnies"

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9781648714900

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Reviews

"The Weight slowly builds while staying in the same place. Its funny & weird & unique. And also good. - Shannon Wheeler, New Yorker cartoonist; author, Too Much Coffee Man Fikaris explores the tentativeness of identity under lockdown with a deceptively light hand. Before Homo Sapiens decided that COVID was here to stay, the existential shock of proximity to a mysterious death brought people to simultaneously lose their performative identities & rely on them even more. The Weight brilliantly captures this fine line between archetype & dissolution. The individuals in this book are poured into protective suits, converted to slapstick yet elegant symbols. Some are forlorn; others indomitable. Moving through this index of personalities is a humorously hypnotic exercise. Not unlike querents' use of the I Ching, I envision a future bibliomancy where readers randomly flip to pages in this book for insight. Is the correct response to today's challenges the reckoner or donk? - Jennifer Robin, performance artist, narrative trickster, author, You Only Bend Once with a Spoonful of Mercury, Death Confetti ""s! # 37 - kus! Comics take us ""Down Down Under"" in a collection of the work of 20-plus Australian comics creators.... & there's a lesson to us all in Michael Fikaris's Message to a Younger Self that maps the wisdom of hindsight onto more representational imagery."" - Andy Oliver, Broken Frontier: Exploring the Comix Universe ""[Fikaris] paints a picture of these artists as doing the work primarily for the joy of creating sequential art, making friends, & building community, not necessarily for financial remuneration.... The resulting collection feels like a high-end zine, crafted with care & energy."" - Robert Kirby, reviewing s! Baltic Comics Magazine #37 ""...[Fikaris's] Silent Army does a vital community service by curating anthologies, holding workshops & exhibitions, archiving & building international ties with other comic scenes."" - Comics Journal #308, Scene Report, Wint.-Spr. 2022 Fikaris: ...It's like keeping the pen walking. Gerrard: You keep the pen walking? Fikaris: It's an old expression: You take the pen for a walk. - Bench Talk [podcast] 96/Fikaris, Tom Gerrard"

The Weight slowly builds while staying in the same place. Its funny & weird & unique. And also good. - Shannon Wheeler, New Yorker cartoonist; author, Too Much Coffee Man Fikaris explores the tentativeness of identity under lockdown with a deceptively light hand. Before Homo Sapiens decided that COVID was here to stay, the existential shock of proximity to a mysterious death brought people to simultaneously lose their performative identities & rely on them even more. The Weight brilliantly captures this fine line between archetype & dissolution. The individuals in this book are poured into protective suits, converted to slapstick yet elegant symbols. Some are forlorn; others indomitable. Moving through this index of personalities is a humorously hypnotic exercise. Not unlike querents' use of the I Ching, I envision a future bibliomancy where readers randomly flip to pages in this book for insight. Is the correct response to today's challenges the reckoner or donk? - Jennifer Robin, performance artist, narrative trickster, author, You Only Bend Once with a Spoonful of Mercury, Death Confetti s! # 37 - kus! Comics take us Down Down Under in a collection of the work of 20-plus Australian comics creators.... & there's a lesson to us all in Michael Fikaris's Message to a Younger Self that maps the wisdom of hindsight onto more representational imagery. - Andy Oliver, Broken Frontier: Exploring the Comix Universe [Fikaris] paints a picture of these artists as doing the work primarily for the joy of creating sequential art, making friends, & building community, not necessarily for financial remuneration.... The resulting collection feels like a high-end zine, crafted with care & energy. - Robert Kirby, reviewing s! Baltic Comics Magazine #37 ...[Fikaris's] Silent Army does a vital community service by curating anthologies, holding workshops & exhibitions, archiving & building international ties with other comic scenes. - Comics Journal #308, Scene Report, Wint.-Spr. 2022 Fikaris: ...It's like keeping the pen walking. Gerrard: You keep the pen walking? Fikaris: It's an old expression: You take the pen for a walk. - Bench Talk [podcast] 96/Fikaris, Tom Gerrard

Author Information

MP Fikaris is a multidisciplinary artist who can be found drawing every day in Naarm (Melbourne), Australia. They work primarily on comic art, printmaking and painting, exploring ideas of persistence and connection. Fikaris has artwork held in numerous private collections as well as the National Gallery of Victoria (Living Artists Collection), State Library of Victoria (Artists' Books Collection) and National Gallery of Australia (Book Arts Collection).Alongside his artistic oeuvre, Fikaris is a small press publisher and community arts worker, which has allowed him to work extensively with various communities as well as art institutions and educational bodies. He has been coordinating printed artist anthologies, live events and workshops under the name Silent Army since 2007.In 2017 he was awarded the National Platinum Ledger for outstanding service to Australian comics.In 2022 he continues to draw every day, work on local commissions and finish his comic book opus.

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