Authors: Neil Gaiman (Author) & Chris Riddell (Illustrator)
Series: No
Genres: Art, Writing, Essays, Philosophy, Short Stories, Nonfiction
Short summary of the story: This book includes four articles (can they be called articles when they are so alive and vibrant?) by Neil Gaiman. They are beautifully, cunningly, lovingly (and sometimes terrifyingly) illustrated by Chris Riddell. (Read below, in the Goodreads part, to find out more about the pieces Mr. Gaiman wrote.) Thing is, what Goodreads has doesn't even begin to convey the sheer wonder of the prose and the illustrations and how they blend into a beautifully coherent new whole. The total is, indeed, greater than the sum of the parts.
ps - Some of the illustrations are just so ... funny. On the other hand, one, in particular, was very scary.
Points: This is one of those books which you could probably read in a very short time. Oddly, though, I found myself reading what was on the page, looking at the picture(s), perhaps paging back to see what was there and how it flowed into 'this' page. The concepts Mr. Gaiman writes of, his ideas, linger on after closing the book. And yes, I do remember the 'portrait' Mr. Riddell drew of the woman with button eyes ....
Goodreads celebrates Art Matters with this-
Date published: 2018A stunning and timely creative call-to-arms combining four extraordinary written pieces by Neil Gaiman illustrated with the striking four-color artwork of Chris Riddell.
“The world always seems brighter when you’ve just made something that wasn’t there before.”—Neil Gaiman
Drawn from Gaiman’s trove of published speeches, poems, and creative manifestos, Art Matters is an embodiment of this remarkable multi-media artist’s vision—an exploration of how reading, imagining, and creating can transform the world and our lives.
Art Matters bring together four of Gaiman’s most beloved writings on creativity and artistry:
“Credo,” his remarkably concise and relevant manifesto on free expression, first delivered in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo shootings
“Make Good Art,” his famous 2012 commencement address delivered at the Philadelphia University of the Arts
“Making a Chair,” a poem about the joys of creating something, even when words won’t come
“On Libraries,” an impassioned argument for libraries that illuminates their importance to our future and celebrates how they foster readers and daydreamers
Featuring original illustrations by Gaiman’s longtime illustrator, Chris Riddell, Art Matters is a stirring testament to the freedom of ideas that inspires us to make art in the face of adversity, and dares us to choose to be bold.
