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QVIET
If someone else out there is working this fearlessly with the silliness of sex, I’m almost afraid to find out. — The Comics Journal
Burkholder uses line in fresh and startling ways to cast new light on humanity’s most enduring obsession. — Anya Davidson
Qviet focuses on the abstractions of sex, of seeing, and the fluid relations between the two. Using the strip, one of the oldest formal modes in comics, as the misleadingly benign container for his explorations, Burkholder challenges the reader to reimagine not only what falls under the purview of this form, but the larger conceptions of sex as a set of abstract symbols that inform our daily lives. Qviet stands as an example of the ever expanding potential of comics in the 21st century.
Burkholder uses line in fresh and startling ways to cast new light on humanity’s most enduring obsession. — Anya Davidson
Qviet focuses on the abstractions of sex, of seeing, and the fluid relations between the two. Using the strip, one of the oldest formal modes in comics, as the misleadingly benign container for his explorations, Burkholder challenges the reader to reimagine not only what falls under the purview of this form, but the larger conceptions of sex as a set of abstract symbols that inform our daily lives. Qviet stands as an example of the ever expanding potential of comics in the 21st century.
- GenresComicsGraphic Novels
248 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 11, 2015
This is my first encounter with Burkholder's work, and since it is art comics, I had to take some time with it to figure out what it is really about. In one sense it is about sex, and there's a lot of it here, in comic strip form. At first it just seemed like it was a bunch of sex jokes, and maybe just overall about the artist's sexual obsessions. And both of these things may also in fact be true, but that's not what it is essentially about.
The book as I see it IS about sexual obsession, but in a larger sense is about how we view and think about sex. In the process of this sort of "meditation" about sex, Burkholder sometimes tips his hand with questions or purposes he has. For instance, he seems to be looking for a new vocabulary or way of looking at sex, and also new ways of looking, generally, and he chooses comics as a way to do this exploration. As he says at one point, "I want to discover new concepts for images." And if you look close, this is what he is trying to do. And for my money, does.
The art appears initially quick and sketchy, but then at a closer look you see he is carefully looking at various ways many of us look at sex, and ways he might help us look at that looking. At one point he seems to take markers and mark up earlier comics. Just draws all over them.
Sometimes the images obscure, transmogrify, shape shift, become abstractions; sometimes the work just seems like an artist's journal of sexual obsession, but at other times, look more deeply, maybe, and the work sometimes reminds of Picasso's women, though in truth, it echoes the art of any artist who purports to do as Pound said about poetry, "make it new." Any artist who is trying to deeply rethink the nature of representation. I really think this is true of many comics artists today, trying to develop a new language for seeing the world, and Burkholder is certainly part of that movement.
At the very end, in a short series entitled "Qviet" he has a small cartoonish character reflect on the futility of communication, or language, itself; the character just stops talking at some point in his life. And after all the sex in this largish book, this character actually walks away from a sexual act.
The last page is about a cartoonist we see depicted who writes "looking for love" on a page, then thinks of (In a thought bubble) a series of wavy lines. Then crosses out "looking for love" and writes "looking at love." Followed by a series of squiggly lines, an image of the artist breaking the point of his pencil as he moves outside the box and off the page. . . which would seem to definitively establish that the project is decidedly NOT just about sex.
But it also very much IS about sex, too, and how he/we think of it. In other words, Burkholder may indeed be looking FOR love as most of us are, but he is also looking AT love (or sex) which finally might mean for him basically the same thing.
And be warned, if you need a warning, there is plenty of adult material here, some of it very graphic, some of it amusing, some of it provocative, some of it potentially offensive for some readers. My view, after spending some time with it is that this is a very thoughtful and smart comics artist at work.
The book as I see it IS about sexual obsession, but in a larger sense is about how we view and think about sex. In the process of this sort of "meditation" about sex, Burkholder sometimes tips his hand with questions or purposes he has. For instance, he seems to be looking for a new vocabulary or way of looking at sex, and also new ways of looking, generally, and he chooses comics as a way to do this exploration. As he says at one point, "I want to discover new concepts for images." And if you look close, this is what he is trying to do. And for my money, does.
The art appears initially quick and sketchy, but then at a closer look you see he is carefully looking at various ways many of us look at sex, and ways he might help us look at that looking. At one point he seems to take markers and mark up earlier comics. Just draws all over them.
Sometimes the images obscure, transmogrify, shape shift, become abstractions; sometimes the work just seems like an artist's journal of sexual obsession, but at other times, look more deeply, maybe, and the work sometimes reminds of Picasso's women, though in truth, it echoes the art of any artist who purports to do as Pound said about poetry, "make it new." Any artist who is trying to deeply rethink the nature of representation. I really think this is true of many comics artists today, trying to develop a new language for seeing the world, and Burkholder is certainly part of that movement.
At the very end, in a short series entitled "Qviet" he has a small cartoonish character reflect on the futility of communication, or language, itself; the character just stops talking at some point in his life. And after all the sex in this largish book, this character actually walks away from a sexual act.
The last page is about a cartoonist we see depicted who writes "looking for love" on a page, then thinks of (In a thought bubble) a series of wavy lines. Then crosses out "looking for love" and writes "looking at love." Followed by a series of squiggly lines, an image of the artist breaking the point of his pencil as he moves outside the box and off the page. . . which would seem to definitively establish that the project is decidedly NOT just about sex.
But it also very much IS about sex, too, and how he/we think of it. In other words, Burkholder may indeed be looking FOR love as most of us are, but he is also looking AT love (or sex) which finally might mean for him basically the same thing.
And be warned, if you need a warning, there is plenty of adult material here, some of it very graphic, some of it amusing, some of it provocative, some of it potentially offensive for some readers. My view, after spending some time with it is that this is a very thoughtful and smart comics artist at work.
January 4, 2017
Burkholder is a master of comics form.
Sean T. Collins' review of the work in online form is well written. http://www.tcj.com/reviews/q-v-i-e-t/
Sean T. Collins' review of the work in online form is well written. http://www.tcj.com/reviews/q-v-i-e-t/
December 13, 2016
cool book that consists of many 1 or 0.5 page long cartoons obsessed with death, sex, and inevitably, life. there's a lot of humor in them.
the format of the pieces varies between super-abstract to somewhat representational, each of which therefore reads like a visual, intellectual puzzle with multiple answers.
the format of the pieces varies between super-abstract to somewhat representational, each of which therefore reads like a visual, intellectual puzzle with multiple answers.
September 23, 2021
->There is zero story within<-
You will not know what you are looking at throughout it's entirety. I "understood?" about 1 in 10 pages at best. You will unerringly frustrate yourself if you attempt to "gain" anything out of this.
It's like one big terrible fart joke of artness. The weird art crowd must be calling it "edgy" and "explorative". But it's the worst that you will EVER see that is done by a professional. He purposefully distorts EVERYTHING- but you won't even recognize what much of it is supposed to "represent".
I love erotic/sexy imagery but this guy does it wrong- it's just gross or incomprehensible.
!AVOID!
You will not know what you are looking at throughout it's entirety. I "understood?" about 1 in 10 pages at best. You will unerringly frustrate yourself if you attempt to "gain" anything out of this.
It's like one big terrible fart joke of artness. The weird art crowd must be calling it "edgy" and "explorative". But it's the worst that you will EVER see that is done by a professional. He purposefully distorts EVERYTHING- but you won't even recognize what much of it is supposed to "represent".
I love erotic/sexy imagery but this guy does it wrong- it's just gross or incomprehensible.
!AVOID!
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December 14, 2023Got old quick
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews