THE PAST IS A GROTESQUE ANIMAL

Parrish’s scrapbook collection of stories, still life photos, and diaristic drawings depict an artistic mind in motion.

Nineteen chapters bounce among theme, art styles, color, specificity, and mood. From the beginning, Parrish invites readers inside their process with an image that looks as though it’s mounted on the page with masking tape. This zine-like approach continues throughout the book with sketches pulled from journals, images of Parrish and friends, and overlaid collages. In an imagined story about characters on the Maury Povich show and in short pieces about presenting work at art galleries, Parrish prompts readers to study their own positions as spectators. The majority of the comics in this collection are light on plot but heavy on emotion. In the graphic medium, Parrish chooses to literalize metaphors in their drawings. One of the longer stories is about carrying someone you love in a box around your neck. The character (who is also an artist) then offers everyone at an art gallery opening the chance to be cared for and remembered by climbing into in a box that the artist will then carry around their neck. Parrish shows a facility with different line thicknesses, shadings, and color palettes across their work. The panels and typesetting are constantly in motion around the pages, which makes this collection a physically interactive experience requiring readers to turn the book to engage with the imagery.

Imaginative aesthetic juxtapositions and an evocative voice make this an absorbing collage of the comics craft.