EATEN BY DUCKS: FU, CF

Friday, July 03, 2009

FU, CF

16 comments:

SEAN said...: My god, my brain is saturated with this stuff. Very cool to see it removed from context. Very arty.; July 3, 2009 at 1:17 AM
Human Mollusk said...: Okay call me retarded but what does CF stand for? If it's Captain Future I don't recall seeing any of these even though I must have watched nearly every episode.

Anyway, great stills!; July 3, 2009 at 10:30 AM
Jeffrey Meyer said...: I wouldn't call anyone here retarded, except maybe myself.

CF is the artist/haircut of "Powr Mastrs" -- an interesting but ultimately fradulent series of comics from Picturebox. Not a fan, personally. EBD's Jon Chandler does more or less the same thing, only a 100 times better. Naturally, Jon is practically unknown while CF can probably afford to grind up gold dubloons and snort them off of Heidi McDonald's ass.

The stills are from "Thundercats"; July 3, 2009 at 1:16 PM
Human Mollusk said...: Oh okay now I get it, thanks for explaining, Jeffrey. I've seen powr mastrs but wasn't impressed enough to memorize the guy's name.; July 3, 2009 at 2:26 PM
Newman Cruise said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; July 4, 2009 at 2:11 AM
Uland said...: I go back and forth on CF. I'm attracted to the surface- it comes off as a really well designed Darger, or Moebius as an outsider type, draped in a fashionable faux-mysticism. Or something like that. No doubt he can draw very well. I think it's difficult because I want all of those elements to have some kind of equivalent meaning in his comics. It's mostly these magical interactions, but you're not given the means to meet them in a meaningful way. So, it's like this really studied drawing/design, but it's presented like it's some kind of magical accident.
Not sure if you guys read the ComicsComics blog, but they presented a group interview, which included C.F and Yokoyama. C.F said some things that I felt confirmed some of the queasy feelings I have about his approach. Check it out if you're interested..; July 4, 2009 at 10:05 AM
Newman Cruise said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; July 4, 2009 at 11:47 AM
Uland said...: Snap!; July 4, 2009 at 2:21 PM
Chad Verrill said...: What does this mean: "interesting but ultimately fradulent series of comics " are the Powr Mastrs comics drawn by a computer or a group of people or something? I for one and a real C.F. fan. I'll tell myself why in writing because I can't imagine why any of you would care. C.F. draws like we all drew in elementary school. Little delicate touchy lines on crappy paper colored with terrible poster paints or Prismacolor markers and then he puts it on the kitchen table and says, "mommy this is the helmet guy and he is gonna fight this witch. I had a hard time drawing her feet, but I think I got here hair just right." And it's done. He doesn't worry if you can see the eraser marks, or through to the paper on the other side. he just draws and then people print it and we buy it. If it is fraudulent in any way I would like to know how to accomplish such a fraud.; July 7, 2009 at 10:16 AM
SEAN said...: I think the "fraud" is the artifice of such a style. The fact is that dude man CF as he is called, is not a retarded little kid or a retarded adult doing comics, he is part of a naieve art movement that is most likely highly educated & actually capable of much more "advanced" work. It's that Providence art school style that has been coming out of there for a while now. This isn't a judgment, because i wouldn't use the word fraud, i'd just say he's part of that art movement & if you like it, you'll like it. Some of the guys who do that stuff i really like, i was inspired by some of it as well, but ultimately it says "2000s' style" much like moustaches, beards, brown pants, white belts, PBR & ironically retarded taste. PLAYED OUT FOR 2009!; July 7, 2009 at 1:48 PM
Jeffrey Meyer said...: I like the superficial aspects of CF's stuff, but find, upon more thorough examination, that the superficial is that there is there.

He does have a lovely touch, but it is decidely calculated - nothing wrong with that, per se - it's where he draws inspiration that rankles me. All I see in his work is an upper class intelligensia appropriation of the likes of Henry Darger and other deeply troubled, GENUINE outsider artists. People who made art to save their own lives, to make sense of a world that frightened them to death, to calm voices in their head. What CF does is a sort of feigning at madness -- those guys lived it. It's like the difference between PK Dick and Vonnegut -- I love both, and lord knows Vonnegut lived through a lot in Dresden, but Dick's is the work that (technical faults and all) reads like he was writing to make sense of a crumbling mind.

I also see a lot of 80s pop-culture trash (esp animation, hence the stills above) in CF (and most of the Paper Rad, etc. stuff) which I find amusing for about ten seconds then lose interest.

Interesting indeed to compare CF and Yokoyama. The latter is making work that is simultaneously personal, enigmatic, technically and formally innovative, utterly unique, yet wholly unpretentious. One of the greatest cartoonists alive, in my opinion.

I lump CF in with all those "Freak Folk" idiots like Devendra Buttheart -- monied, posturing layabouts fucking Hollywood stars and affecting the styles of their dead betters (like Syd Barret or Skip Spence). I don't really think CF is rich or lazy, but my point remains.; July 12, 2009 at 2:13 AM
Jeffrey Meyer said...: correction

"the superficial is ALL that there is there"; July 12, 2009 at 2:14 AM
SEAN said...: There's that gloves off Eaten By Ducks shit talk that i love to hear!; July 12, 2009 at 12:06 PM
Newman Cruise said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; July 13, 2009 at 5:59 AM
Newman Cruise said...: deleted my previous comments because I`m working out what to say. haven`t decided yet.; July 13, 2009 at 8:38 AM
Aeron said...: I've really enjoyed what I've seen of C.F in KE but haven't had a chance to check out any of his work from Power Mastrs. That's probably spelled wrong. I guess I can't give a valid view of his work until I've seen those so I'll shut up now. But that strip with the dudes destroying the tank dude is awesome.; July 14, 2009 at 1:22 AM

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