In February 2004, the ''San Francisco Chronicle''
began printing an enigmatic feature called ''All Over
Coffee.'' Almost immediately, letters of love and hate,
confusion and praise poured in. Accustomed to the
familiar formats of comic strips and cartoons, some
readers struggled to understand a creation that seemed
to live both within and beyond those boundaries.''All
Over Coffee'' blends the timing of comics with the depth
of poetry. Artist and writer Paul Madonna has fused art,
literature, and comics by pairing timeless cityscapes
with philosophical musings and poignant stories in
masterfully rendered ink-wash drawings that surpass the
art of Ben Katchor in elegance and architectural detail.
His work has been compared to ''a meeting of the tone of
Edward Gorey, the uniqueness of Chris Ware, and the
artfulness of Raymond Pettibon.''Quirky, whimsical, and
often profound, ''All Over Coffee'''s stunning imagery
and thoughtful writing combine to create a conceptual
world, both dreamlike and familiar. This selection will
delight anyone who has ever lived in or visited San
Francisco--or dreamed of doing so--with its original,
off-the-beaten-path view of the city and its
inhabitants.Paul Madonna moved to San Francisco and
began to self-publish comics after graduating from
Carnegie Mellon University's fine arts program and an
internship at ''MAD'' magazine. In 2002 he launched his
incredibly popular website, www.paulmadonna.com, posting
a new cartoon each week. In 2004 the ''San Francisco
Chronicle'' and SFGate.com picked up his strip ''All
Over Coffee,'' which continues to appear weekly. |
|