If you are one of the fortunate thousands who enjoy untangling theenigmatic images that fill Jim Woodring's comics and drawings, Problematic isjust the book for you to put under your pillow and dream on. Woodring is adevotee of the pocket-sized Moleskine sketchbook and has filled at least one permonth since 2004. Quick concept sketches, figure studies, self-challenges, finished drawings, revenge portraits and caricatures, scene tryouts...everything goes into these idea batteries. Problematic provides the adventurousviewer with a bounty of unfiltered, hand-captured glimpses of life by an artistthat Publishers Weekly called, "a modern master of hallucinatory cartoonfables." Lots of this material re-emerges in the form of pictures and storylinesbut much of it is just too baffling to be harnessed for any practical use. Ofcourse, these untamable notions are the best and most interesting ones; andthere are plenty of them here in the 300-page brick of Problematic. Problematicis a rollicking amalgam of reportage (i. e. the man who blew his arm off),speculative anatomy, fancy women, make-a-face games, picture-puzzles, gags, riffs and burlesques. Catalogue and exhibition simultaneously, Problematic isyour best bet for a brief, energizing stroll in a distinctively enjoyableneighborhood. | Problematic by Jim Woodring, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters