i chatted with kevin budnik about the online comics scene, festivals, drag, and more for his cartooning podcast, tight pencils!
interview with macy rodman
plot twist -- i conduct interviews sometimes!
i recently chatted with macy rodman ahead of her upcoming performance at toronto's beloved hotnuts party. her debut full-length album the lake is out now, and it's incredible. check out the whole interview here. thanks to frank at omgblog!
lady gaga comic review in now magazine
this past week, NOW Magazine sent me to review the first of two Toronto stops on Lady Gaga's Joanne World Tour. major thanks to Kevin Ritchie and Richard Trapunski at NOW for making a dream gig like this happen.
the comic will be available in next week's issue.
interview on lambda literary
i recently spoke with Cathy Camper about Condo Heartbreak Disco, gentrification, drag, growing up on comics, and more -- check it out here!
sketchbook
illustration in now magazine
this week i have a new illustration featuring kim k, drake, and harry styles accompanying a piece on celeb fan fiction for NOW Magazine -- you can check out the article here. big thanks to kevin and michelle!
condo heartbreak disco reviewed on pop matters
"Eric Kostiuk Williams’ Condo Heartbreak Disco fluctuates between superhero parody and superhero tale set in an absurdist world that reflects but warps ours like a funhouse mirror."
check out the full review here!
condo heartbreak disco reviewed on comic bastards
"Condo Heartbreak Disco is an atypical social critique that is genuinely relatable despite its outrageous characters and setting. While Toronto's plight may be a bit exaggerated, it can feel all too familiar to residents of nearly any metropolitan area in North America. Cities such as San Francisco have become impossible to afford for anyone except the extremely wealthy due to speculative property investments. If you're one of the masses resisting invading hordes of affluent assholes or even if you live in a rural area, the theme of helplessness and insecurity in the face of the never-ending march of “progress” is something that resonates with anyone in the 21st century."
check out the full review here! thanks to wes jones for his thoughtful review of the book
'propped' opening next weekend
our set of tarot cards have arrived from the printers!
the four of them, inspired by Gregg Araki's cult classic The Living End, were commissioned by Vincent Chevalier for the group show 'Propped', opening June 25th at Oakville Galleries.
"To propose, to proposition, to prop up: Propped explores the varied functions and meanings of the prop in the work of contemporary Canadian artists, examining how objects make and shape history. The word “prop" suggests an inanimate but moveable object that must be activated by a human subject, one that is neither autonomous, nor a backdrop for human activity, but something in between: a “thing" that gains meaning through the context of its use.
And yet, these artists' works demonstrate that props are more than mere things. Through strategies of archival research, staged photography, stand-up comedy, and assemblage, the artists in Propped position props as highly charged objects that mediate identities and frame our relationship to politics and the landscape.
Several works treat props as the supplementary materials of statecraft: the objects that set the stage for histories to be written and rewritten. In others, props are vital to processes of self-definition, working to create personae through human-object relations that are comedic, heartfelt or implicitly violent. Props can also take on a life of their own, acting on human subjects rather than being activated by them.
Through these diverse practices, props emerge as tools for proposing alternative pasts and new futures for objects, revealing the unexpected power everyday things can wield.
Participants from Abbas Akhavan's work will be present at Oakville Galleries in Gairloch Gardens each day between 2:00 pm and 3:00 pm.
Propped is made possible in part through the support of volunteers in the Oakville-Milton-Halton Hills St. John Ambulance Therapy Dog Program.
Curated by Gabrielle Moser"
stockholm international comics festival!
it was an honour to be able to attend the stockholm international comics festival last weekend as one of the canadian guests, alongside patrick kyle, kelly mellings, and patti laboucane! we gave a talk on our comics at the canadian embassy, exhibited our work for the weekend, and got to meet a bunch of nice folks involved in sweden's comics scene.
warmest thanks to koyama press and the toronto comic arts festival for making the trip possible. stockholm is real purdy, and i hope to go back there sometime!