NYC TAP / I'M VERY FOND OF YOU

this is the first book i worked on for les éditions mmyope. the intent was to very quickly put something out — not because i worried i would run out of steam, but because it was absolutely necessary.

this meant working within rigid confines and setting strong goals, avoiding compromise along the way.

for it to be quick the stories would have to clear — two stories of growth that meet in the middle. for the book to get done i would need motivation, bringing in an extremely talented artist to produce gorgeous etchings seemed like the right amount of accountability.

faye blue brought her a-game to this project and her etchings remain what i go back to when i need to stay agile and present in the fog of production. at once landscapes and microcosm. evocative prints that worked out all the knots of the project.

i treated the project with a certain hermetic fervor, faye let the steam out and created room for each story to advocate for themself.

as the book is presented in a tête-bêche format (wherein two stories are told at either end of a book), so as to not favor either over the other, their eventual meeting in the middle was going to be a deciding factor in the book's success. i had introduced the morse code system that would allow common ground, though it is the etchings that let them communicate together.

from i'm very fond of you — the giant in greenwood.

from i'm very fond of you — sun rays parting an overcast sky.

from i'm very fond of you — beginnings of a friendship.

from nyc tap — finally free.

from nyc tap — still holding on.

from nyc tap — the dream sequence.

"i am very fond of you" tells the story of a giant who will not stop growing. i must thank jessica martinez for giving me the image of whales meeting the giant, thus giving him his heart in the story. i wanted a celestial finish for the tender man (the giant quite literally folds into the fabric of space). that informed the end for "nyc tap", where a good deed is met with a radiant gift.

both stories speculate on the inevitabilities of growing.

they are available to read on the mmyope website, mm-003 to mm-009