Comments on: Sunday Funnies: Bezonki

By: Rod Johnson

Rod Johnson — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 16:15:01 +0000

For what it’s worth, I like Bezonki for the colors, for the widgets, for a linework, for the inventive use of standard cartoon iconography, for the outlandish settings and the sheer zaniness of the drawing. Panel 3 is a great example–a pair of overlaid spiral doodles gives you a vivid, pulsing, glaring sun, the raised…antlers, and the iconic sweat drops and eyebrow action lines show you his excitement (consternation? arousal?), and there’s a bizarre bong/perfume bottle/drink container/lamp widget enigmatically placed on a pedestal just to keep things interesting. And the colors! It’s like Paul Klee was hired to produce the Sunday version of “Nancy.” I don’t care what it “means,” it’s cool.

By: Rod Johnson

Rod Johnson — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 16:03:55 +0000

OK, that’s a little surreal right there.

By: zanzerbar

zanzerbar — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 15:53:42 +0000

A attempt.

By: abc

abc — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 14:10:50 +0000

Mr(s). Zanzerbar,

On both of your visits to this thread you wrote the same thing (although the second version sported an exclaimation point). However it seems that on neither of those visits did you read the very first comment; it is an attempt to explain (interpret) this strip.

By: Zanzerbar

Zanzerbar — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 23:17:35 +0000

After all this commentary about Surrealists,Zen practitioners,Nirvana, Cotton Mather etc.NO one has attempted to explain (interpret) this strip.

Give some of the up and coming artists from the Neutral Zone the opportunity to shine!

By: abc

abc — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 15:51:38 +0000

“… surrealism is inexplicable.” Really

“… it is meant to be an expression of free formed thought without meaning.” Really

First of all I am not sure that I want to label Bezonki as Surreal. I think Mr. Jones is informed by Surrealism but I think he is also informed by other things.

That said, Surrealism is explicable and has meaning, as a matter of fact the Surrealists wrote a manifesto, more than one in fact, explaining their explorations. Surrealist works do not (may not) have obvious narratives. They may very well have multiple narratives. The Surrealist movement was an anti-art movement where the accidental or purposeful juxtaposition of seemingly unrelated things was enjoyed and embraced. Inspired by the work of Freud and his study of dreams and free association, the Surrealists believed that art had become too contrived.

What Surrealism allows and desires, and maybe this is how Mr. Jones wants Bezonki to be viewed, is for the viewer to interpret the work. Look at their exquisite corpse drawings; there is not one interpretation; there are many. Every viewer is welcome to have their own.

By: Eric Wucherer

Eric Wucherer — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 14:01:09 +0000

Thanks cosminican for the thoughts. I disagree with you on a couple of points though. For someone to reach a certain level as a Zen student, it helps to learn from a teacher who is not being a good Zen practitioner – however, beyond a certain level they can only learn from a Zen master who teaches by example (if anybody). So there’s a place for teachers in Zen, and I don’t think it’s realistic or fair to say that surrealism is beyond that.

Also, by “answering” both questions as you did, you’re not only incorrect but possibly misinforming others who might otherwise have learned something there…

By: Rod Johnson

Rod Johnson — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 01:39:01 +0000

Ever notice how just about every story on annarbor.com will have some commenter saying “why is this news?” Complaining about Bezonki reminds me of that.

By: cosmonıcan

cosmonıcan — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 01:37:42 +0000

I did not mean to offend anyone, though he clearly refuses to grasp the point that surrealism is inexplicable. I would propose that those who teach Zen think about it too much, doing is better; but explaining Surrealism is as impossible as defining the limits of infinity, it is meant to be an expression of free formed thought without meaning. A famous Zen koan has a master being asked by a novice: “What is Nirvana?,” he answers “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” Of course the answer to both questions is: “Nothing.”

With that I will endorse Rod’s sentiment in comment #4. If you don’t like Bezonki, then ignore it.

By: Eric Wucherer

Eric Wucherer — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 00:18:02 +0000

Boy cosmonican, way to “be generous” to Jeff H… I don’t understand what he did to be compared with Cotton Mather. Not that I’d compare Bezonki with Zen Buddhism – Zen Buddhism is at least taught by its masters, not hoarded smugly; I’ve appreciated comments on previous Bezonkis supplying some direction (Ed is somewhat helpful in this regard).