The West Wing

Keep looking at this...it grows on you!, 22 Oct 2014

This review is from: The West Wing (Hardcover)
Thirty strange b/w drawings of room interiors, each requiring you to look and use your imagination to see what (might) be going on: a shadow on a wall of an apparently levitating woman; a ghostly face peering through a window and a letter on the floor; two (handkerchiefs?) flying; a candle apparently flying through the air... The more I looked at this, the more I liked it.

A wordless book, each little page illustrated with a single picture suggestive of something malicious, mysterious, or just weird. Three shoes abandoned in an empty room, a ladder casting an ominous shadow, the reflection of something (the hem of a dress?) just as it disappears round a corner, a lumpy black doll like thing hanging from the ceiling by a wire. Is there a narrative? Who knows! Also, an adorable lizard creature, looking quite alone. Again, not the best Gorey ever, but the fact that such simple pictures can be so unsettling is testament to his skill.

A series of Gorey illustrations that tell a story? I think? I dunno. I can't say I got much from this beyond just the neat, slight off-ness that one always gets looking at Gorey stuff. Worth looking at, but maybe not worth buying unless one is a big Gorey fan and/or a completionist.

A collection of drawings each depicting a scene from a room in the West Wing of a substantial family home. Each drawing takes the viewer on a fascinating journey, which is often macabre and disturbing as well as intriguing and fun. Superb.

A glimpse into what a Gorey silent movie might look like.

A glimpse into what a Gorey silent movie might look like.

A glimpse into what a Gorey silent movie might look like.