Sleuth is an ongoing series of comics which branch across a few different “mediums” – zines, exhibitions of comics made for the wall, poster comics, paintings etc. The title character is Ivan Brackic, a pseudonym for the artist John Brack, who I decided to make the main person throughout the series, though there are countless characters who get their turn to shine. It loosely follows his investigations into the current situation of Australian spirituality … and what it looks like today.
Each year will have a new volume of Sleuth with Volume 2 debuting in Alice Springs as a side-show to my ehibition at Watch This Space – The Long Weekend in Alice Springs. Volume 2 will also contain an ongoing poster-comic component, which will be featured in selected cafes across Australia. With the main character attending each of the different cafes throughout those adventures as he tries to figure out what the hell is going on in this country.
Here’s some comics from Sleuth Volume 1
- The Department of Conversation
- The Academic
- The Waldheimerin
In November 2012, as part of Volume 1, I exhibited a large comics display – comics that took up the Paddy Lyn space in Inflight Artist Run Initiative in Hobart (now called CONSTANCE ARI), criss-crossing the walls. Some of the photos from that exhibition can be seen lower down on this page. The first Sleuth zine is also available from San Kessto Publication.
Process diaries from the 2012 exhibition
Here’s diary number#1 – March
Diary number#2 – May
Diary #3 – October 2012
Diary #4 – November – installation!! Here’s a general post
Below is a diagrammatic representation of how the exhibition functioned – with comics criss-crossing the walls and some initial sketch ideas followed by photos of the actual exhibition.
