An MFA illustration class in New York spent a semester creating work in response to Brendan Mathews‘s short story “My Last Attempt to Explain to You What Happened with the Lion Tamer.” Here are some of artists’ images, interspersed with lines from the story.
Keith Negley, portrait of lion tamer
“He wasn’t even a good lion tamer, not before you showed up.”
Maëlle Doliveux, from the series A Cage Full of Beasts
“… in that moment of ecstasy (yours, of course) and agony (mine, as always), I swear I heard you laugh…”
Molly Brooks, panel from the graphic novel Ghost Circus
“Every time your body snapped open like a switchblade, your sequined leotard burst into a thousand tiny flashbulbs.”
Jade Schulz, The Lion Tamer Family
“You said his father was a lion tamer, and his mother was a lion tamer’s assistant. So what choice did he have?”
Hye Jin Chung, from the Circus Drawing series
“When something goes wrong, you send in the clowns.”
Read more in our article on art in response to art.