DELPHI: A JOURNEY IN ONE LINE

So far I’ve worked with my graphic novel DELPHI as:

  • a written manuscript; and now,
  • an art performance of a continuous, single line drawn on a very long scroll of paper accompanied by improvised classical music by Eugene Feygelson.

Drawing everything in one line, whether they are continuous line comic books, portraits or landscapes, helps this crippling backtracking to perfectionism because I cannot go backwards. It has to be done in one line. THE RIGHT LINE. Similarly, one difficulty with sharing clips from my solo show: I can now see elements I’d like to change, to tweak, to polish, to perfect further. It’s very difficult to see pictures of me or my artwork or hear my performance without wanting to do it all over again, even better for you. Long story short: here is a very short video for all those loved ones and far away friends who would be here if only they could

Concept, Narration & Art: Tamar Levi
Music: Eugene Feygelson
Video: Vasileios Katsardis
Additional shots: Sandra Hodjic
Location: Clique Art, Brussels, Belgium
Date: September 15, 2018

Now I’m working on scaling it down to publication size. This is meta level stuff, thin line abstract work, to hold a narrative flow in your head and the dynamic of a single line’s movement as you move from page to page. The edge of the page is a looming cliffhanger in itself. It’s a tight-wire kind of challenge thinking about where page breaks should be in order to keep the tension in the narrative. But there’s something magnificent in the simple beauty of the varying thickness of the black line on the white page. A minimalism. A purity. Taking a line for a walk into the air. 

I’m trying to place the movement of the live performance on the page in order to send to publication. My thoughts feel akin to a musician’s now as I make decisions between what magic happened live and what could go on the album for eternity. The shape of Delphi here is different to the posture I chose to illustrate on stage. Which was better? I feel like asking everyone who was in the audience before I commit. To go with the phrase “You were protected”, one shape was more womb-like but this one is more relaxing. Ugh, perfectionism strikes again.