Anxiety is so pervasive in my work, it's like it's not even a thing because it's always there. Like air. I have to work through a layer of anxiety to get to anything else. It's embarrassing to me when people point out to me all the anxiety I portray in my work. I don't ever want to write about anxiety again but it'd be like leaving a huge gap in the picture.
Gabrielle BellBook Everything is Flammable is an odd format though, not quite a diary and not quite a memoir. I was working on it as it was happening. This was gratifying to me.
Gabrielle BellThere are a zillion possibilities that you can do on a piece of paper; there is no rational way to choose. So you have let something else speak... so I can't really remember which comes first, the dialogue or the pictures. It comes from that place where it sort of all comes together on its own.
Gabrielle BellEverything is Flammable was the first full-length book I was able to finish. I started a couple others, but ran out of steam. This one had momentum, I never got bored or discouraged. It is made up of short pieces, which is where my comfort zone is. I'm more of a sprinter than a long-distance runner. When you do a short piece, you get in and get out; you don't linger.
Gabrielle BellI wanted to be a "serious artist." Serious artists didn't tend to be funny. But that didn't get me a lot of attention. And just growing older, you can't help it, you take things less seriously.
Gabrielle BellAnxiety is so pervasive in my work, it's like it's not even a thing because it's always there. Like air. I have to work through a layer of anxiety to get to anything else. It's embarrassing to me when people point out to me all the anxiety I portray in my work. I don't ever want to write about anxiety again but it'd be like leaving a huge gap in the picture.
Gabrielle Bell