Barely Lame

featuring Graphic Design student Bailey Lane's large-format sequential art. See statement below.

"Barely Lame" publicity | Bailey Lane

FREE TABLE | Bailey Lane

SHIRTS | Bailey Lane

THEATER | Bailey Lane

TAPE BALL | Bailey Lane

CAR WARRANTY | Bailey Lane

RAIN AND ALEXA | Bailey Lane

BIRDS | Bailey Lane

ART SHOW | Bailey Lane

WIFI | Bailey Lane

post cards | Bailey Lane

Gallery shots of reception | "Barely Lame" by Bailey Lane

BARELY LAME

by Bailey Lane

Art isn’t just the finished product for me. Art is the process of making something.

While a pun on my own name, the title Barely Lameis meant to encompass the idea that even lame art takes work. When I started drawing comics in 6th grade, I could hardly even draw humans. My friends and I would draw ourselves as personified breakfast foods. Eventually, I learned how to draw more recognizable humanoid characters and could do more to my comics than I could with just a face on a pop-tart. Famous comedian Bo Burnham once said he didn’t want his audience leaving a show with aching stomachs from laughing too much. He just wanted them to think “Meh… alright…” and that was it. The point being: it doesn’t have to be the best, but hopefully my artwork will be enough to catch someone’s eye and make them smile for a brief moment at a lame joke.

I make comics as a way of journaling, my hope is that viewers will find them relatable. I see them as humorous anecdotes that allow me to envision the world in my own way with my own control over what happens. When I draw a comic, I can take a step back and look at the situation from an outside view. It allows me to find humor in something that might otherwise be stressful or annoying. It started as my way of coping with middle school drama and has developed into how I handle college stress.

Nathan W. Pyle, a 2004 Asbury graduate, has made a huge name for himself in the last year for his comic Strange Planet. Meg Adams, artist of ARTBYMOGA, just recently revamped her design, but her work still has her specific artist’s touch that makes it recognizable. Like these artists and many more I am trying to find my unique style.

Take a closer look at my main character, Bairey, and see that she’s rarely drawn the same way twice. She’s developed over time and will continue to evolve. The large-scale comic strips are the finalized and polished drawings at the end of a process that includes the incomplete and rough drawings made directly in my notebook. Some of these notebook pages are included in this exhibit, disclosing the ‘lame’ and unfinished parts of the process that other cartoonists might not share with the public. I have chosen to include a larger part of that whole process so that viewers can have a better understanding of what goes into a finished work of art.

This work is meant to be like a window inside of an artist’s head. It’s messy, weird, and it doesn’t always make sense. But the humor and heart I put into it takes it from being just barely lame and makes it art.

Bailey Lane

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