Ryan Claytor

I am interested in autobiographical narratology as it relates to comics. In recent projects, I have advanced the limits of size, materials, format and content in an attempt to push comics beyond the standard handheld page size. Broadening my format repertoire into media not traditionally associated with the comic book also creates opportunities to lend meaning to the narrative content itself. My current focus is on longer‐length narratives that allow space to illustrate an idiosyncratic depiction of human experiences.

Looking over my body of work, there are many differences from what one would traditionally consider to be comics. To more accurately represent a human experience, my sequential artwork portrays scenarios in an often understated and contemplative approach, focusing on overlooked moments of everyday life. Every element, from panel size to color scheme, scripted conversations to facial expressions, has an attention to detail that uproots the comics medium from its entrenched subgenres of capes and fluffy animals and transplants it into the rich soil of our subtle and nuanced reality.

The exploration of identity through a medium so ripe with potential is exciting. While autobiography itself has existed (arguably) since 1491, when Albrecht Durer first turned to himself as both subject and artist during the German Renaissance, autobiography in comics has only been around since around 1972, when Justin Green first published his series chronicling his own obsessive compulsive disorder long before it was a household acronym. The fact this subsection of art history is so new and unexplored makes it a fresh and inspiring place to push the boundaries of what was previously thought to be comics.