A FRIEND GAVE ME A BOOK is a graphic rendering of an autobiographical performance work that was based on this actual account: during a rehearsal for a performance about his obsession with the Italian painter Caravaggio, while attempting to utilize the dramatic power of aerial effects, the artist suffers a trapeze accident, and survives the subsequent challenges.

As a graphic memoir, A FRIEND GAVE ME A BOOK renders in book form the chronicle and components that formed the live performance – a spoken monologue, 7 song lyrics, and imagery from 3-channel video projections. These 3-dimensional realities have been transformed and designed as 2-dimensional illustrations. The work is 366 pages and entirely hand-drawn. The dimension of each page is 10” x 10”, in the form of 180 diptychs (10” x 20”), and 2 triptychs (10’ X 30”). It utilizes various surfaces (paper, wood, linen), and mediums (pencil, pastel, paint).