Following the success of her first graphic novel release, Eve of the Grey, performance poet and multi-genre writer Kooky Tuason is back from an artist residency at Kalakriti Art Gallery at Hyderabad, India.
The art gallery has strived to nurture creativity in the visual arts since 2002, and found the initiatives of artists like Tuason to merit the support. Tuason’s stay at the artistic environment has given her the necessary space to produce her new work entitled The House on Road No. 10, a work of atmospheric horror predicated on familiarity.
The new work’s visual storytelling is crafted by New Zealand-based illustrator Diko. Born in sleepy Iloilo, Diko’s vision of the macabre can be seen through his art practice which spans sculpture, painting, and freehand illustration. Diko’s work brings Tuason’s words into the realm of the surreal and disturbing, playing out ideas from an irreverent imagination.
The work is a convergence of imaginative language, haunting figures, and immersive media: its texts and images respond with aural objects when scanned with an augmented reality app. True to its genre, The House on Road No. 10 entices readers into its enchantments through its integration of current publishing technologies into its physical medium.
Launched yesterday at Buku-Buku Kafe SM Southmall with memorable performances by Canda and Blackheart and hosted by Marty Tengco, the graphic novel will also be released by AGOS Books in Auckland, New Zealand this year.