“ART BUM: Guide to the Best Places to Die” is the new graphic novel by Joy Rip. It is the ghostly story of one desperate artist's graphic blueprint for dying with the illusion of grace.

Some say conscious life begins without fear, without pain. Some say conscious life begins with fear, with pain.

But at whatever point consciousness begins, fear, pain, fear of pain, fear of death, soon become the hard limits and ghostly outlines that come to define/dominate our lives, our vision, our conceptions and perceptions.

We are born. We experience pain. We become fearful. We experience fear. We learn fear. We are ruled by fear.

Fear rules all worlds. All the rules that govern the art world are rules crafted by fear and pain. Order in the art world, in every conscious world, is crafted not by aesthetics, but by danger.

Art, desire, the contemplation of the beautiful.. are primal responses to and escapes from the overwhelming ugly experience of fear & pain threatening to make life undesirable.

The rules governing any human world are rules crafted by our perceived limitations in the face of fear and pain. So why not cut to the chase and create a work of art that simply deals head on with the most obvious pain and limitation ruling our lives: Our fear of death.