Canadian-born, Brooklyn-based artist Jason McLean is known to pack his compositions with playful, juvenile imagery and affable questions and exclamations. Consisting more of scratchy text than drawn image, Cabbage Soup at the Comedy Cellar is no exception: in 8 short staple-bound pages (cover included), this black-and-white zine combines nonsensical punny jokes, random declarations, daily chores, ostensible life goals, and deadpan commentary on his own drawing process (“This pen is dying”).
“Recording his daily experiences, observations, and personal stories in a range of media, Jason McLean has likened his work to a ‘mental map.’ He cites Ray Johnson, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Raymond Pettibon as artistic influences, though he also draws inspiration from his children’s drawings, bottle cap designs, stamp art, frozen pizza boxes, and found objects that pique his interest. Recalling the automatic drawings of surrealist artists, his bright, graphic collages and works of ink on paper feature a web of semi-connected words and themes related to pop culture, daily life, and McLean’s inner world and struggles with schizophrenia.” — Artsy