Self-help, poo and existential questions: Kevin McNamee-Tweed's Books

Kevin McNamee-Tweed by name, twee by nature, I’d assumed, casting an eye over these sweetly, naively sketched wee pictures of books. Then I read the titles. One contained the word “shart.” Another proclaims, “It’s Only Your Fault: How to Help Yourself”, while a more philosophical tome proffers the question “who is….BIRD HUMAN?”

In short, they’re wonderful titles, which wouldn’t surprise us if they did actually exist in some hidden corner of a trust library shelf in a doctor’s surgery or anarchist-leaning cakeshop. However, the book covers are all as entirely fictional as the contents they promise, lovingly drawn by Texas-based artist Kevin McNamee-Tweed. Each of the images is created with watercolour, gouache, and ink on paper to the size of an actual book.

In a piece about a show of the works in Texas, the St Claire Review editor Stephanie Bursese surmised that the show looked to answer the questions: “Am I really going to read all of these? How are these peering into the depths of my soul and saying exactly what’s in my heart of hearts? Why am I weeping? Does anyone have a tissue? Do you think anyone saw me weeping? Do you think I’ll be able to communicate better with Gary if I read "You Want Me To What? Being Open With Your Super Square Sexual Partner”?”

We’re not sure, but perhaps a skim through New Sadness: Comparing the black-out, confusion-oriented, fiery sadness of your youth to the expanding, even-keeled sadness of your passage into adulthood might bring us a little closer to the answer.