dogs & water
An existentialist coming-of-age fable set in a timeless dream-world. Dogs & Water chronicles pieces of a lonely journey without origin or destination. A young man wanders a vacant, war-torn landscape with only a mute stuffed bear as a companion, which inertly endures his desperation, anger and musings along the way. The landscape is cold and bleak with few landmarks, and offers only precarious encounters with animals and armed men. He befriends a pack of dogs, though their nature is wild and their potential threat is as unsettling as the sudden presence of a massive pipeline on the horizon. The story weaves between something like the real world and a kind of dream logic. On land, the road disappears and only blind circumstance remains.
Dogs & Water received an Ignatz award for "Outstanding Story" and has been translated into several languages. This hardcover edition features a few new pages and panels not included in the original saddle-stitched comic.
Published by Drawn & Quarterly in 2007.
$19.95
“Nilsen’s art is filled with amazing white space showing a true sense of human loneliness. Above all else, the work echoes our need to be heard, even if only by ourselves.”
“Nilsen creates an epic landscape of desolation and doubt.”