The process of Creation

Art Spiegelman's "Maus" comics are probably, alongside "Barefoot Gen", the most impactful pieces of art I have been exposed to.  The way in which they bring together the hideous impact of racism, war and hate in an entirely different setting but using the same artistic structure moves me still to this day. They are very different projects insofar as the structure of the comics and the artistic style is quite different, but the gripping way in which they involve you in the protagonists very different stories is so moving, so well considered, so impactful. 

They are difficult pieces of work to invocate the term "love", can you "love" work which deals with such distressing and serious topics (hat tip to Christian Hunt for an excellent recent podcast on this) but I think I can attribute so much meaning and power to these artworks. In a way I love the way in which they have done so much to bring to our attention the horrors of the Holocaust and the Second World War.  Part of a long tradition of works which have sought to do this but which I think these art works have done more impactfully than the many other things I have read, listened to and watched on these topics.  They make you feel uncomfortable and are somewhat painful in their excoriating treatment of such awful topics but at the same time they so viscerally put you in the position of these nightmarish and entirely man-made situations... Intense, brilliant work by two very different masters of their very different but intensely meaningful artistic styles.