Sarah Burke Reviews Tom Comitta's First Thought Worst Thought for East Bay Express

What happens if you write a novel in a night? For The East Bay Express Sarah Burke reviews Tom Comitta's new show, First Thought Worst Thought. The result? Comitta has written forty books in four years. More:

In October 2012, Oakland artist and writer Tom Comitta secured the domain name NaNoWriNiMo.org. That's just one syllable away from NaNoWriMo.org, the website for National Novel Writing Month — home of the annual challenge in which writers around the country attempt to write a whole novel during the month of November. But Comitta's insertion of an extra syllable suggested that one month was too long. His website looked exactly the same as NaNoWriMo's, except every logo said "National Novel Writing Night Month." His challenge: Write a full novel in one evening and publish it online immediately, then repeat throughout the month of November.

For Comitta, NaNoWriNiMo was a catalyst in an ongoing process of developing methods of speedwriting. He has written forty books in the last four years. Now, they are on view in First Thought Worst Thought, his new solo show at Royal NoneSuch Gallery (4231 Telegraph Ave., Oakland).

Rather than being a rapid narrative genius, Comitta preaches an expanded approach to literature. His works are often abstract, conceptual pieces, sometimes written in English and other times written in currency symbols, punctuation, or chunks of appropriated text. They mostly contain narratives, but usually the kind constituted by a vague ebb and flow or a feeling of crescendo then subsequent collapse. In many of his books, Comitta employs the letter as an aesthetic symbol. He attempts to follow through on every idea that he has.

Continue at East Bay Express to ponder books like 1984 by George Orwell (by Tom Comitta), Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot (in Comic Sans), and our favorite Z by Andy Warhol (by Tom Comitta).