About a year and a half ago, ASU alumnus Zachary Hollis Cook brought a poem he was working on to artist and fellow alumnus Neil Gillingham.
Cook was interested in Gillingham coming up with a drawing to complement the poem, about a struggling man named Henry, but it turned into much more.
"I read it and I really liked it," Gillingham said. "I liked it so much that I did 22 illustrations for it."
Discussion led to a book and eventually a show at Five15 Arts in downtown Phoenix, where more than 1,000 people came throughout July to see "Henry," the name of the book and the exhibit.
The exhibit's installation began at the beginning of July, and since its July 4 launch, Cook said the turnout has been great.
Advertising through articles, fliers, Myspace.com and Facebook.com brought scores of art enthusiasts to the gallery, as did Phoenix's First Fridays, a monthly art and entertainment festival.
Gillingham and Cook met while they were at ASU in 2001 through "friends of friends of friends," Cook said. "Tempe's a small place."
Gillingham graduated from ASU with a Bachelor's of Fine Arts in 2000 and works as an art teacher at Mesa Preparatory Academy.
He said he's been drawing, painting and sculpting professionally for about 10 years.
Cook graduated with a bachelor's in English literature in 2007 and now works for ASU Parking & Transit Services, overseeing student employment and other operations.
Gillingham said he has been illustrating "Henry" on and off since he first read Cook's poem.
The cover page took about 20 hours, and the rest of the illustrations took between 10 and 15 hours apiece, he said.
Cook also designed and built 30 wooden boxes to house the first editions of the book.
All the cases sold out, as did all the first edition prints of "Henry," but the pair is working on printing the second edition, which there are already 10 to 15 people waiting for, the duo said.
The short poem tells the story of a man named Henry who struggles to find meaning in his life.
"Henry thinks crows are nestled in the concave of his skull where his brain should be," the story begins.
Cook said he didn't sit down thinking he would write Henry's story, but it happened organically.
"As I was [writing] it, and as it was becoming an actual piece of work, the themes started to emerge," he said.
Perhaps the most obvious theme is male crisis, whether at age 20 or 40 or somewhere in between, Cook said.
"I think of Henry not as an 'every man' but as a lot of men," Cook said. "There's a little bit of Henry in every man."
Cook said he kept the dialogue internal; focusing on what Henry was feeling and not what he was surrounded by.
"I tried to keep the writing concise," he said. "What you ended up with is a metaphor for a lot of different things."
After Gillingham read the poem, the artist said he started to picture Henry and the way his life should look.
"I thought of somebody that struggles with different issues," he said. He pictured a man in his 30s or 40s, with an artsy, intellectual, nerdy quality.
"We did talk about [the illustrations], but Zach never told me what anything should look like," Gillingham said.
Though he has experimented with a more cartoon-based style before, Gillingham said he had never done as much work in the style he used to illustrate "Henry."
"Stylistically, I don't know if I have a usual style," he said. "I've done everything from traditional landscapes and portraits to the very abstract."
Gillingham said he had shown at Five15 Arts a few times and became a member of the co-op three months ago.
"There's no gallery owner," he said. "It's all artist operated and run."
Because there are no restrictions, Gillingham and Cook could set up the space to fit their presentation.
"You can really do whatever you want, which gives you a lot more freedom," Gillingham said.
Gillingham said he and Cook rarely, if ever, disagreed on the project.
"I can honestly say its one of the easiest working relationships I have ever had," he said.
Cook agreed that the pairing was a good choice.
"I think it was a total honor to work with an artist and illustrator with such technical skill and such amazing style," Cook said. "His eye for detail is fantastic."
Reach the reporter at: allison.denny@asu.edu.
