MY NAME IS JASON. MINE TOO.

An artful collaboration; a love story.

In the early aughts, acclaimed writer Reynolds and accomplished artist Griffin shared a first name, a college dorm room, and a plan to move to New York City to pursue their overlapping dreams. This mixed-media art project and collection of poems is the result of their striving and struggles and the strength of their friendship. A number of entries focus on differences, for example, between Griffin’s red hair and Reynolds’ black curls. By way of contrast and juxtaposition, this is a story of connection between visual art and poetry, between dreams and real life in Brooklyn, and between two young men who eschewed many cultural expectations regarding what two men can mean to one another and how they should express their emotions and creativity. Their history is illustrated in bold colors, and the printed words are complemented by hand-lettered text. While the unevenness of the textual and visual presentations can at times present more as an uneasy distraction than a cohesive narrative—like when Reynolds’ well-grounded anxieties about New York or the precarious health of his mother are set against Griffin’s art-world ambitions and passions—the creative effort forces readers to constantly give attention to form, process, and relationships of all sorts.

Two Jasons share their singular experiences with all those who value art.