Only Thomas Ott, a true film fanatic nourished on comic books and novels, could rush with such fervour to the legendary US Route 66. From Chicago, Illinois, to Santa Monica, California, he travelled nearly 4,500 kilometres over a period of three weeks.
“Route 66 is a forgotten world. No one uses it. The landscapes are bare. The towns are in ruins. The streets are empty and silent. These are ghost towns, frozen in the past. I illustrate this lost America along the road.”
As the horizon stretches out, the traveller becomes intoxicated with movement, space and freedom.
Thomas Ott, born in 1966 in Zurich, is one of the rare comic-book artists to work in black and white, a powerful choice he made over thirty years ago. With infinite patience, he scrapes away at the Indiaink-coated surface of scratchboards with a utility knife, his hatch marks uncovering the white underneath to create the sharp contours of a world that belong to him alone.
Discover the Travel Books collection
