Doodaaa: The Balletic Art of Gavin Twinge

Ralph Steadman's alter-autobiography is a work of comical genius as well as a profound commentary on the state of contemporary art.

Creator of his own inimitable visions of Freud, Leonardo, Orwell, Alice, and the Great Gonzo, Steadman now offers the triography of his artistic alter ego, the redoubtable Gavin Twinge. Twinge, last remnant of a nineteenth-century 'domestic engineering' dynasty, founder of the Doodaaa school, and pioneer of Barcode Art, Shredded Literature, and Centrifugal Abstraction, is the original angry voice of contemporary art.

From the moment Steadman first meets Twinge in a London bookshop, it becomes his quest to get to the heart of the misery that drives the lost soul of Art. Drawing inspiration from Twinge's fellow Doodaaists-among them Lily Potsdam (Whiplash Muralist), Schlemiel Weiss (Gnat's blood Organic Watercolorist) and Aaron Dickley (Primal Scream Environmentalist)-Steadman proves to be a truly inspired biographer, matching Twinge drink for drink as he prepares for the great exhibition that will crown his life's work. Illustrated throughout in color and black-and-white in Steadman's (and Twinge's) inimitable style, Doodaa is a biography standing at the center of a hall of mirrors.

RALPH STEADMAN was born in 1936. He began his career as a cartoonist, and through the years has diversified into many creative fields. Ralph collaborated with Dr Hunter S. Thompson in the birth of 'gonzo' journalism, with Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas; he has illustrated classics such as Alice in Wonderland, Treasure Island and Animal Farm, and written and illustrated his own books, which include Sigmund Freud, I Leonardo and The Big I Am. Steadman is also a printmaker, and has travelled the world's vineyards, culminating in his books The Grapes of Ralph, Untrodden Grapes and Still Life with Bottle. Steadman's recent books for Bloomsbury include his epic collection of bird illustrations, Extinct Boids.