Jim Torok, who lives and works in New York, employs a loose and cartoony style to narrate his everyday life and frustrations. When he’s not making comics that blend autobiography and political/social commentary, he’s painting miniature oil portraits of himself and friends that fluctuate between sarcasm and sincerity. He has exhibited both bodies of work widely, including a 2007 solo show at Pierogi Gallery in Brooklyn.

What initially drew you to the language of comics? How would you characterize your particular approach to the form?

JT: I used to carry little notebooks around with me so that I could draw wherever I went. I wrote down things that I thought were interesting or funny also, just so I would remember them later (it might be a snippet of a conversation I overheard or something). It seemed like a natural thing to put the little drawings together with the words and make a “cartoon.” Over time, they became more developed, so that I could tell more of a story.

You’re known for two formally divergent bodies of work: portraits rendered in intense detail, and sketchy cartoons depicting semi-autobiographical narratives. Did you always work in these two ways?

JT: Yes, more or less. I have always done cartoons and more “realistic” work. I used to do a cartoon feature in Paper magazine, while separately doing realistic paintings, which were shown in galleries. Eventually, I just began showing both as “art.”

You’ve created many self-portraits in both your style of painterly “realism” and your style of loosely drawn comic narratives. Both, in my eyes, have a great amount of humor involved. Do you use these two styles to explore two sides of yourself as an artist? Do they balance one another out in some way?

JT: They seem to fulfill different needs. In the portraits, I am trying to create a really intense visual record; the cartoons are more about telling a story. They play off each other in the sense that when I run out of energy for one, I do the other. It is interesting to push each one as far as I can, rather that trying to combine them into one thing. It fits my personality better.

While in your realistic portraits you’re observing yourself in sharp detail, the observations you make in your cartoons seem much more broadly attuned to aspects of the world around us—from getting ready for work, to war and believing in God. What do you look for in an experience that tells you it would make for a funny or interesting comic?

JT: Usually, I start with the title, which is whatever pops into my mind at that moment. It might be something I have been thinking about for a while, or something more vague; I never know exactly what it is going to be about until I do it. It’s like I do the cartoon to find out what the cartoon is about.

The comic you did for this series is from a very specific place and moment in time. How did you end up at the Walton County Fair, and what attracted you to the demolition derby?

JT: My wife Mary and I have a place in upstate New York. We are there all summer, so we don't miss going to the county fair in Walton because it is the biggest thing that happens there, especially the Demolition Derby. What originally attracted me to the derby was the way the cars were painted. I used to go just to look at them all lined up outside, and not go to the actual derby, but when I finally did, it was a lot of fun.

What can the derby tell us about ourselves and contemporary culture?

JT: The demolition derby seems like a truly American art form: there are all these cars that people spend a lot of time working on, they paint them all up, and then they smash them. There is a lot of smoke and fire and it is loud. Everyone cheers their favorite car on. The drivers are like gladiators fighting to be the last one standing; it is a ritual that could only happen in a society that has a lot of disposable cars. I think that is particularly interesting at this point in time, when we seem to be on the verge of a change in the whole car industry. Someday, there will probably just be electric cars, and they may be more efficient, and less polluting, but they may not be as fun to crash.

What are the issues facing us today that you’re most interested in, concerned about, or motivated by as an artist? What should we be paying attention to?

JT: I don't know what we should be paying attention to, but, the thing that I am most concerned about lately is what will happen with the health care system, and what is going on with the environment (it seemed that it was way too cool and rainy this summer). After that, I am hoping that things just get better in general and we all are ok.