According to its instructions, Schwa is a line of products designed to defend against intergalactic invaders. There's a wordless book with stark black-and-white drawings of weird space creatures, an "Alien Invasion Survival Card," posters, stickers, gadgets, lunar calendars, and T-shirts, all of which are decorated with the same spooky, big-eyed alien head staring out at you.
"Schwa is whatever you say it is," explains Schwa creator Bill Barker, a good-natured guy from Reno, Nevada, with an almost too-straight appearance. "It explores disturbing things, from paranoia to control to conspiracy to absurdity to despair. It's also humorous."
Barker was inspired to begin the art project in 1992, after reading an article called "The Secret Government" (he has no idea where the article came from). He now works on Schwa full time.
Does Barker believe in saucer people? "It seems unlikely," he says. "It would make the world a pretty corny place if it were true - if everything boiled down to us being controlled by these little beings. But I sure can't say it's not true."
To start amassing your own collection of cool Schwa goodies and save yourself from the imminent invasion, head over to www.scs.unr.edu/homepage/rory/schwa/schwa.html on the WWW, e-mail Barker at schwa@well.com, or write to PO Box 6064, Reno, NV, 89513.
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