Schwa is the underground conceptual artwork of Bill Barker (b.1957). Barker draws deceptively simple black and white stick figures and oblong alien ships. However the artwork is not about the aliens: it is about how people react to the presence of the aliens and Barker uses them as a metaphor for foreign and unknown ideas. Schwa became an underground hit in the 1990s. This image is a book cover. ... Underground culture, or just underground, is a term to describe various alternative cultures which either consider themselves different to the mainstream of society and culture, or are considered so by someone. ... Conceptual art, sometimes called idea art, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved are considered the real substance of the art, in distinction to the traditional expectation of a made art object to be the criterion. ... 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A black-and-white portrait This article is about the term as used in media and computing; for more specific uses, see Black and White. ... A stick figure A stick figure is a very primitive type of drawing, generally of the human form, although stick figures of other types of animals are possible (for example, a stick figure dog). ... The existence of extraterrestrial life remains hypothetical though human beings continue to search Extraterrestrial life is life that may exist and originate outside the planet Earth, the only place in the Universe known to support life. ... See also 1990s, the band The 1990s decade refers to the years from 1990 to 1999, inclusive, sometimes informally including popular culture from 2000 and 2001. ...

Artwork and Themes

Technically a schwa is an indeterminate vowel sound of a syllable not stressed in English, as in the i in levitate. Vowels Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ...

For Barker, Schwa is alternately his pseudonym, a fictitious omnipresent corporation, a religion, or a resistance movement against corporate conspiracies and aliens. Often it's a combination of all four at once. A pseudonym (Greek: false name) is a fictitious name used by an individual as an alternative to his or her legal name. ... Omnipresence is defined, in a general sense, as: the ability to be present in every place at the same time; unbounded or universal presence. ... A corporation is a legal person which, while being composed of natural persons, exists completely separately from them. ... A resistance movement is a non-military group or collection of individual groups, dedicated to fighting an invader in an occupied country through either the use of physical force, or nonviolence. ... A conspiracy theory attempts to explain the ultimate cause of an event (usually a political, social, or historical event) as a secret, and often deceptive, plot by a covert alliance of powerful people or organizations rather than as an overt activity or as natural occurrence. ...

Schwa artwork is black and white, with very precise stick-figures and ovoid alien faces and ships. The aliens themselves are rarely seen by the human stick figures, their presence is more often felt by their distant ships. The people are almost always either very frightened, or very complacent with their lot in life. Barker combines aliens, corporations, religions, media, and even the passage of time in his drawings.

The black and white drawings lead to a very hypnotic and very stark landscape. The world of Schwa is consistent throughout his work, and all the drawings and books combine to paint a single picture of a futuristic world run by large corporate and religious conglomerates who are possibly in league with omnipresent aliens. The media has become a marketing machine for these overseers, and they continually saturate the world with alien logos and messages like "In the future, everything will work", and, "Stop domesticating yourself". Hypnotic drugs are a class of drugs that induce sleep, used in the treatment of severe insomnia. ...

History

Schwa began in 1992 when Barker, a former advertising art director, was looking for a way to express himself with a single art style when he was given a copy of "The Secret Government", a conspiracy book that tells of aliens controlling the government. Barker didn't like the idea of art exhibitions, which he saw as just a pretentious form of merchandising, so he decided to cut out the middle-man and sell merchandise directly to consumers by mail-order. Barker started selling trinkets like necklaces and stickers, and his first book, ə, exclusively through this home-grown business. Schwa cartoons also appeared in The Sagebrush, the University of Nevada, Reno student newspaper. 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... Advertising, generally speaking, is the promotion of goods, services, companies and ideas, usually performed by an identified sponsor. ... The cover of the first Eatons catalog, published in 1884. ... The University of Nevada, Reno (UNR or Nevada) is a university that is located in Reno, Nevada and is known for its programs in agricultural research, animal biotechnology, and mining-related engineering and natural sciences. ...

Although Barker might not have been the first person to conceive of the ovoid alien face, his version quickly became the best-known. His book was an underground hit, and received praise from Terry Gilliam, Ivan Stang, and Noam Chomsky. He bundled the book along with several trinkets as the Complete Schwa Kit (ISBN 096359141X), and put out another book with trinkets as Complete Counter-Schwa Kit (ISBN 0963591428). Terry Gilliam at Karlovy Vary 2006. ... Rev. ... Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (b. ...

Eventually his popularity led to a book deal with Chronicle Books, and in 1997 published Schwa: World Operations Manual (ISBN 0811815854) a reference manual for world control that included postcards, stickers, warranties, contracts, and charts. 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Barker also created and ran a (now defunct) labyrinthine website early in the days of the browser-based internet. He described it as "an experiment in building an online science fiction environment in html." Instead of simply showcasing his printed artwork, the website became another medium for Schwa fans to explore.

Schwa Pyramid

Screenshot from Schwa Pyramid

Barker teamed up with AOL to create an odd online game exclusively for AOL members. He worked with the now defunct Orbital Studios to create a game about conspiracies, corporations, and aliens. The initial instructions set the tone of the game: Download high resolution version (802x506, 40 KB)http://web. ... Download high resolution version (802x506, 40 KB)http://web. ... AOL LLC (formerly America Online, Inc) is an American-based online service provider, bulletin board system, and media company operated by Time Warner. ...

"Don't follow instructions. Suspect instructions. They are something to be wary of."

The player was a stick figure right in the middle of the darkened and conspiratorial world of Schwa. The player worked their way up the pyramid by collecting power through media, corporations, government, and labor, to eventually dominate the world.

The game launched on March 9, 1998. A follow-up game called Schwa Conspiracy was announced for later that year, but was never finished. March 9 is the 68th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (69th in Leap years). ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ...

Currently MIA

Although a growing hit, Bill Barker disappeared from the public (and underground) eye sometime in late september of 2001. His long-running website is dead and the post office box he had used for years now returns his mail unread. 2001: A Space Odyssey. ...

The website appears to have come back online around April 2005, but in a severely limited capacity. {As to his whereabouts just so you dont have to wonder I am his Nephew I saw this and He is in southern califnornia though I cant tell where for fear he may be bothered by people but he is not well, mentally he takes alot of medicine and you can never expect any more schwa stuff out of him, sadly I put this in so people dont have to wonder about it

External links

Schwa Images

• Alone cannot you it resist Several Schwa images.2

General reviews of Schwa

• Stang review
• Wired: Aliens Land on AOL
• Alienated: Page 4