One of my oldest friends has died and, although we never actually met or spoke, I can’t help but feel wistfully sad at his passing.

It brings home to me how powerful art can be; we form a relationship with the purveyor, and I don’t mean the stalky type of relationship where we delude ourselves of reciprocity, he or she is with us during so many moments of our lives that we come to develop that easy familiarity that we have with our very best friends.

Terry Pratchett accompanied me through a large section of my life, over twenty years I guess. He was a constant companion during the rollercoaster of University as I found my way in the real Ankh Morpork (Terry’s capital city in the Discworld books) and whenever we hadn’t been in touch for a while he was always there when I needed him.

In his books Terry created a parallel universe we could all feel at home in, despite its apparent unreality, Comic Fantasy not being the most obvious choice of genre for most readers. Terry managed to captivate, enchant and most importantly include us all in his clever brand of observational humour, providing the kind of insight into human nature we could all relate to. The phrase “complex simplicity” springs to mind as the most appropriate way to describe the genius with which Terry wielded his pen, and probably sword; the use of capital letters to indicate that Death was talking being the most obvious example – kinda simple way to mark the character but genius in the fact that it gave Terry’s Grim Reaper an identity and voice off the pages.

This kind of humour united fans of the books, we were all in on the jokes even if we were at times on the receiving end of some gentle mockery; so far removed from the self righteous nastiness often present in satirical humour. Terry was all about self deprecation. I will miss him. But then again I still have about 25 of the 70 books he wrote, I can revisit them like I might an old friend and there are a whole host of characters and stories that I still don’t know. I loved Terry’s art, I don’t confuse it with the person, but I appreciate the impact this man had on my life and how he had been a friend to me for so long.

It was somewhat coincidental then, that another renowned artist was brought to my conscience on the day of Terry’s death. I happened to see the trailer for Montage of Heck, the upcoming documentary into the life of Kurt Cobain. The trailer features a number of home video scenes of Kurt and his daughter Frances Bean, as well as the much maligned Courtney Love, and is stark contrast to the exposé that is Soaked in Bleach.

I liked Nirvana, I saw them live, I rode the grunge train for a while during my aforementioned University years, but was never sucked into the idolatry of Cobain that the t-shirt tribes still hold on to. Nevertheless, I recognize Kurt’s talent and impact on the music industry; his songs stand up, the formulaic meanderings of In Utero notwithstanding, and I believe that on Unplugged in NYC we can get a sense of whatever it was that set him apart. My “problem” with Kurt was more personal I suppose, in that I have never been sure how I feel about the man behind the art, like, was he that good? Was he that different? Was he really that tortured? Then I saw the trailer.

Oh my.

How human.

I’d forgotten how dehumanizing the media can be, they tend to objectify artists whilst at the same time promoting vampiric interest in their private lives, although writers like Terry tend not to be so celebritised and its their enduring humanness that is the appeal. So when a movie maker gains access to the truly intimate moments of someone so iconic, and not just the paycheck driven words and pictures of the paparazzi, it was enough to stop me in my tracks. I await the movie with relish, not voyeuristically, but with eager anticipation of seeing the child who would become the biggest star in the world so that I can contemplate the tragic humanity of it all.

How far reaching art can be.