Friday, September 28, 2007

Buy a door from the New York Times- Cheep!

My friend Lawrence Levi, who I worked with when I was an art director at the NYT, tipped me off on this..

Up for auction: A door I went through every day to deliver the sketch to the editor for the illo that ran on the Letters to the Editor page. The NYT just moved from the building they had been in for 80 years or so. It will be condos eventually.
I might just make a stab at it. I'd like to install it as my front door.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Thursday Sketchbook

I've been so busy recently that I haven't been drawing in my sketchbook outside of Sunday mornings. But, this is a rare mid-week edition of the sketchbook update.

This drawing is a small study for a larger piece I have been kicking around like a tin can the last few months. Its due for a show in October so you'll see the final up here soon.

Monday, September 24, 2007

Globe Throwing

A small spot for Fortune about how American businesses excel at putting creativity to work.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Drawing In Church - 9/23

More on the topic of sex and its created purposes.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Hawk Vs. Thrasher

A small one for Atlanta Magazine, a column weighing the ornithological merits of the city's under performing sports franchises.

Overheard while drawing in local hipster coffeeshop (Ep. 3)

"I mean, I don't wish cancer on anybody, but she said eating vegetables were unnecessary."

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Reflections from a Sellout

Thanks to the great conversation at Graphic Tales I've been thinking a lot about the language of images. What if I said this: Traditional gallery painting is like Latin- valuable, but dead.

No one can possibly argue that Painting (capital P) is not important, beautiful and full of meaning. But more and more, the people who care about it are not the general populace, but scholars who dedicate their minds to studying and practicing it. The salon has been removed from the street and into the ivory tower. Am I saying that "Art" has also been removed from the sphere of cultural relevance? No, but I'd like the world to have a broader view of what art can be.

The kind of art that circulates in our culture's veins, the kind of images people interface with every day, has increasingly become comics, illustration, animation and other kinds of narrative pictures. (This said as a person who makes these kind of images on a daily basis.) I'm not looking to justify our industry, but more to use history as a validation of its value. If people make (things) and these (things) are political satire or social commentary or a vehicle to depict beauty - isn't that art? Now replace (things) with the word of your choice: paintings, sculptures, plays, comics, etc. In the Paris of 1899, (it) was painting. What is (it) today?

Painting, Fine Art's High Priest, is no longer the barometer of cultural conversation. That is not something I would choose if it were up to me, per-say. But, I've found it is frustrating and logically inconsistent to view arts (of any kind!) on a vertical scale -with the purest and holy forms existing above and the schlocky-est commercial pap down below.

What if we viewed art on a horizontal scale? This is harder than you think. Consider this question: Do you view both Brittany Spears "Oops I did it again" and Handle's "Messiah" as equally valid forms of art?

More to follow...


Image: John Cuneo, "The Freelancer"

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Our Day in Court (Ep. 2)

More small claims hullabaloo. The judge was oddly nervous, andrea told me she was a substitute.

Drawing In Church - 9/16

Monday, September 17, 2007

Overheard while drawing in local hipster coffeeshop - (Ep.2)

"This American Life is so over."

Book Jacket of the Month #3

Good news, "How To Save Your Tail" is being reissued in paperback. Random House asked me to do a new cover for the edition.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Opening Photos!

The "Drawing on Deadline" opening was a smash hit. But, the unexpected break-out star was, of course, the $1 buttons. It was a mad rush. I'm busy having my wife make more (I'm on deadline) to fill the bowl back up. Be patient clamoring fanboys!
Thanks to all who were able to attend. Next show in 5 years.











Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Book Jacket of the Month #2

A jacket for a novel published by Abrams Books for Young Readers about two girls (one of them who likes to fake being deaf) who get into trouble chasing a suspicous outsider through their small midwestern town. Ah, childhood.

Overheard while drawing in local hipster coffeeshop

"So, I just showed my professor my revised thesis draft, and he said it needed more research. He totally doesn't get my style of writing."

Sunday, September 09, 2007

Drawing In Church - 9/9

Today we started the first of a six week sermon series about sex. Cowabunga.

Friday, September 07, 2007

SHOW: "Drawing On Deadline"

I'm having a show!

The opening is next friday, September 14th, from 7pm -9pm at Subterranean Books in the Delmar Loop. Hope to see you there!

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Book Jacket of the Month #1

I've been working on four book jackets over the last month. All coming due in the next two weeks. Here is the first entry. This is for Knopf, a scottish adventure farce called The Reavers.