One of the first things I do in the morning is check Eric Baker's "today" for inspiration. There is almost always something in it worth keeping. I don't know how I got on the list but I certainly appreciate his time and thoughts putting it together. Here is a piece by an "unknown" artist he sent out (there are usually 40-50 images in each "today" e mail)
With all the health care mess going on I knew I could take this and make a strong statement. Something alluding to a collision or impending crash. Something bad. About midway through I felt the idea was strong enough to send it out to a few art directors. I first sent it to Jason Treat (The Atlantic) then Nicholas Blechman and Leanne Shapton (NY Times). A few hours passed then the phone rang. It was TIME wanting a cover! Wow. I don't get too many covers because I'm not sleeping with TIME art directors like Edel (slut). Anyway the cover job turned into a single page but for shits and giggles I went and sent this to Thomas, the AD, anyway.
Mr Treat (as I like to call him) is going to run this as a "Gallery" in the next Atlantic so I may offer this as an imagekind print if I can get off my lazy ass and register. In the interim, I'd like to finish the idea...
which would look something like this. the only frame I'm uncertain about is who is going to make a clean getaway. The banks seem to have no problem lately. The media? They're always getting hammered. I'm liking the hurst action though. Maybe theres an ambulance in there too. Your thoughts? (thx to T Fuchs for his slinging his opinion as I was striking out. six pack of Beck's is en route).
an honor to wax red/ black after Yuko, Fuchs (amongnbspmany others) in this latest "Gallery" set up by AD Jason "The Real" Treat @ The Atlantic. I originally drew this for Rea @ The Times a few years ago and printed it up as a promotion so given chance I offered it up for some actual inking. Yes, those are Canadian Geese.
Heres how I ran it in my promo (15'X20'). I should've added heat initially. want one? send me 10 bucks, sunny Jim
thumbed the $7 SI Swimsuit issue? you probably didn't notice some ads for Rockport with my linear "jazz" scrawled here and there. Keep an eye out if you're peeping Esquire, Outside or Marie Claire too.
the fellas
Celine is the granddaughter of the renowned oceanographer, these guys are winners of Brad Pitt's architecture contest. Don't they look like they just won? I tagged along to the Mathew Rolston shoot on Canal Street and had lunch and met the clients and agency, Hill Holiday (Boston). I ate half a plate of noodles and 23 skidoodled. I'm a sucker for free lunch, (and jobs in advertising).
Marc
This guy Felato is famous in Theatre, He rounds out the trio of notables.
top sider
We also did some shoes. This isn't the final. Hell I don't even know what the final ended up looking like. Most of the scenic material came from pics of Central Park. The designer/ art director Sue and I got along fine but butted heads a few times toward the latter stages of the assignment. I'm a total bastard. You knew that.
woman's shoe
another scenic one... there were around 12 ads in all and I'm now working directly with the client.
carpet exploratory
this was part of the initial exploratory. There was a good deal of it. In this scenario I had the wearer pulled to the foreground to give emphasis to the shoe. It was received with the boot.
expl 2
This was an early attempt to evade the evenly stroked line weight. I have been trying to go more this route lately with a wetter, more fluid feeling line. Striking the right note between whimsy and elegance is a tough line. Maybe I'l save the idea for later.
fish
I had a good time finding real fish to hide in the coral.
detail
This is a detail of the Felato theatre scene. Probably my most best moment came in describing this wormy moping fellow soon to slip past the street light on the left. He probably works in NY in advertising. And has no job.
Today is Thomas Fuchs' 40th birthday. And oh how he knows it.
artists who donated
we let him know (by surprise) last thursday at Heather's bar.
savagio
hilarious... steve savage (my wife's favorite)
a favorite
gorgeous yet funny... leo espinosa
thats him!
closer...
taxali
the tax man flew in last minute and put a cheery on top of the evening. thx tax!
tim
one of the best was from tim o'brien... wow. thats all i gotta say
some german dude i've never met
in no order, here are some of the images from the book we made for him
mably
another favorite.. from greg mably
Christoph
of course, genius Niemann was in the house...
o'brien
the actually painting is tiny.. i mean tiny.. how does he do it! his hands were made for beating the crap outta people!
veit, another german dewd
and another...
T$
tracy toscano, who helped enormously on the design and facilitation of the book. we only had 2 or 3 printed up.. more to come hopefully
moni
pal moni, aka monika aichele
val
from valentine
bakal
scott bakal
tom
a great one from vasqy
riccardo
and from vecchio
bart
another german dewd
veit
from veit
sam
sam weber banged one out on late notice... like, a few hours notice! thx Sam!
Sam is one of Fuch's old students, now a super rockstarillustrator.
the wolf
from "wolfy"
brood-nerd
brodner cranked this one out last minute... thx steve.. great.
wes
pal wesley bedrosian
he never does this
the classy clown, barry blitt.
this one really made me laugh for some reason. maybe because its funny. gee i don't know.
its jizz, not white-out
he even added some subtle jizz stain action. what a guy!
bottrell
one from his girlfriend, adrianne (I liked this one but for the record, I told her to just kiss a napkin and scan it but she wouldn't listen!)
ahn
art director elaine ahn
bower
love this one from tim bower
bower closer
heres a close up.. nailed him
from some art directors
brantly/ larry & festino
joel
joel castillo. this ones growing on me.
chin
a little good sex wish from dirty dawg marcos chin
john
cuneo and i forget, another german dude
cuneo/ edelman
a close up of cuneo's... yes, thats edelman on a yellow sub
dena
a panty dropper from dena verseca.. welll done dena!
we twisted his arm
the one and only Heinz Edelman, of yellow submarine fame (fuchs teacher)
D F
your favorite meat head and mine, david flaherty
orto
theresa ortolani.. nicely done
rash
brilliant.. andy rash.. totally nailed him
rea
brian rea bea-rang it
thilo
german thilo rothaker.. hey i actually know this one! this one got some hard laughs
last one
and last but not least, super star goddess yuko shimizu.
hope you enjoyed it. thank you to all the contributors who
sent Tracy and I the art. We really loved it.
and happy birthday again, Fuchs. No one will ever top this fucking thing.
slow news day @ Huff Post. I guess now that the public knows we exist, we are popular enough to write about. Regularly. Barry, you're my hero. Keep em coming.
the full skinny snipet from Huff Post whippet:
Barry Blitt, the cartoonist responsible for the New Yorker's controversial terrorist fist-jabbing cover, among others, returns this week to "vet" Barack Obama. Of course this time around "Vetting" refers to the all important decision of picking a "first" puppy — thus far we know they want a mutt, but that it needs to be hypoallergenic and won't be a girly dog. The cover may not be all that far off the mark, actually, turns out the original meaning of the word "vetting" was to to "submit an animal to examination by a veterinarian."
There is an interesting debate happening right now on over at Huffpost and if you read the comments (always cartoon, never illustration) and weigh the arguments (offensive or hilarious?) you quickly realize how stupid Huffington Post bloggers are.
But it was nice to hear Blitt being compared to Jonathan Swift.
my favorite Huffington Post slur: "Britt you are an idiot, get a new profession!!"
and to think... just because Barry is Brittish.
