q. i. f?

[I]t appears we have stopped celebrating, or even acknowledging, the very thing that defines our entire race — our humanity. We are offering it up, as though sacrificially, to the machines we create and worship.
   Because of this almost inevitable crisis of self, we find it important again, maybe now more than ever in the history of art making, to cling to our most basic possession — the human form. Call it a quiet revolution — the lone artist embracing the representation of man again . . . .

What a piece of work is a manifesto sometimes. Haha. Okay.

But the show should speak for itself, if Kent Williams’ own painting to be included in it is any indication. (Do, do click to enlarge!) For this even I would take off to southern California, if I could.

C-SPAN’s Book TV aired this evening an interview with distinguished pen-&-ink illustrator David Levine, known foremost for his long relationship with the New York Review of Books. His recently published American Presidents (Fantagraphics) provides the interview’s connecting fabric, his home in Brooklyn the location. He talks readily about a little bit of everything — his views on politics & on some figures who’ve been his subjects, his technique on paper & canvas, his early life & life as a public figure, his present health & work, &c. You can stream it at Book TV’s site — in small format only, it appears, unfortunately.

Richard’s Poor Almanac

See Steve Brodner drawing a set of famous faces for The New Yorker — commemorative of the Obama election. This is the last in a series of drawing videos done for the magazine, a series I’ve only now discovered. Brodner’s caricatures can sometimes be brilliant, & on the other hand can also sometimes be less than convincing for me. Regardless, it’s great to watch a face & figure illustrator of his caliber in action with pen. (See also his drawing blog.)

Yesterday, the 24th, marked a year’s existence for the internet home of Mr R Thompson’s Richard’s Poor Almanac and Cul de Sac — now pretty much my favorite spot in the whole world wide web. Thompson is one of the first artists I turn to to recall why drawing & the love of it is a gift to be taken with gratitude. And when doubts assail, it’s Richard Thompson & his fine humor that can keep me feeling that Washington, D.C. & suburbs must, after all, have some meaning & a place in history. I thank heaven for the web and for Thompson’s evident pleasure in a steady online readership. To Mr Thompson, then, congratulations upon a year’s service at making the net a happier place; and to you, dear reader, every fitting exhortation that you make his blog a regular stop in your online reading rounds.

Middlebrow is th’ new lowbrow!