Wednesday, March 22, 2017

NEW BOOK: THE LIFE AND ART OF BERNIE FUCHS

For those of you who have been complaining bitterly to me for years about the lack of a collection of the great art of Bernie Fuchs, your day has come.

The definitive book, The Life and Art of Bernie Fuchs is now for sale by Illustration Press.



There were many obstacles and surprises on the road to this book, but I'm very pleased with the great job publisher Dan Zimmer of The Illustrated Press has done with it.  I hope you'll give it a look.

The book is in full color and features over 300 illustrations. It is 240 pages long and is filled to the brim with Bernie's beautiful illustrations reproduced from the original paintings and drawings, as well as rarely seen tear sheets from vintage magazines, photographs, color studies, and more.

As with all of Dan Zimmer's books, you can preview a low resolution version of the book on line.





Saturday, March 04, 2017

JOHN CUNEO: NOT WAVING BUT DRAWING


Any new collection of drawings from John Cuneo is a cause for celebration.

Cuneo's newest book from Fantagraphics,  Not Waving But Drawing, contains the kind of brilliant, aching, trenchant work that makes Cuneo one of the best draftsmen around today.

Several current illustrators draw with a similar loose, ungainly line but when you drill down on their work, none of them are capable of drawing faces such as this...


...or coming up with the strange, troubled, scenarios that populate Cuneo's world...






Like Cuneo's previous work, the art in this new book is hilarious...


...and profane...


... and often totally indecipherable.  Cuneo is definitely NSFW. 




When I see Cuneo's work in top magazines such as The Atlantic or The New Yorker, I usually feel that he is much better than their editorial constraints permit him to be. 




His best work is consistently his personal work, the type of drawings that are reproduced in books like this, for mature audiences.