Steve Brodner

Steve Brodner is a political illustrator who does pen caricatures for newspapers and journals. compositions range but faces are most important. Brodner's medium is ink and watercolor.  

Mark Buckhardt

Buckhardt uses elements of religious icons, Mexican retablos, American folk art and circus sideshow banners with slight byzantine stylization to achieve a thoroughly American style all his own. Buckhardt Works with mixed Media on wood because he says he likes to start with something that already has character. compositions usually have a frame sometimes made out of metal.

Patrick Arrasmith

Arrasmith works in scratch-board and adds color digitally. His subject matter is dark, 19th century illustration, engravings, and horror fiction are clear influences. compositions show strong foreground background relationships. plenty of instances of repoussoir and chiaroscuro (vocab. boosh!!).

Illustrator research

Daniel Adel
 Adel's illustrations consist mostly of oil caricatures and portraits with props and backgrounds to give concept. Compositions are traditional with a lot of centered subjects in traditional 19th century portrait poses. His work is in oil, subjects consist of bright, highly contrasted, caricatured, faces of celebrities, exaggerated in size compared to the rest of their bodies. His work is painted in a realistic style with some identity given by the use of mark and color. color is overall subdued, a lot of the backgrounds are muted gradations.  J. C. Leyendecker is a clear influence

Metaphor 2

allegory of water - Tlaloc

 Target: water
Source: super human
Ground:
Tension: everything
Effect: relatable, more understandable, visual cultural identity,
fusion

 Gustav Klimt Allegory of sculpture
Target: Sculpture
Source: Woman
Ground: classical form, patriarchal link to inspiration and arts
Tension: living, individual, thought, non-object
Effect: continues patriarchal ideas of woman as inspiration for Male artist, lends mystery and romanticism to artistic process.
replacement

 Fritz Lang's Metropolis
Target: society
Source: industrial Utopia
Ground: both involve social structures, both involve people living their daily lives within these structures
Tension: reality vs. black and white silent film. No industrial dystopia. No human like robots
Effect: scary, exaggerated tale gives moral lesson in an exciting context.
replacement

Wolf – Tex Avery 
Target: girl crazy man
Source: wolf
Ground: predators, animalistic, wild, uncivilized
Tension: different species
Effect: hilarity
fusion

Christoph Niemann
 Target: religion inspired ignorance
Source: blindfold
Ground: deprives one of (visual) knowledge. Allows for subject to be unaware.
Tension:lack of seeing doesn’t mean lack of understanding
Effect: completely visual, visual associations with religious imagery
 replacement

On Quick Wittedness Thomas Fuchs
 Target: wit
Source: gun fights
Ground: fastest wins, can be painful
Tension: speech vs. violent action
Effect: associations with film/ past experience. Stronger feeling of tension, excitement
fusion

Wesley Bedrosian
Target:  chemical farming
Source: beaker
Ground: scientific imagery, involved in science, mysterious,
Tension: satchel and seeds vs beaker and bubbles
Effect: association with classical imagery of farming and science, difference juxtaposes tradition and scientific experimentation.
fusion

 Trouble in Venezuela Stephen savage
Target: international relations
Source: apartment building
Ground: global neighbors/neighbors in apartments,
Tension: world vs. local
Effect: reminds viewer of neighborliness on a global scale, with emphasis on repercussions from ignoring neighbors
fusion

Target: individuals
Source: government
Ground: government made up of individuals
Tension: lack of essential male, female, and soldier
Effect: exemplification of a group, relatable
replacement

Javier Jaén Benavides
Target: false feelings
Source: crocodile tears
Ground: false because of crocodiles’ lack of emotion effected tear ducts
Tension: animal vs. human
Effect: visual representation of words, emphasizes absurdity of words,
replacement

Metaphors 1

“to grasp a concept”
Target:  understanding
Source: holding something in hand
Ground: manipulation, control, knowledge
Tension: abstract idea/ action
Effect: gives better idea of the sense of understanding. Visual/tactile representation of thought
“seafaring” (for “human existence”) absolute metaphor
Target: Human Existence
Source: Seafaring
Ground: choices made have consequences. Vastness, lack of power/knowlege 
Tension: takes place in boat on the sea.
Effect: associates memories of romantic seafaring/ the sublime. Overwhelming, sense of adventure/dread.

Whose Beard?- Nasrudin dreamt that he had Satan's beard in his hand. Tugging the hair he cried: "The pain you feel is nothing compared to that which you inflict on the mortals you lead astray." And he gave the beard such a tug that he woke up yelling in agony. Only then did he realise that the beard he held in his hand was his own.
–    Idries Shah
Target: Self
Source: the devil
Ground: causes all pain. Source of all sin.
Tension: devil is deity, fictitious. Other.
Effect: realizing we make up our devils, we are the true source of our own pain.

the grim reaper Allegory
Target: Death
Source: skeletal figure in black robes
Ground: mysterious, frightful, familiar, dark.
Tension: state of being (or lack there of) and allegorical fictitious character
Effect: visual representation of a concept. Scary.

the cave in Plato's Republic
Target: truth
Source: vision in a cave
Ground: limited, possibly incorrect, only a shadow of the real
Tension: humanity does not literally live in a cave.
Effect: a more clear illutration of the limit of understanding.

“my people from my land”
Target: individuals, geography
Source: my self
Ground: familiarity, genetics, histories,
Tension: individuality, lack of connection, essentialization, simplification, generalization, subjectivity
Effect: creates false connection, stereotypes.