Saturday at the Walters
I’m a big fan of political cartoons. The first thing I do when I get a newspaper is head for the back of the first section and see what the cartoonists have to say (then I read the editorials; then off to the real comics to see if Aldo Kelrast has gotten his due from Mary Worth … but I digress). While I enjoy reading political cartoons, especially when I agree with the sentiment, I’ve never thought of them as art. Seeing Kal’s cartoons outside of the newspaper, enlarged, and on display at the Waltershelped me make that transition and will certainly change the way I look at cartoons in the future.
Berger says “The media shape the texts they carry” (Agitpop, pg. 160). In this case there is the obvious difference between small, blurry newsprint and a well-lit gallery display, but there is also the less obvious (more ominous?) influence of deadlines. Kal says that most of the time he’s drawing today what we’ll see in the paper tomorrow. This means that a lot of his cartoons aren’t finished, they’re just stopped. I’ve never thought of the cartoons as unfinished or un-thought out. It was interesting to see several cartoons at the Walters with whited-out text or new bubbles taped over old, evidence of the work in progress.
For me, this class is all about deciphering the Rhetoric that assaults us from every direction in this modern world. To do this it helps to see a text clearly, not just from the perspective we are meant to see it as Audience but also from the Artist, Publisher, Director, Evil Mastermind, etc., perspective. It’s not difficult to find the political rhetoric in a political cartoon. Discussing the influences, ideas, and limitations that led to the creation of said cartoon, however, might be beneficial when we start analyzing less obvious texts for political rhetoric.
Here are some pictures from the exhibit:
The artist himself, all decked out in a fancy vest:
An example of a work in progress. Check out the 5th panel for taped-on text bubbles and the 6th panel for white-out.
I took a crappy picture, but this is art damn it!
The following three cartoons are everything a political cartoon should be. They express a sentiment (usually expressed in words) in such a way that it becomes more tangible, adds dimension, and really brings it home. These are powerful cartoons:
Berger says “The media shape the texts they carry” (Agitpop, pg. 160). In this case there is the obvious difference between small, blurry newsprint and a well-lit gallery display, but there is also the less obvious (more ominous?) influence of deadlines. Kal says that most of the time he’s drawing today what we’ll see in the paper tomorrow. This means that a lot of his cartoons aren’t finished, they’re just stopped. I’ve never thought of the cartoons as unfinished or un-thought out. It was interesting to see several cartoons at the Walters with whited-out text or new bubbles taped over old, evidence of the work in progress.
For me, this class is all about deciphering the Rhetoric that assaults us from every direction in this modern world. To do this it helps to see a text clearly, not just from the perspective we are meant to see it as Audience but also from the Artist, Publisher, Director, Evil Mastermind, etc., perspective. It’s not difficult to find the political rhetoric in a political cartoon. Discussing the influences, ideas, and limitations that led to the creation of said cartoon, however, might be beneficial when we start analyzing less obvious texts for political rhetoric.
Here are some pictures from the exhibit:
The artist himself, all decked out in a fancy vest:
An example of a work in progress. Check out the 5th panel for taped-on text bubbles and the 6th panel for white-out.
I took a crappy picture, but this is art damn it!
The following three cartoons are everything a political cartoon should be. They express a sentiment (usually expressed in words) in such a way that it becomes more tangible, adds dimension, and really brings it home. These are powerful cartoons:
posted by jk at 6:08 PM
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