Essay / Avant-Garde

Present Accounted For

A little drawing of a boy getting a nutcracker toy soldier for Christmas, you say? Carried out with characteristic verve, but in the unpromising medium of #2 pencil and crumpled yellow legal pad? No, no, no, there is much more going on here. Attend to

Essay / Avant-Garde

So Hard to Communicate

“Hello,” says the tall stick figure whose top hat is white and black. “No te entiendo,” responds the short stick figure whose top hat is black and white. His words strike the other stick figure like a sack of doorknobs, knocking him off balance. The

Essay / Avant-Garde

We All Like Sheep

And who wouldn’t like sheep? With a cloud for a body and nub for a tail, this ovine citizen has a distinctive strut. He throws his sloping hooves out in front of him and pulls himself along the green pasture beside the still waters –

Essay / Avant-Garde

Givethanksing

The turkey on the table is roasted red, and Freddy age six gives a wave so exuberant that it might take as many as six fingers to get the message across. Happy Thanksgiving from the Middlebrow gang. We’ve been on the road this week at

Essay / Avant-Garde

Teddybärkampf

At the top of a steep green hill, we see a momentary lull in the eternal battle for the teddy bear. The tall purple knight represents the Bearhead Clan, known for the severity of their discipline, the unornamented armor, and their total devotion to the

Essay / Avant-Garde

Piano Lesson

With this image, our accomplished 6-year old artist, fully capable of illustrating chivalrous derring-do on the grand scale, intentionally curtails his normal rendering style. He sets aside the conventions of detailed description and gestural representation, and opts for a simpler, looser style. Why, you might

Essay / Avant-Garde

Shot Blocked

The marks on the left could be read as railroad tracks converging at a distant vanishing point, but they are in fact the goal net. This young goalie has all the right moves, not even condescending to use his hands in blocking this shot. With

Essay / Avant-Garde

Rock and Roll!

On a make-shift stage with a pipe-and-drape backdrop, one man plays a portable keyboard while another brandishes a mean microphone. Put your hands together, people, I can’t hear you! (I can’t prove it, but I believe this is a drawing of worship leader Walt and

Essay / Avant-Garde

Cordial Salutations of Domestic Felicitation

Mr. Bird returns from a morning of hunting and gathering, descending with a dramatic flourish and imposing wingspread. He has a wild look in his eye, and a few unkempt feathers that could use a good kemping. Though his beak remains tightly closed, he shouts

Essay / Avant-Garde

Peaceful Coexistence

This golden banner signifies that cats and birds can live together in harmony. At the world-famous cat theme park Meowsyland, the cats all promised not to eat the birds, instead hosting the first annual Bird Tuesday.

Essay / Avant-Garde

Knock Knock

Who’s there? Knight. Knight who? Knight who’s gesturing menacingly with a sword at the wooden drawbridge of your tiny stronghold with its shield decorations flanking a smoking torch with billowing smoke that drifts off toward the banner of my approaching army. Get it? Is that