Essay / Avant-Garde

Giant Robot

NOOOOOOO!!! The giant robot lurches into the city and our best defenses cannot stop him. FLEE, TINY HUMANS!!! If this be doomsday, when stalks the robotic juggernaut! He was designed by a demolition contractor who thoughtlessly programmed him with the command, “Destroy the next building.”

Essay / Avant-Garde

Jet Turtle

Cleverly concealed within the hard structure of the turtle’s shell, dual miniature turbofan jet engines roar to life, sure to give him a competitive advantage when that cocky rabbit comes boasting of his superior landspeed. Pictured here with a satisfied smile at the moment of

Essay / Avant-Garde

Felicitous Nativity

Phoebe age 4 steps up to representational drawing just in time for the Christmas season. You can pick out the human figures to the left and the right, especially if you’re prepared for the bold abstraction of showing all the hairs on their heads by

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