By Paul Hornschemeier (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1-60699-285-2
Last-Minute Christmas Dilemmas Solved: perfect for any aspiring creator or art lover.
In his relatively short graphic novelling career – and when not producing superb commercial illustrations from magazines such as the Wall Street Journal, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung and Nickelodeon Magazine, Penguin Books and many others, or designs and typography for the numerous foreign editions of his creations and many other visual treats – Paul Hornschemeier has produced a small, but astonishing body of work: all intriguingly challenging, of phenomenal quality and boldly dedicated to deeper themes and compelling expansions of the medium of graphic narrative.
He’s also pretty good at being funny, sad, frightening and pretty all at once.
Don’t take my word for it: track down Bygones,The Collected Sequential, The Three Paradoxes, Life with Mr. Dangerous, Let Us be Perfectly Clear and his landmark Mother, Come Home to see for yourself.
There’s also a captivating glimpse at his working processes to be found in the sketchbook chronicle All and Sundry – Uncollected Work 2004-2009.
The man is truly fascinated with the concept of creativity and the process of recording images and has been for simply ages pursuing the experimental boundaries of art through his drawing blog The Daily Forlorn. Now this handy little hardback collects 106 compelling portraits from that site, notionally grouped together in a quartet of categories and backed up with an evocative commentary section entitled Why Draw?
The honest answer is because he wanted to and needed to, and the range of headshots – in a variety of styles and media star famed and lesser lights of the eponymous description – have all contributed towards making Hornschemeier the undeniable storytelling superstar he is.
For no other reason than that they struck me most at first glance, here’s a partial listing of some of the portraits contained within: Maurice Sendak, Edward Hopper, Marcel Duchamp, Steve Ditko, Gahan Wilson, C.C. Beck, Hans Christian Andersen, Harper Lee, John Steinbeck, P.G. Wodehouse, James Thurber, Jim Henson, Jeremy Bentham, Nicola Tesla, Lenny Bruce, Billy Wilder, Rankin & Bass, Carol Reed, Ed Wood, Frank Capra, Orson Welles and so many more all hang on the pages like windows into genius and truly seem to offer a smidgeon more every time you return for just one more glance.
If you want – or need – a peek inside the head of a truly creative force, or just love great drawing and honest intimate communication this is a book you must see.
Art and text © 2011, 2012, 2013 Paul Hornschemeier. This edition © 2013 Fantagraphics Books. All rights reserved.