Menu
The New Contemporary Art Magazine

Drew Friedman Shares Presidential Portraits in Exhibition

Following the release of his Fantagraphics book with portraits of all 44 U.S. presidents, illustrator Drew Friedman brings his satirical, “warts-and-all” style to Ohio State University’s Friends of the Libraries Gallery at Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum. In addition to his book illustrations, the exhibition also features his other presidential-themed works over the years, like the magazine cover above.

Following the release of his Fantagraphics book with portraits of all 44 U.S. presidents, illustrator Drew Friedman brings his satirical, “warts-and-all” style to Ohio State University’s Friends of the Libraries Gallery at Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum. In addition to his book illustrations, the exhibition also features his other presidential-themed works over the years, like the magazine cover above.

“[He] has employed his intensely realistic, warts-and-all style of caricature to satirize celebrity and authority for four decades,” the gallery says. “In his latest book from Fantagraphics Books, All the Presidents, Friedman points his pen at the exclusive club of the United States presidents. … Building on a centuries-old tradition of cartoonists satirizing those in power, Friedman’s influences include Edward Sorel, Robert Grossman, Mort Drucker, David Levine, and more.”

See more on Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum’s site and the artist’s page.

Meta
Share
Facebook
Reddit
Pinterest
Email
Related Articles
With a decidedly Victorian twist, Olex Oleole puts together images that don’t quite fit together. A phonograph emerges from a heart while what look like animals behinds are sliced off and held together by two strings. Eventually, themes begin to emerge. A Nike logo appears over a cryptic figure with the snarky title Throw caution to the wind and just do it. Another shows a woman’s head turned into a vintage camera with the words Maybe you should consider keeping your selfies to yourself? Each piece feels surreal even while it looks familiar. The juxtaposition of human and machine or modern logo and mysterious character feels like a puzzle waiting to be solved. Once you put the pieces together — mostly with the help of each biting title — the other little details make the joke that much funnier. The conflation of time works just right, as the men and women in Victorian dress remind us of the age-old folies of vanity, consumption and more.
Nomi Chi, a Vancouver-based illustrator and tattoo artist, creates mysterious, sometimes playful images that often explore identity. Whether it’s on paper, sculptural, or in mural form, these strange characters mix the absorbing and the unsettling. Though accomplished in both tattooing and illustration, the latter carries more personal themes for the artist.
(A collaboration with Celeste Byers) Aaron Glasson’s murals, though surreal and vibrant in an otherworldly sense, are firmly grounded in reality, often depicting real people and their personal journeys. The artist, born in New Zealand and living in the U.S., crafts murals across the world, in addition to work in illustration and gallery paintings. He cites his themes as “relationship to the natural environment, community empowerment and education, indigenous knowledge, the subconscious, and the unseen.” Several of his recent murals are collaborations with artist Celeste Byers.
Polish painter Ewa Juszkiewicz subverts canonical portraiture by playing with viewers' expectations. Poised damsels that evoke Renaissance-era nobility stand with their hands clasped and their faces replaced by oyster mushrooms, cockroaches and shrubbery. It's as if in spite of all the pains these ladies have taken to appear proper and civilized, nature has reasserted its dominion. Juzkiewicz is specifically interested in portraits of women and uses her work to study the ways women have been presented over the course of European history.

Subscribe to the Hi-Fructose Mailing List