There is a most interesting idiot at work here, drawing a stereotype Japanese cartoon girl onto an image of 'Part of a lineal city at Madrid' on p. 11 of C B Purdom's The Building of Satellite Towns (1925 republished 1949). The artist has used the suburb of Canillejas as the girl's chin. Is it kind of 'I've read ten pages of this book... time for a break... ooh, hello baby!'? Don't know, will never know. Theories?
4 comments:
Interesting conflict here David. I think its a very good drawing, by no means a mindless doodle. It has captured your imagination, it must be art. Graffiti bad, Art good. Or what?
Tom, I don't think it's a particularly good drawing - it's a mindless doodle in the sense that I have no doubt the person executing it could draw the same thing anywhere, it's just that they chose to do it here. I mean, I'm no connoisseur. I wouldn't say graffiti bad or art good, but bad art bad, certainly. What do you like about it? The eyes didn't follow me round the room, which is my usual criterion.
The face is classic manga style as developed by Osamu Tezuka, Japanese drawing genius. Tezuka aimed to convey emotion through a codified set of facial expressions largely formed by the treatment of the eyes. The shape and size of the eyes are important. The light reflected in the eyes gives further context and the shading adds another layer of meaning.
In this case the artist has faithfully followed Tezuka's style to produce a fantasy picture of feminine beauty. The only odd note is the angular chin which poses a question, Why this place on the map? The map itself provides a body of sorts, but also a break between a reality and a fantasy. Its a little love poem, cute but sad, like many a pop song.
It occurred to me that the name of the town maybe suggested a 'choker'.
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