New York Trip 2011

Last week I had the pleasure of going on a trip to NYC with a small group of illustrators from SCAD led by Julie Lieberman.

We met people from all ends of illustration, advertising, editorial, book, artist reps, magazines, newspapers and made some new friends!

Here's a run-down of some of the places we went to. I highly recommend that check these out too if you're in NYC and interested in illustration:


Center for Book Arts - Loved nerding out about books. If I lived in NYC I'd definitely take their classes. Highlight: Barbara Page's Bookmarks project.

Rolling Stone Magazine - Well I can't really recommend that you go there since it's not open to the public but you should definitely check out their "The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time" magazine  especially since it's fully illustrated! And if you ever DO get a chance to visit their offices, definitely do it, tons of original art on the walls.

Illustration House - More of a gallery rather than a museum but able to compete with any art museum in New York. There's quite a different impact between seeing the work in person and seeing it in printed form. It's really sad how so many illustrations are more beautiful, inspiring or technically astounding than any Picasso or Manet,  yet they've been shunned and forgotten by the mainstream, simply for being commercial art. One of my favourites John Berkey's illustration for Isaac Asimov's (one of my favourite authors) "The Caves of Steel"

Pulp Art at the Society of Illustrators - We had the pleasure of attending a lecture by Robert Lesser (the owner of the collection). He addressed more of what I mentioned above, how the art on the pulps was shunned aside by the mainstream art world even though it can EASILY hold its ground next to ANYTHING at the Met or the MoMA or the Guggenheim. Every painting had the original cover to go with it. In my favourite one, the girl in the painting wasn't wearing a shirt but the one in the cover was, ha!

Sketch Night at Society of Illustrators - Loved the live music, here's some sketches:

Lastly, the Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty exhibit at the Met, it was brilliant. There was an odd morbid ambiance floating around each room, as if walking through a graveyard or a church but with a collective show of admiration, as if we all went there to pay our respects to McQueen. So you're walking around, looking at these mannequins with an alien sense of respect, as if they were royalty simply for wearing his creations. And then you feel wow, he is absolutely a genius and you have the privilege to see his work at just an arm's reach away... And then you realize that he's gone and that this is all there will ever be. Definitely worth it if you ever get to see it.