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Jelly, jelly so fine

Friday, November 29, 2019

Trussed turkey puzzler

I was intrigued and a little piqued when I took a quick glance at the cover of this week's New Yorker magazine.

My first thought was that the artist lacked certain graphic arts skills as most pros would leave a bit more negative space at the bottom of the bird so that it would read easier.

But I found myself having to look again. There was something beautiful and familiar about the way that the shadow was rendered and the paint buildup.

Sort of reminded me of one of my favorite artists, Wayne Thiebaud. But he is a fine artist who doesn't do magazine covers.

I turned the magazine pages to find a credit. Lo and behold, it is a Thiebaud. Bravo.

I showed it to both my wife and a friend and they didn't quite get it. "Man that's a skinny turkey."

I may be projecting but I told them that I thought that Thiebaud was portraying a holiday bell.

What do you think? Am I all wet here? What is he depicting?

2 comments:

Jon Harwood said...

It is a cool painting and I it but I can't figure out what happened to the Turkey. This leaves me with the only remaining option: bullshit art speak: So, "The predominantly red white and blue colors surrounding the turkey represents the the national environment of the body politic (turkey) which in this era is chopped in half and crudely sewn together." The national angst is evoked as one wonders while contemplating the gaping turkey hole, "What happened to this turkey?". Is the national turkey now guillotined forever.

I have seen reports that the artist is working on a related portrayal of a flaming orange turkey in a dumpster.

jh

Anonymous said...

The shadow looks like a Greek amphora, used for wine.

Hope you feel better soon.

Best,

Denis Kelly