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Does Anyone Remember Laughter?

APRIL 19, 2006
Skiing Magazine- 2003
I was browsing our vast digital archives recently and marvelling at the array of eye candy that we've produced over the years. I never set out to be a 'humourous illustrator" ( indeed, there are those who would argue that I never suceeded), but for better or for worse, that appears to be my niche.
Bally's Casino - Late 2002
I mean, I'm a troubled guy. I'm out there thinking the blackest of thoughts. wringing my hands and furrowing my brow with the best of 'em. Why not? These are troubled and troubling times! But when it comes down to it, it seems that the lessons learned in my formative years as an illustrator have rooted themselves too deeply to be ignored. People, I was led to believe, want to feel good and have a few yuks. I happily delivered them; it was a lucrative enterprise. Nothing too "high concept" - just a splash of colorful mirth on the page to keep the reader engaged in yet another hollow sidebar on booking air travel online or critical analysis of "Survivor: The Australian Outback".
Perhaps it has something to do with the overwhelming abundance of "hard news" out there, but it seems to me that the humourous illustration has been unceremoniously sent to the back of the bus. I see a fair amount of whimsey out there, gobs of abstraction, metric tons of infographics. But the stupid, virtually meaningless humourous images that  once made this studio a veritible dollar-printing factory? Not so very much.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to finish cutting the flowers off of my rosebushes then return to the utility closet in the basement and weep.
© 2024 Steve Wacksman