Conceptual Enough

the most informed political commentary you will find on substack

This month I was featured (with my lowest-effort post in a while) on Substack Reads, curated by the great Liana Finck, whose newsletter was very much a model for this one. To celebrate, here’s a discount offer, which works until the end of the month:

1. CRAP CARTOONS FOR FREELOADING SCUM

As a warm-up to the daily ordeal of living, I’ve been trying to get back to the habit of drawing something shamelessly stupid first thing in the morning, at least before email/slack. I find that it does wonders for the day’s mood, even if you spend no more than a few minutes doing it.

2. CROSSED-OUT DRAWINGS

My favorite part of editing a text is crossing things out—it’s such a viscerally pleasing thing to do… might partially explain why I tend to rewrite everything a million times. With drawings too I’ve always had this immediate impulse to cross everything out—sometimes I even keep it in the published books. Anyway, here I gave myself free rein to go hard and cross things out in full scribble grids.

All right. I shall now do my best to alienate most of my new followers <hands rubbing>.

3. CONCRETE METAPHORS

Dedicated readers of DADA issues will remember my seminal comic that explained the mechanics of conceptual illustration. Now, let’s see these principles in practice. Take a look at this classic New Yorker cover from 2017, the golden age of conceptual illustration:

Here we have the then-president Donald Trump steering a sailboat and using his breath to propel it forward. However, there’s much more to it than this, so let’s unpack the metaphors:

• First of all, note the diminutive size of Donald Trump’s hands—the illustration is implying that the president is physically unfit to steer, and yet he won’t let go of the handle.

• Additionally, let’s not ignore the fact that the other hand is nowhere in sight—he is single-handedly steering an entire nation. But let’s move on to other areas.

  

• The boat is a symbol for America—a reference to the name of the winner of the 19th century regatta around the Isle of Wight—an ancient vessel attempting to navigate the modern seas.

• As we can ascertain from the intense tan on Donald Trump’s face, the man has spent so much time under the heat of public scrutiny, that his entire face is red, and therefore, he is literally blowing hot air.

  

• Also note that the lines of air are very thin, implying that they carry little weight, plus there’s exactly five of them, referencing the theories around the Fifth Column and 5G networks.

• These are literal enactments of metaphors that transcend the limits of irony and satire—figures of speech become real, the map becomes the territory.

• The lines of the sail are all curved, but if we imagine the sail at rest, it’s clearly a right triangle, alluding to the president’s thinly concealed right-wing leanings.

• The illustration doesn’t exist as a static image, it is informed by the suggested and imagined frames that precede and follow it.

  

• The water is represented with a single white line, and the color of the boat is identical above and below the water line, suggesting that there might not be a surface at all—nothing to float on and nowhere to sink.

• Additionally, if you look closely at the two straight lines that hold the sail, it’s a clear reference to the political compass, on which the sail fits firmly in the top-right corner.

• Most importantly, we notice that the sail has two holes in it, and so, despite Donald Trump’s visible effort, he’s blowing hot air through holes in his arguments.

• The two holes of course represent the bi-partisan government, as well as the square holes in the duvet covers from the Soviet Union.

• But let us go beyond the confines of the illustration, admitting the canvas as part of the piece. From that perspective, even the title of the magazine is a slight poke at the character of the cover’s subject, suggesting that Donald Trump considers himself the New Yorker, rather than just a New Yorker.

• Consider the rest of the design: the traditional vertical bar on the left (often a pattern or a solid color) is pitch black—a censorship rectangle, stretched to the limits and tuned on its head, invoking the limits of free speech.

  

• Note the skewed dollar sign, too—a clear indictment of the course of the government’s fiscal strategy, and of course the date, spelled as Aug.28, for Augury, referencing Trump’s immediate family via this line from the Book of Deuteronomy: “no one shall be found among you who makes a son or daughter pass through fire, or who practices divination, or is a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer.”

• That fire (a reminder of Trump’s catchphrase from the Apprentice days) can be found in the red of the MAGA hats, as well as in the dark, brooding color of the cover’s background.

  

• Taken all at once, the multiple metaphors and allusions at once compliment and compete with one another. The effect is disorienting and overwhelming, mirroring the post-modernist nature of the modern news cycle.

• The medium is at service of the concept—every line, and every symbol is put to work, even the very concept of the concept. Now, at last, the picture is complete.

  With covers like this one, the New Yorker maintains a culture of measured, intelligent discourse that stands as a beacon of moral clarity in the divided political climate. It’s a reminder that the function of art is not simply to express an opinion, but to construct a rich and layered landscape, and trust the audience to navigate it on their own.

The Smoking Sailboat by Philip Guston

“Certainty is the enemy of understanding.” —Keith Ridgway

4. SMOLPRESSIFICATION OF LONDON CONT.

Those of you who live in that there London, mark the date (Augury 17th) for the 2024 Small Press Day at Gosh! Comics, where I will be selling a limited run of the first issue/chapter of Foghorn, as well a small cartoon collection that I’m hoping to riso-print myself this month.

Also in attendance are: epic warmonger Nathan Cowdry, poetry drawer Peony Gent, and young old man Ethan Llewellyn, as well as a ton of people I’m not familiar with, which shows how out of touch I am. But these three are definitely great, and you should get their stuff, too.

5. PAYWALLED CARTOONS AND DRAWINGS FOR POST-UR-CONCEPTUAL EUNUCHS