The Gothic Times

Issue date: 4/28/09 Section: Art

The Visiting Artist Program at New Jersey City University hosts a lecture series focusing on contemporary issues in the art world. On Tuesday, March 24, world famous caricaturist, author, and distinguished lecturer Steve Brodner visited the Visual Arts building. He talked to students about his experience working as a satirical illustrator in New York and New Jersey for the past thirty years.

As a self-proclaimed "crusading cartoonist," Brodner dreamt of changing the world through his art. What Brodner really wanted to do was art journalism.

He said, "If there's something you want to do, don't wait for the assignment." Many working artists won't take on a project unless it pays, and therefore end up doing work they don't enjoy. By building up a portfolio of the type of work you want to do, you are more likely to land a job in that field, "So give yourself assignments," advised Brodner.

Brodner was born in Brooklyn and graduated from Cooper Union. He started out as a cartoonist at a local newspaper, the Hudson Dispatch in Union City. Soon after, he began taking freelance illustration assignments from the New York Times Book Review. Since then, his work has been featured in National Lampoon, Sports Illustrated, Playboy, Esquire, Harper's, and Spy. He currently teaches at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

Steve Brodner is also the author of Freedom Fries and has published his own journal, The New York Illustrated News.

"Illustration is nothing more and nothing less than narrative art," Brodner explained. Illustration is different than 'fine art' or 'gallery art' only because it is telling a literal story like in an opera, a film or a novel; it starts with a word.

Brodner compared good illustration to radio shows like This American Life on NPR. They should be looking for the "essence" of the story. Like a song or a film, the real meaning of the story is when you get the overall feeling of it, not the parts that make it up. When illustrating for an article or story, he said "ask yourself, 'What's the essence of this piece of writing?'"

Brodner spoke on some of his most memorable projects such as the Clinton Jell-O mold and the movie poster for Bulworth. He also gave the students an overview of contemporary history and politics as it relates to his work. Because our generation can appear apathetic to important political issues, Brodner emphasized his opinion that someone cannot not be into the news. He said that news is not just a show, and people forget that. People go different places for the news. The Daily Show and dig.com are just as much the news as the five o'clock news.

To view some of Steve Brodner's work, visit: http://www.drawger.com/stevebrodner/.


*****This Lecture Series is made possible with the generous support of the Office of the Dean of the William J. Maxwell College of Arts and Sciences along with the Art Department. For further information contact Assistant Professor Brian Gustafson. Call 201.200.2179 or email bgustafson@njcu.edu.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools