Odalisque

I've found that you can employ some artistic formulas for almost any purpose. Art history is full of annunciations and crucifictions; we use those familar poses and gestures all the time, repurposing them for our momentary use. They bring their own subtext to a new set of characters. It is like those flip books where you switch the head of one person onto the body of another. When you think about it, this is the essence of comedy. Upsetting our expectations, rearranging our perceptions, moving the furniture, wearing the wrong hat or the wrong socks. In Hitchcock's films there are a dozen situations where the hero is forced to masquerade as something he is not, usually in front of an audience. It makes us nervous, but we laugh. I could write a funny story around this series of small bankers. What has cast him in the pose of an Odalisque, with his pear and his wine? Who is he consorting with? This and several other small banker drawings will appear in The Believer next month.

Small Banker

I drew this little man last year, and I thought to myself "He looks like he might be a banker." Expressionless, unmuscular, dressed in the proper uniform for denying credit to someone. A cold eye. Granted there are bankers out there who are wonderful human beings. Not him. This guy seemed to distill the essence of bankerness. I did a set of variations on him, in miniature, in a variety of poses and changes of costume, but always the same blank expression, like the face on an envelope containing a bill. I sent them to the magazine I usually send these small serial spots to, but answer came there none. So I sent them to Andrew at the Believer, who has always believed in me. And that's where they will appear next month. Watch for them.