| BILL BITES:
New Visual Journalists in the Field
Issue #17, by Bill Russell
In his 1973 essay, Tom Wolfe declared that novelists-turned-journalists
like Norman Mailer, Truman Capote, and Gay Talese; represented
New Journalism. It was their reportage he said, that removed
all the "screens" between literature and its audience
and put "the writer one step closer to the absolute involvement
of the reader.” Wolfe's essay asserts that the techniques
of these “New Journalists” are the only truly effective
means of capturing the "reality" of particular cultural
phenomena.
Is there an illustration version of investigative or new journalism?
Can we allow an artist a bit of honesty within the current media
deluge? Does this portend a new trend in illustration?
I say yes to all. I can name two illustrators who do just that.
They are Nathan Fox and Steve Mumford. They are the New Visual
Journalists. Back in the 19th century, the London Illustrated
News used
to dispatch ‘reporter artists’ to the war fronts
like the Boer War and natural disasters around the world. Before
the use of photography in newspapers and magazines, these artists
drew pictures and wrote narratives about these newsworthy events.
These artists were field-tested.
After graduating from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1997,
Nathan Fox headed to New York and The School of Visual Arts Illustration
As Visual Essay Graduate Program. This taught him the value of
being engaged and being contemporary. Fox has a masterful, hip
energy to his work. He is the person the New York Times Magazine
calls to illustrate articles on terrorism, the Iraq war and new
battlefield technologies. At his recent show at the Receiver
Gallery in
San Francisco, he told me he “wants to put as much truth
in his drawings that he can, right down to researching the correct
details of an AK47.” Fox has the uncanny ability to place
himself in the thick of battle without ever leaving his Milwaukee
studio.
On the other hand, Steve Mumford is a true war artist. Not since
Winslow Homer’s Civil War drawings for Harper’s Magazine
has an artist witnessed and depicted the mess of soldiering and
civilian life. His new book, Baghdad Journal shows
us sketches, writings and paintings that are dramatic, honest
and display day-to-day life in war torn Iraq not typically seen
in the convention press. On his own dime and a press pass from
Artnet.com,
he toured Iraq four times in four-month stretches. His sketchbook
was his passport. Never did he feel pressured to follow the precept:
If it bleeds, it leads. At a recent book signing at Cody’s
in Berkeley, Mumford admitted to me that he, like everyone else,
has a bias. “A photograph shows everything in an instant.
In a drawing, I can edit. It’s still not the truth, but
it’s my subjective reality.” Mumford doesn’t
take sides. In his first few tours, he was able to travel throughout
Iraq, without escort, to draw combatants and everyday people
freely and without malice.
This year has been a year of unrelenting war and disaster. Thankfully,
New Visual Journalists like Fox and Mumford provide us with honest,
participatory and beautiful depictions of bad news and an insight
into the culture.
Comments, etc. to Bill@Billustration.com
Fox Images: Copyright ©2005 Nathan Fox
Mumford Images: Copyright ©2005 The Artnet Worldwide Corporation
and Steve Mumford
BILL RUSSELL
A Guild member for 20 years, Bill has been a freelance illustrator for over 25
years in Toronto, New York and the Bay Area. He taught illustration at California
College of the Arts (formerly CCAC) for eight years and been a staff artist at
the San Francisco Chronicle for six years. His contributions to various Guild
efforts include volunteering on the North Bay Luncheon Committee, a successful
North Bay Sales Tax event, the Outreach Committee, and the Repeal of the California
Sales Tax on artwork. Bill is one of the original All-Rights Refusniks.
To view his work and other musings, visit www.Billustration.com. |
