Good Golly Miss Molly!

 

 She is a force unto herself. She is also, like the second side of a rare coin a force that is selfless, giving and dedicated to humanity. Her actions are especially dedicated to the oppressed of humanity; many times outcasts and the victims of the world’s multitude of oppressors. This; as a focus meaning, the rich, the one percenters. She is also an artist, illustrator, writer and film maker.  Her work is sought-out and included in the collections of institutions such as MoMa and The New-York Historical Society. She is successful at what she does. This wondrously industrious young woman, Jennifer Caban is better known by another name. Her nom de plume by the way is Molly Crabapple.

Molly Crabapple in her time has gone far beyond lip service to her causes. Including such as the “Occupy Wall Street” movement, the many times illegally held and abused detainees of Guantanamo Bay, The Syrian ISIS Resistance Radicals and other disenfranchised Americans of all stripes. She’s a radical. It is more than evident in much of her art and in her approach as well. She is at heart springing for the counter-culture and fast becoming a just outside the edge main-streamer.

Molly Crabapple is a second generation artist; growing up her mother was a commercial artist. As a result she say first hand that there was money to be made using art or one’s talents for profit. Molly; never short of creative ideas, sold drawings and illustrations for profit regularly and in tough times posed unabashedly for nude photographs, pretty much for anyone (artist or not) that could come up with $100 and a camera; this was Molly the entrepreneur/ business woman.  Molly worked for several years as the House Artist at “The Box” an avant-garde Manhattan night club. She remembers that fondly as being “The Box’s Toulouse-Lautrec.”    She was also one of the original “Suicide Girls” and worked in Burlesque. You will find with Molly Crabapple there is a definite burlesque sensuality and a kind of  French/Rococo influence  tinged with her own wit and humor. These qualities are implicit within many of her most successful pieces. And sometimes; on occasion, they are simply magnificent cartoons.

Molly Crabapple is one of the most successful, engaging and productive artist in today’s art world. I highly recommend her memoir “Drawing for Blood.” It is completed with illustrations, well written, beautifully packaged and provocative.

What remains here is a continuation of “Miss Molly’s” drawings, posters, videos etc. Hopefully yours’ to Enlighten, Embrace & Enjoy!

       "A History of the War on Drugs"  

         Molly Crabapple  & Jay Z   

 

                                                                                 

                                                                                                                                              

                        

       

                                                                                                   

                                                                                                                         

                           

I think that school just isn't for everyone. A lot of people don't learn well when they have to sit in a place for eight hours. A lot of people learn best lying in their own bed, teaching themselves from books.

…and I was a bad student. I was a brat. If I was a teacher, I would not have liked myself.

"I Have Your Heart" 

by

Molly Crabapple

                                                          

"Ain't Burned All The Bright"

Twenty Twenty was not an easy year to love…but it was pivotal. A year marred with the threat, shut-downs and reality of Covid-19, the particular murder of one George Floyd and the storming of the US Capitol in an attempted Coup d'état to name a few dilemmas.  Anxiety was hallmark and in many way no real end in sight of the near future.  A newly released young adult fiction  “Ain’t Burned All The Bright” attempts to give it a different texture, tone and perspective. It is the seminal words of Jason Reynolds and groundbreaking pictures of Jason Griffin that succeeds in unusual and excellent form.  It is much, much more than good. It thrives and refreshes in a grand fashion.

The book is in many ways an attempt at understanding events that we try to come to terms and understanding of within ourselves and through the media. Their obsessive fascination with the horrors of contemporary life along with our own as viewed within our households and with our families.  The words and images of “Ain’t Burned All The Bright” flow in a clarity much like the drum beat of a Jack DeJohnette solo using just snare and a single cymbal. Steady, rhythmic and consistent with the occasional perfectly placed accent.  This flow while steady and paced is one of focused interest and a delight in it’s unfolding narration.

                                                                                                  

And I'm sitting here wondering why my mother wont chance the channel

       and why the news won't change the story and why the story won't change into something new

                                                                                                                      

                                                                                                      

or the way we treat the world

 

 

or the way we treat each other

“Ain’t Burned All The Bright” is from the collective efforts of two of today’s brightest young stars. They have individually and collectively received much praise, commissions, accolades and successes including; New York Times Best Sellers, NAACP Image Awards, residencies and world-wide exhibitions. 

                                                                                                       

 The two Jason’s met and bonded while in college and since have become brothers in creativity and spirit. They have collaborated once before on another young adult novel. It has been very well received effort; “My Name Is Jason Mine Too.”  

We can; at this point, hope to see more collaborations and successes between and for the remarkable two Jasons. 

                                        Jason Reynolds          &          Jason Griffin 

                                   jasonwritesbooks.com                jasondouglasgriffin.com

The Exceptional Artistry of Mark Summers

My favorite beer is Samuel Adams. My favorite magazine is probably Rolling Stone.  I’m nuts about Dickens’ literary classic “A Christmas Carol” and the New York Society of Illustrators. So; what is the connection? Mark Summers. 

 He is among the most celebrated and revered artist working today. He is a master of his medium. Summers’ chooses to illustrate with pencil, scratch board and  X-Acto knife. It is a precise, unusual, breathtakingly beautiful and rewarding form of etching. His creations; especially his caricature are perfect representations of his subjects. Men and women from history, past and present; along with imagined characters of fiction. The faces, postures and attitudes are immediately recognizable and true to each of his subjects. His created likenesses are uncanny.
It was from the printed pages of “Rolling Stone” that made me aware of Mark Summers’ work. I became a fast fan of what he was achieving within his efforts.  I then began to notice his work in other magazines and soon in books. Most notably; again, Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol.” Another personal favorite is featured in R.L. Stine’s “Horror Hour.”  Summers embellishes the short fiction “The Black Mask” in that anthology book. His illustration talents are exhibited in “Edgar Allen Poe selected Poems & Tales” collected by Neal Gaiman. I have purchased multiple copies of his books and often given them as gifts to family and friends. He is a great artist/illustrator. Just ask The New York Society of Illustrators.  Summers’ has received numerous honors from this most prestigious organization including “The Distinguished Achievement Award”  and “Best Illustrator” for 2000 & 2003.

“Summers takes the illustrator’s art back a century by enlisting the wood engraver’s craft to the scratchboard medium. He gives it a thoroughly contemporary flavor, however, in the power of his imagery.” 

                                       Walt Reed   “The Illustrator in America, 1860-2000,”

“The most frequent question I get asked about my work is "What program are you using?  The answer to that question; none.  My materials consist of just a pencil, a knife and a pen on a regular scratchboard.” 

                                                                                                                                                                Mark Summers

                                                     

                                                           

Summers’ also possesses an assuredly enviable list of clients including: Time Magazine, The Atlantic, Sports Illustrated, The National Law Journal, Parker Brothers, DuPont and Major League Baseball. Look for his celebrity caricatures monthly in Rolling Stone’s end page feature “Last Word.”  Indeed; he is a busy man.   

Mark Summers continues to maintain the highest of quality in his work and only seems to improve with each project. I am enjoying his continually ascending star, grace and gifts. He is the long ball hitter whose best is yet to be realized and always better. Stick around and be amazed and thrilled by The Exceptional Mr. Summers.  Now; if someone could please pass me a “Sam Adams.”