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Why Art?
What is “Art”? It’s widely accepted that art serves an important function in society. But the concept falls under such an absurdly large umbrella and can manifest in so many different ways. Art can be self indulgent, goofy, serious, altruistic, evil, or expressive, or any number of other things. But how can it truly make lasting, positive change? In Why Art?, acclaimed graphic novelist Eleanor Davis (How To Be Happy) unpacks some of these concepts in ways both critical and positive, in an attempt to illuminate the highest possible potential an artwork might hope to achieve. A work of art unto itself, Davis leavens her exploration with a sense of humor and a thirst for challenging preconceptions of art worth of Magritte, instantly drawing the reader in as a willing accomplice in her quest.
200 pages, Paperback
First published February 13, 2018
26 people are currently reading
2018 people want to read
About the author
Eleanor Davis
37 books375 followersMy name is Eleanor Davis. I’m a cartoonist and illustrator. A collection of my short comics for adults, How To Be Happy, is out now from Fantagraphics Books. I have two graphic novels for kids: The Secret Science Alliance and the Copycat Crook (2009) which I created with my husband Drew Weing, and the easy-reader Stinky (2008). I live in Athens, Georgia.
Clients include: The New Yorker, The New York Times, Google, The Wall Street Journal, Plansponser, MIT Tech Review, Lucky Peach, Nautilus, Time Magazine, Telerama, Slate, BusinessWeek, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Oxford American, Nobrow Press, BUST Magazine, Charlex NYC, Fantagraphics Books, Dutton, TOON Books, First Second Books, Houghton Mifflin, Workman Publishing, and Bloomsbury Books.
Awards and recognition include: Society of Illustrators – Gold and Silver; Eisner Nominee (Secret Science Alliance); Print Magazine’s New Visual Artists 2009; Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor (Stinky); Russ Manning Award (Stinky); Best American Comics 2008 + cover & Best American Comics 2013. In nursery school I got a ribbon for “Best Fine Motor Skills.”
Clients include: The New Yorker, The New York Times, Google, The Wall Street Journal, Plansponser, MIT Tech Review, Lucky Peach, Nautilus, Time Magazine, Telerama, Slate, BusinessWeek, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Oxford American, Nobrow Press, BUST Magazine, Charlex NYC, Fantagraphics Books, Dutton, TOON Books, First Second Books, Houghton Mifflin, Workman Publishing, and Bloomsbury Books.
Awards and recognition include: Society of Illustrators – Gold and Silver; Eisner Nominee (Secret Science Alliance); Print Magazine’s New Visual Artists 2009; Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor (Stinky); Russ Manning Award (Stinky); Best American Comics 2008 + cover & Best American Comics 2013. In nursery school I got a ribbon for “Best Fine Motor Skills.”
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 346 reviews
April 11, 2018
Well, that was unexpected. This is to my mind one of the best comics creations I have encountered this year, or in awhile. And not exactly a graphic novel, exactly. But it is, too, finally, as a story emerges. Let me explain:
Great cartoonist/illustrator Davis creates a book with a kind of textbook title, to help students of art understand the nature of art, gradually appears to spoof and unravel that purpose in surrealistic or absurdist ways, and then shows us she has been serious all along, really. Her book really could be used as a textbook or reflection on the nature of art and the purpose of the imagination in the world, after all.
In the end the text, which early on is a series of illustrations and cartoons about ideas about color and form, evolves into an allegory about a collective of artists that calls attention to the fact that technical issues are really not the most important aspect of what art is about. Art is ultimately about its relationship to life, and to its transformative powers. Art is at its best heart and soul and society.
But we get to that simple, possibly reductive point in unexpected ways. And we do look at a range of possibilities in art, ranging from realistic representation to performance art. Finally, we do grapple with questions artists have struggled with for centuries such as the centrality of and definitions of beauty.
Maybe this book is not for everyone, if you like conventional art and tales, but this is a book not written by a scholar of art but an artist. Why Art? was definitely for me. In the end it gets wild, seemingly out of control, and it actually moved me in a way that surprised me. I loved it.
Great cartoonist/illustrator Davis creates a book with a kind of textbook title, to help students of art understand the nature of art, gradually appears to spoof and unravel that purpose in surrealistic or absurdist ways, and then shows us she has been serious all along, really. Her book really could be used as a textbook or reflection on the nature of art and the purpose of the imagination in the world, after all.
In the end the text, which early on is a series of illustrations and cartoons about ideas about color and form, evolves into an allegory about a collective of artists that calls attention to the fact that technical issues are really not the most important aspect of what art is about. Art is ultimately about its relationship to life, and to its transformative powers. Art is at its best heart and soul and society.
But we get to that simple, possibly reductive point in unexpected ways. And we do look at a range of possibilities in art, ranging from realistic representation to performance art. Finally, we do grapple with questions artists have struggled with for centuries such as the centrality of and definitions of beauty.
Maybe this book is not for everyone, if you like conventional art and tales, but this is a book not written by a scholar of art but an artist. Why Art? was definitely for me. In the end it gets wild, seemingly out of control, and it actually moved me in a way that surprised me. I loved it.
July 10, 2022
Immersive and inquisitive - unique perspective on the motivational aspects of creating art. 'Art for art's sake' examined in a very deep way; (strangely echoing the song of the same name by 10cc). I think the philosophy of art is truly one of the most underappreciated aspects of insight into culture - a very deep reflection on this in this GN.
March 9, 2024
“There are other artworks that are meant to remind the audience of things we’d rather forget, things so awful they shouldn’t be true. But they are true, and being reminded makes us feel like the tops of our heads are coming off. It makes us feel like the sky is wrinkling and running like wet tissue paper, like we’re being dragged down into deep water by many drowning hands, and we have to tear and rip at the hands to make them let go. Many people try hard to not look at this sort of artwork. And if we accidentally do, we quickly go to eat some of the ‘Sweet’ artwork with no taste.”
Wonderful and niche. Exactly what was needed.
Wonderful and niche. Exactly what was needed.
March 8, 2018
Is art blue? Is it orange? How big is art? These questions and more are involved in Eleanor Davis's "Why Art?"
There are several five star reviews already about how wonderful this book is, and about how they are going to sleep with it next to their bed.
I'm very happy people have found joy in this book.
For me, it seemed really empty.
An artist who is himself flimsy is made of paper maiche.
A performance artist who sincerely says "I love you" to her audience is sincere.
So?
I had the same sense of "shrug emoji" that I had reading Rupi Kaur's poetry. These statements and ideas seem like they should be deep, but they don't actually say anything, and provide me with no emotional connection to, well, anything.
It does revisit its revelations about characters by the end, so it builds to...something.
I guess I would recommend it to people who like Instagram poetry but wish it had a long, disjointed narrative.
There are several five star reviews already about how wonderful this book is, and about how they are going to sleep with it next to their bed.
I'm very happy people have found joy in this book.
For me, it seemed really empty.
An artist who is himself flimsy is made of paper maiche.
A performance artist who sincerely says "I love you" to her audience is sincere.
So?
I had the same sense of "shrug emoji" that I had reading Rupi Kaur's poetry. These statements and ideas seem like they should be deep, but they don't actually say anything, and provide me with no emotional connection to, well, anything.
It does revisit its revelations about characters by the end, so it builds to...something.
I guess I would recommend it to people who like Instagram poetry but wish it had a long, disjointed narrative.
November 25, 2018
Hmmm … this wasn't what I was expecting. For some reason I thought this was going to be nonfiction, a meditation on the whats and whys of Art. I suppose, on some level, it is exactly that. But on the surface at least, it's a dreamlike journey that explores Art as a metaphor for life, or life as a metaphor for Art. Or both. Or neither. As you’ve probably guessed, it resists easy interpretation.
Honestly, I’m kind of underwhelmed. It's good for what it is, but, as far as trippy, arty comics go, it's fairly average. I don't hate it. I don't love it. I don't really regret having read it, but it just ultimately was not particularly memorable.
Honestly, I’m kind of underwhelmed. It's good for what it is, but, as far as trippy, arty comics go, it's fairly average. I don't hate it. I don't love it. I don't really regret having read it, but it just ultimately was not particularly memorable.
December 16, 2018
Eleanor, what does the inside of your mind look like?
July 27, 2018
Why everything Eleanor Davis creates is so perfect and beautiful? I'm stunned really so sensitive so deep so poetic, I just love Eleanor Davis. I really recommend this.
But if the toxic masculinity in this society has affected that much that you can't read poetry without feeling violate this is not for you and I think it's not the job of author deconstruct your fear of sensitivity, it's yours, so don't be a as;)ole.
But if the toxic masculinity in this society has affected that much that you can't read poetry without feeling violate this is not for you and I think it's not the job of author deconstruct your fear of sensitivity, it's yours, so don't be a as;)ole.
February 26, 2018
holy and pure and scary and true
this book will sleep in my bed with me for the next few weeks
pure pure magic again from Eleanor
this book will sleep in my bed with me for the next few weeks
pure pure magic again from Eleanor
Read
October 18, 2018(A version of this review was published, in German, in the Swiss comics journal STRAPAZIN.)
I was struck by the final line of a review I read a while ago in some American magazine or website that I can, alas, no longer locate: “We don’t deserve Eleanor Davis.” I found that comment rather peculiar, but it’s one that has made me think a great deal since then about the relationship between creators and consumers of artwork. What should or must one do to “deserve” the work of any artist?
Perhaps the typical American comics reader is not worthy of the thoughtful, elusive, and allusive comics of Eleanor Davis. While the “graphic novel” has come a long way in the last generation, it’s still a bit of a lost form in the Anglophone world, poised awkwardly both in readers’ minds and in bookshops between the genre ghettos of kids’ comics and superheroes and the legitimacy of literary fiction or conceptual art.
To complicate matters more, Davis’s work often begs that old pedantic question: is this comics? At times her work puts me in mind of R.O Blechman, Michael Leunig, Edward Gorey, Jules Pfeiffer and other such poetic practitioners of maybe-comics. Or, to refer to artists maybe more familiar to readers of STRAPAZIN, Davis makes comics in the way that Anke Feuchtenberger, Martin tom Dieck, or Nicholas Mahler make comics: comics drawn by artists who appear never to have read very many comics.
Such a description perfectly fits Davis’s newest book, WHY ART? I’m resisting saying much about the book because I don’t want to spoil it. Not that WHY ART? is merely an elaborate joke with a punchline, but to describe it too much may ruin its effect on the first-time reader, and its effect is worth experiencing. The book, composed mostly of simple black and white drawings, starts out like an introductory textbook, explicating types and categories of art, the intentions of artists, how viewers perceive and understand art, and the dynamics of museums and the art market. But from there the book goes off in a completely unexpected direction, slyly and gently forcing the reader to reconsider “why art?” Why is making art is such an essentially human activity? How does art fulfill social and psychological needs? And how can art, most powerfully, save and redeem us by bringing us together?
I can’t tell you whether or not you deserve Eleanor Davis, but I can tell you with great confidence and enthusiasm that WHY ART? deserves to be read by anyone who likes smart comics or who wants to understand creativity better.
I was struck by the final line of a review I read a while ago in some American magazine or website that I can, alas, no longer locate: “We don’t deserve Eleanor Davis.” I found that comment rather peculiar, but it’s one that has made me think a great deal since then about the relationship between creators and consumers of artwork. What should or must one do to “deserve” the work of any artist?
Perhaps the typical American comics reader is not worthy of the thoughtful, elusive, and allusive comics of Eleanor Davis. While the “graphic novel” has come a long way in the last generation, it’s still a bit of a lost form in the Anglophone world, poised awkwardly both in readers’ minds and in bookshops between the genre ghettos of kids’ comics and superheroes and the legitimacy of literary fiction or conceptual art.
To complicate matters more, Davis’s work often begs that old pedantic question: is this comics? At times her work puts me in mind of R.O Blechman, Michael Leunig, Edward Gorey, Jules Pfeiffer and other such poetic practitioners of maybe-comics. Or, to refer to artists maybe more familiar to readers of STRAPAZIN, Davis makes comics in the way that Anke Feuchtenberger, Martin tom Dieck, or Nicholas Mahler make comics: comics drawn by artists who appear never to have read very many comics.
Such a description perfectly fits Davis’s newest book, WHY ART? I’m resisting saying much about the book because I don’t want to spoil it. Not that WHY ART? is merely an elaborate joke with a punchline, but to describe it too much may ruin its effect on the first-time reader, and its effect is worth experiencing. The book, composed mostly of simple black and white drawings, starts out like an introductory textbook, explicating types and categories of art, the intentions of artists, how viewers perceive and understand art, and the dynamics of museums and the art market. But from there the book goes off in a completely unexpected direction, slyly and gently forcing the reader to reconsider “why art?” Why is making art is such an essentially human activity? How does art fulfill social and psychological needs? And how can art, most powerfully, save and redeem us by bringing us together?
I can’t tell you whether or not you deserve Eleanor Davis, but I can tell you with great confidence and enthusiasm that WHY ART? deserves to be read by anyone who likes smart comics or who wants to understand creativity better.
January 4, 2020
A surprising 15 minute read where Eleanor delves into conversation around our relationship with art as audiences and creators. It is humorous and tongue in cheek but not as deep as it is purported to be. Maybe I’ve read too many art related books lately but her message reminded me of Instagram poetry in some places and pseudo philosophy in others.
I did enjoy her humour and some ideas that she raises, but going through the reviews it seems like people love this because it’s by this Eleanor person who everyone loves. My lack of context however didn’t make me expect anything and from a virgin Eleanor reader it was okay I guess but not excellent.
However, I will add that it’s short length and easy writing mean that I might read it again whenever I want to read something short and artistic.
I did enjoy her humour and some ideas that she raises, but going through the reviews it seems like people love this because it’s by this Eleanor person who everyone loves. My lack of context however didn’t make me expect anything and from a virgin Eleanor reader it was okay I guess but not excellent.
However, I will add that it’s short length and easy writing mean that I might read it again whenever I want to read something short and artistic.
March 13, 2024
Not what I expected, but moving in an unexpected way.
Reminds me of something I read in another book:
“Art tells you things you don’t know you need to know until you know them.”
- art critic Peter Schjeldahl
My favourite quote:
“There are other artworks that are meant to remind the audience of things we'd rather forget, things so awful they shouldn't be true.
But they are true, and being reminded makes us feel like the tops of our heads are coming off. It makes us feel like the sky is wrinkling and running like wet tissue paper, like we're being dragged down into deep water by many drowning hands, and we have to tear and rip at the hands to make them let go.”
Reminds me of something I read in another book:
“Art tells you things you don’t know you need to know until you know them.”
- art critic Peter Schjeldahl
My favourite quote:
“There are other artworks that are meant to remind the audience of things we'd rather forget, things so awful they shouldn't be true.
But they are true, and being reminded makes us feel like the tops of our heads are coming off. It makes us feel like the sky is wrinkling and running like wet tissue paper, like we're being dragged down into deep water by many drowning hands, and we have to tear and rip at the hands to make them let go.”
May 31, 2018
Davis takes a tongue-in-cheek look at her title question while managing to be just a bit profound. From the opening pages ("Orange artworks. Blue ones. Both orange and blue ones.") made me laugh out loud and think immediately of This Is Not an Apple and Dr. Seuss. That sense of playfulness continues throughout with some digressions into deeper pain, especially the performance artist section. Clever overall, but a bit too odd for me in the end.
March 27, 2018
What I thought would be a more expository text actually turned out to be something completely different. And fascinating. In many ways this is an enigmatic text, but multiple readings reveal a more coherent message, or messages, about the potential of creativity.
January 5, 2020
Do you ever look at someone and wonder what is going on inside their head?
April 4, 2018
Part comics, part textbook, Davis is asking some big questions. a very enjoyable little ride.
May 14, 2018
A veritable journey through art. I enjoyed the beginning, I enjoyed the end and I enjoyed everything in between. A quick read with a lot to take from it. Highly recommended.
October 2, 2024
Es el primer cómic que leo y ha sido una gran primera vez. Una lectura corta pero intensa. Divertida, directa y profunda sobre, como su nombre indica, el por qué del arte.
Teniendo en cuenta que no se tarda más de 20/30min en leerla, es de estos libros a los que volver y pararte a reflexionar sobre lo que se dice y se muestra.
Teniendo en cuenta que no se tarda más de 20/30min en leerla, es de estos libros a los que volver y pararte a reflexionar sobre lo que se dice y se muestra.
Read
February 18, 2025I have really enjoyed some of Davis' other works (5 stars for HOW TO BE HAPPY), but this one missed the mark. Just felt like a big shrug in the end.
Plainly said, I didn't get it, even though I am a great admirer of weird shit.
Plainly said, I didn't get it, even though I am a great admirer of weird shit.
August 7, 2018
Don't think this graphic novel's absurdist, off-the-wall sense of humour would be for everyone, which is why I loved it. I chuckled a lot. The sense of humour reminded me a lot of SuperMutant Magic Academy, except with less of the nihilism and more metaphor and symbolism in this work.
I do like that Davis is one of those artists that changes her medium and style throughout her graphic novels, but I do feel like the cover of this and the work in You & a Bike & a Road was more moving aesthetically to me than Why Art?
Although this might just be down to personal tastes.
I do like that Davis is one of those artists that changes her medium and style throughout her graphic novels, but I do feel like the cover of this and the work in You & a Bike & a Road was more moving aesthetically to me than Why Art?
Although this might just be down to personal tastes.
February 11, 2019
What a perfectly sized meta adventure through an artists' philosophy. Witty, emotional, simplistic, and just all around beautiful - Why Art? is a graphic masterpiece for artists and non-artists alike. Through surreal storytelling, Davis creatively brings us through a deep analysis of the many aspects of art and art-making, finally providing us with the answer by transcending what it means to be a human that creates. Its definitely a deeper read than it looks, and I was touched by it. Will be reading this again, probably many more times. Would recommend this to everyone, especially artists looking for more meaning to their process and the world around them.
April 24, 2018
This is a bit bizarre. It's not really about art, but about how people relate to art and what it means in their lives. Also, it's about how the power of creation leads us to learn something about ourselves. It does get a bit abstract at times, so multiple readings are probably necessary to fully appreciate it.
The way this book is written is more like a children's picture book for adults rather than as a comic, so there is a lot less text than in a typical comic. This makes it easy to do the multiple readings that are needed.
The way this book is written is more like a children's picture book for adults rather than as a comic, so there is a lot less text than in a typical comic. This makes it easy to do the multiple readings that are needed.
March 24, 2018
As a visual artist and a creative, I loved this book, and by reading this appreciate my journey a lot more.
August 7, 2018
Eleanor Davis is one of the best comics artists around.
August 29, 2018
Eleanor Davis es una maravilla de autora. No solo tiene un dibujo expresivo y funcional, si no que tiene una forma de narrar impresionante. Y Why Art? Te toca la patata
February 12, 2019
Okay, what was this?!
April 26, 2019
Qué belleza de libro! Tiene una densidad oculta que pareciera ser solo un chiste disfrazado de seriedad cuando realmente pone en crisis cuestiones humanas y problemas del arte.
Recomendado.
Recomendado.
May 5, 2018
This surprising little book starts off as though it intends to satirize textbook categorization of art. It begins by introducing us to elements one might find in art, but with absurdity, such as giving examples of colour in art with black and white line drawings.
The book then escalates the absurdity very soon after it first begins to be possibly saying something constructive. It all appears to be a farce.
Until it isn't. And Davis surprises the reader by taking all the absurd elements and bringing them together into a simple but powerful example of how and why we need art in our lives.
It's a lovely book, suitable for all ages, appropriate for inspiring thought and conversation around art and its place in our world.
☠
Trade Paperback
Fourth Edition
Fantagraphics Books, 2018
Four Stars
May 4-5, 2018
☠
The book then escalates the absurdity very soon after it first begins to be possibly saying something constructive. It all appears to be a farce.
Until it isn't. And Davis surprises the reader by taking all the absurd elements and bringing them together into a simple but powerful example of how and why we need art in our lives.
It's a lovely book, suitable for all ages, appropriate for inspiring thought and conversation around art and its place in our world.
☠
Trade Paperback
Fourth Edition
Fantagraphics Books, 2018
Four Stars
May 4-5, 2018
☠
August 9, 2018
YES ART.
Eleanor Davis, this could be one of those throwaway sketchy businesses, but no, it celebrates and mocks and reveres and challenges the work of artists, and why we/anyone/she creates. Power, anger, need, instinct. A bit of a unexpected whirlwind in a slim little volume. I like Davis' outlook a lot, she brings her whole self to whatever she does, and I am happy to bring myself too. :)
Eleanor Davis, this could be one of those throwaway sketchy businesses, but no, it celebrates and mocks and reveres and challenges the work of artists, and why we/anyone/she creates. Power, anger, need, instinct. A bit of a unexpected whirlwind in a slim little volume. I like Davis' outlook a lot, she brings her whole self to whatever she does, and I am happy to bring myself too. :)
July 2, 2023
Naczytałem się jak fantastyczna to pozycja i początkowo czułem spory niedosyt. Zapowiadało się na minimalistyczny wykład na temat sztuki, bardzo ogólny i w zasadzie prosty, ale na szczęście w pewnym momencie staje się to tak fantastycznie zapętlone, podatne na interpretację i surrealistyczne, że automatycznie ciśnienie skacze. Sztuka jako ucieczka, sztuka jako niepokój, sztuka jako najważniejsze w życiu pytanie, sztuka jako droga do destrukcji, sztuka jako ratunek - to wszystko w tym niewielkim komiksie, który przeczytasz w pół godziny, by potem wracać do niego regularnie.
May 23, 2018
A beautifully unexpected voyage into the world of art. It starts like a common sense visual guide on art, it expands by investigating subtle aspects of the activities of researching, producing and communicating art, it explodes into chaos and them comes back with great insights. A great little book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 346 reviews