100% Evil

by Nicholas Blechman (Illustrator), Christoph Niemann, Chip Kidd (Introduction)

"There's evil in the world."George W. Bush And lots of it. The question is, just what does it look like? A politician? An ex-girlfriend? Your landlord? Your boss? Hanna Arendt said it was banal. The Red Sox think of the Yankees. And in this hilarious, disturbing, quirky, and brilliant little book, noted illustrators Nicholas Blechman and Christoph Niemann present a catalog of their own misanthropic imaginings. The two met in 1997, when Blechman was art director for the New York Times Op-ed Page and Niemann, now a frequent contributor to the New Yorker , had just started working in New York City. As their personal and professional friendship began, they found themselves spending countless nights together in Brooklyn bars, drawing up imageswry, comic, arch, painfulto representthe sex affairs and political scandals, acts of terror and acts of war that were the news. This professional work led to a personal passion, and so the illustrators chose to draw a small series on rosier subjects like maps and love. But as the world around them grew darker, they decided to explore the other end of the emotional spectrum and devote themselves to evil. 100% Evil is the a thoughtful, comical, andat timesjoyful book that just goes to show that sometimes it's good to be bad.

Genres: Art, Design, Nonfiction

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Nicholas Blechman is an internationally recognized illustrator, designer, and art director. His award-winning illustrations have appeared in GQ, Travel + Leisure, Wired, and the New Yorker. He is currently the art director of the New York Times Book Review.

Reviews

[Pouria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the way he blended mundane things to create an interesting and, in some of them, meaningful context. Some of the drawings were just funny but I liked them, too, since they re-created scenes that we usually experience, but with other visual objects. I think it would be a fun thing to colorize some of these drawings.

[Rosemary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great artwork, but the Introduction is the best of all. When you are in one of those situations where at the end, the speaker asks, Does anyone have any questions? Your answer should be, Why does Evil exist? For me the question has always bern what is evil and is there really such a thing? I was drawn to this book after seeing Christoph Niemann’s recent artwork in the New Yorker and NYTimes, perfect work for a pandemic.

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't understand it.

[Mustafa Jamal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting ideas, not so good execution.

[Zhenquan Yu · Rating 3 out of 5]

fun

[Srishti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite evil

[Sachi]

A visual chucklefest.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

i don't know why more design isn't as fufilling as theirs is, to me, as an individual.

[Indah Threez Lestari · Rating 3 out of 5]

321st - 2011

[M0rningstar · Rating 2 out of 5]

A few amusing pictures; not bad.