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Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life
Charley Harper was an American original. For over six decades he painted colorful and graphic illustrations of nature, animals, insects and people alike, from his home studio in Cincinnati, Ohio until he passed away in 2007 at the age of 84. Renowned New York based designer Todd Oldham rediscovered Charley's work in 2001, and collaborated closely with him in the ensuing years; combing through his extensive archive to edit and design this stunning monograph. This coffee table tome is popularly priced, beautiful tribute to Charley Harper's singular style, which he referred to as Minimal Realism.
424 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
11 people are currently reading
851 people want to read
About the author
Todd Oldham
40 books17 followersJacky Todd Oldham is an American fashion designer originally from Corpus Christi, Texas. He hosted a segment called "Todd Time" on MTV's House of Style in the 1990s. He produced a clothing line associated with the Warner Brothers Batman Forever. Oldham designs furniture and home accessories for the La-Z-Boy Furniture company and was named creative director for Old Navy effective Oct. 1, 2007.
Oldham is openly gay. He is a member of the board of advocates for Bailey House, the nation's oldest supportive housing program for persons with HIV/AIDS. Additionally, Oldham supports the animal rights movement and has worked with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
Oldham was the host of Top Design on Bravo for the 2007 season.
Oldham is openly gay. He is a member of the board of advocates for Bailey House, the nation's oldest supportive housing program for persons with HIV/AIDS. Additionally, Oldham supports the animal rights movement and has worked with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
Oldham was the host of Top Design on Bravo for the 2007 season.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 72 reviews
February 27, 2019
"A flock of flirting flamingos is pure, passionate, pink pandemonium-a frenetic flamingle-mangle-a discordant discotheque of delirious dancing, flamboyant feathers, and flamingo lingo.” -
Charley Harper
An artist who had a very big influence on the American modernist movement in illustration is the late Charley Harper. If you have never seen his art work, you must get this gorgeous book! He was a genius as a illustrator in drawing wildlife and nature especially in his use of color. (I just love his graphic bird illustrations.) Charley Harper called his work “minimal realism” which means he drew his subjects with distilled visual details instead using bright colors, lines and patterns. What I appreciated is just how fun and whimsical the illustrations are and the puns that he uses sometimes as titles for his art work.
Both as a silk screen artist and acrylic painter, Harper was always eager to learn new art skill sets with his photographer/artist wife Edie McKee in their studio. He was ahead of his time and loved to draw futuristic wildlife portraits that were flat and hard-edged. He is quoted as saying that early in his career, he gave up realism completely because he felt that just reproducing what nature had already given him was not giving him any pleasure. He started to simplify his art and developed his unique style. He specialized in drawing birds and was very accurate and authentic with their colors and shape.
Designer Todd Oldham does a fantastic job in his book and you can see the hard work he did as a tribute to Mr. Harper. It is almost a complete catalog of his work. He also includes a nice interview with the artist which is very moving. One of the nicest Harper quotes from the book that stayed with me was: “You should always be doing something that satisfies you, that makes you feel good inside.”
Charley Harper grew up on a 100 acre farm in West Virginia and there he developed his love for nature and science. He went to the Art Academy of Cincinnati where he met his future wife Edie on their first day of school. (They were married for almost sixty years.) He was drafted in World War Two and spent his military time in Europe as a scout for the 104th infantry. When he returned to America, he and Edie resumed their art studies at the academy studying under Maybelle Stamper and Josef Albers. After they graduated, they went on a six month tour of the United States which had a huge influence on both of them. They settled down in Cincinnati, bought a studio, worked in it for 65 years. Charlie and Edie have one son, Brett who is also a artist. Charley Harper died in 2007 at the age of 84.
This wonderful book definitely made me feel good inside. Five stars.
Charley Harper
An artist who had a very big influence on the American modernist movement in illustration is the late Charley Harper. If you have never seen his art work, you must get this gorgeous book! He was a genius as a illustrator in drawing wildlife and nature especially in his use of color. (I just love his graphic bird illustrations.) Charley Harper called his work “minimal realism” which means he drew his subjects with distilled visual details instead using bright colors, lines and patterns. What I appreciated is just how fun and whimsical the illustrations are and the puns that he uses sometimes as titles for his art work.
Both as a silk screen artist and acrylic painter, Harper was always eager to learn new art skill sets with his photographer/artist wife Edie McKee in their studio. He was ahead of his time and loved to draw futuristic wildlife portraits that were flat and hard-edged. He is quoted as saying that early in his career, he gave up realism completely because he felt that just reproducing what nature had already given him was not giving him any pleasure. He started to simplify his art and developed his unique style. He specialized in drawing birds and was very accurate and authentic with their colors and shape.
Designer Todd Oldham does a fantastic job in his book and you can see the hard work he did as a tribute to Mr. Harper. It is almost a complete catalog of his work. He also includes a nice interview with the artist which is very moving. One of the nicest Harper quotes from the book that stayed with me was: “You should always be doing something that satisfies you, that makes you feel good inside.”
Charley Harper grew up on a 100 acre farm in West Virginia and there he developed his love for nature and science. He went to the Art Academy of Cincinnati where he met his future wife Edie on their first day of school. (They were married for almost sixty years.) He was drafted in World War Two and spent his military time in Europe as a scout for the 104th infantry. When he returned to America, he and Edie resumed their art studies at the academy studying under Maybelle Stamper and Josef Albers. After they graduated, they went on a six month tour of the United States which had a huge influence on both of them. They settled down in Cincinnati, bought a studio, worked in it for 65 years. Charlie and Edie have one son, Brett who is also a artist. Charley Harper died in 2007 at the age of 84.
This wonderful book definitely made me feel good inside. Five stars.
December 27, 2016
What a beautiful prints made this man. A book to love.
October 11, 2019
I wasn’t familiar with Charley Harper until my friend lent me this book. How could I not know his name when I had grown up with his art all through the 1950s and 60s? He illustrated magazines, textbooks, Ford Magazine, cookbooks, posters, ads, everything. I think he influenced the artwork in Disney’s Sleeping Beauty. (Remember Aurora’s flat, curly, blonde locks and the fairies’ colorful dresses.?)
The wonderful, minimal, birds he produces are so accurate and so alive within their blocks of color — they are mesmerizing. The humor he sneaks into his screen prints of nature make me smile. What a treasure to find this artist! Look him up — it will make your day.
The wonderful, minimal, birds he produces are so accurate and so alive within their blocks of color — they are mesmerizing. The humor he sneaks into his screen prints of nature make me smile. What a treasure to find this artist! Look him up — it will make your day.
May 19, 2020
A beautiful book of the illustrations of Charley Harper. I didn’t know who Charley Harper was until I picked up this book. I do recognize his art work. He’s been around for a long time. The reason I gave it a 4 and not a 5 is because the print is so small I could not read it without a flashlight and a magnifying glass. So, for reading it was interesting info, but next to impossible to read. But the art work was wonderful. I could look at this book all day.
June 25, 2024
Thank you Todd Oldham, for real. Charley Harper is incredible, I can’t believe he did all of his illustrations by hand. More people need to be talking about Charley Harper and his genius.
December 5, 2012
(More pictures at parkablogs.com)
Charley Harper is an artist with a very unique style he calls "minimal realism". He's able to capture the essence of his subjects with minimal visual elements.
The painting of birds caught my attention with the clean smooth lines which resembles vector work. His colour choices are from observation in life and the resulting image is always bold and striking. Many of his pieces are on nature.
The author Todd Oldham only discovered Charley Harper's work in 2001. Since then, he has been collecting all the work he has ever published. The result is this impressive 424-page book that collects work that span the entire career of Charley Harper. It includes the commissions he done for Ford Motors, schools, advertising agencies, etc.
There are two editions for this art book. The first is a 5.5kg book published in 2007, the year Charley Harper passed away. The newer edition, which I have, is the shrunken down version which is lighter, more handy and affordable. The construction of the book is great and all the illustrations are brilliantly reproduced.
The contents are as follows:
* Conversation with Charley Harper
* Betty Crocker's Dinner For Two Cook Book
* The Giant Golden Book of Biology
* The Animal Kingdom
* Ford Times Magazine
* Birds & Words
* Advertising & Promotions
* Mosaic Murals
* Paintings
* Posters
There's a nice long interview written by Todd Oldham which is also translated in French, German, Italian and Spanish.
Charley Harper has published a few books before so there might be some duplication here. If you're just intent on getting one book, make this the one. It's a beautiful, timeless art book.
April 25, 2011
A huge coffee table book of illustrator Charley Harper's work. Harper had a one-of-a-kind style, very geometric and stylized. His work with color was amazing and I mostly marvel at his ways of conveying information with pure visuals.
When I was in grade school, there was a copy of one of his books (the Giant Golden Book of Biology) in the library. Even though there were hardly any dinosaurs in it (there was a sweet spread of two tyrannosaurs fighting over a slain Triceratops), I checked it out frequently and many of the images burned into my brain. Years later, this book was published, but I couldn't afford the 1st run of the book. I've waited for a cheaper, poor-man's edition, which allowed me to re-see many of those lovely images from the biology book, and experience for the first time, much of this later work.
It's a good book. It allows Harper's work to breathe on the page, and still feels pretty thorough.
When I was in grade school, there was a copy of one of his books (the Giant Golden Book of Biology) in the library. Even though there were hardly any dinosaurs in it (there was a sweet spread of two tyrannosaurs fighting over a slain Triceratops), I checked it out frequently and many of the images burned into my brain. Years later, this book was published, but I couldn't afford the 1st run of the book. I've waited for a cheaper, poor-man's edition, which allowed me to re-see many of those lovely images from the biology book, and experience for the first time, much of this later work.
It's a good book. It allows Harper's work to breathe on the page, and still feels pretty thorough.
April 23, 2012
I admit. I'm in love with my calendar. I don't think I've ever been in love with a calendar before I discovered Charley Harper. Then I stumbled on this book at the library containing hundreds of Harper's works, and I'm even more smitten. Harper is an American artist with a delightfully simple, geometric style. He's most known for his illustrations and graphics of nature: animals, insects, birds, etc. But he's also done illustrations for cookbooks, textbooks, magazines and posters.
I brought the book with me to my daughter's preschool to flip through before the doors opened, and before I knew it, I had half a dozen 5-year-olds surrounding the book, oohing and aahing. They had a great time searching for shapes in the wings of birds, patterns in the faces of baboons, and differences in a swarm of ladybugs. Harper's art is fascinating and fun for all ages.
I brought the book with me to my daughter's preschool to flip through before the doors opened, and before I knew it, I had half a dozen 5-year-olds surrounding the book, oohing and aahing. They had a great time searching for shapes in the wings of birds, patterns in the faces of baboons, and differences in a swarm of ladybugs. Harper's art is fascinating and fun for all ages.
September 22, 2012
I adore Charley Harper, so much that I could almost say that I wish I could see the world through the lens of his flattened, simple-shape filled style. I loved seeing his different kinds of works, and even liked most of his works including people (rather than animals), especially the Betty Crocker cookbook. The interview was okay, but he didn't seem that enthusiastic; maybe that was just his character. My one complaint is in the formatting; none of the names of the works on listed on the pages they appear, but all in the back. This was irritating when a lot of his works displayed specific species of wildlife, and one has to flip back and forth. I wish I could give this 5 stars!
March 21, 2010
Harper was a favorite of mine as a child. His graphic depictions -- and I mean graphic in both senses, as in the distillation and near abstraction of his work, plus the subject matter, as in his eerily beautiful depiction of piranha fish devouring a cow -- of nature are unique, elegant, minimalist and beautiful. Hats off to Todd Oldham for bringing this labor of love to press. His devotion to creating this overdue monograph is everyone's gain.
May 24, 2011
got this out of the library because I'd been coveting it but wanted to make sure it was worth the purchase, since I'm trying to be a little more reasonable with my book purchases. LOVE IT. such a gorgeous collection of Charley Harper's work, with a nice lengthy interview at the beginning. so much inspiration. DEFINITELY BUYING MY OWN COPY. THE END.
October 29, 2009
Tons and tons of Harper's animals and peoples, made out of fine lines and fantastic colors, printed up big. Things I want: Charley Harper wallpaper, a skirt printed with Charley Harper illustrations, a Charley Harper tattoo.
August 1, 2014
I have drastically down sized my personal library over the past few years as I have been converted to ebooks. That said, there are certain books that you just have to hold in your hand to truly appreciate. This book is one of those.
August 13, 2012
HUGE & incredibly heavy in size & weight made for a workout to and from the library.
Some of the art is intriguing, using simple shapes to create such striking images. Some leans toward disturbing and questionable.
Some of the art is intriguing, using simple shapes to create such striking images. Some leans toward disturbing and questionable.
January 13, 2025
This large, beautiful tome had been sitting on my shelf at work for a long time, and I had only occasionally flipped it open for inspiration. I had already spoken with our lead designer about the book, as she too had a copy on her shelf, but I was surprised last week to find that two of our other designers also owned copies of Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life. What are the odds? This inspired me to sit down and work my way from cover to cover. The author, Todd Oldham, has a fun story of being attracted to Charley Harper's work before discovering that Harper had illustrated the biology book that fascinated Oldham in his youth. No wonder the style had resonated - it was the same artist! The fascination is understandable: Harper's renderings of birds, insects, mammals, housewives and more, are all so wonderfully observed, and a brilliant balance of minimalist representation and painstaking research. His ability to balance dozens of figures within a space, to rely on basic geometric forms to convey animal behavior, or to communicate with color or sparse brush strokes, is arresting: so much so that an illustration often took longer to absorb than a page full of text.
There aren't many pages full of text, but thankfully Oldham was able to interview Charley Harper about his life and approach to art before Harper's passing in 2007 (the book came out in 2009). Harper's responses to Oldham's questions are just as straightforward, minimalist and tinged with humor as his artwork. He grew up on a farm (which likely cemented his fascination with animals), took a bold step to attend art school, met the love of his life (Edie), was sent to war, and then made his way commission by commission (including a long stint illustrating for Ford) through a long and rewarding career. The book only presents a fraction of his output, but is organized by major publications and periods: Betty Crocker's Dinner for Two Cook Book, The Giant Golden Book of Biology, The Animal Kingdom, Birds & Words, advertising & promotions, mosaic murals, paintings, and posters. Harper was still working on some of those poster commissions while being interviewed, and the completed pieces are included.
I kept stopping to show various pictures to my wife and son, just to share a brilliant caricature or feat of representation. The illustrations contain so much storytelling that I kept thinking about how much Walt Disney would have loved to work with Harper on his theme parks. At the same time, Harper makes it clear in his interview that he detests anthropomorphism, citing cartoon animals as an example. And many of his illustrations are shocking in their combination of whimsical design and frank depiction of nature red in tooth and claw. Still, I think it could have been a great collaboration.
There's plenty of reasons for designers to keep this one on their shelves; Charley Harper's work is the kind of thing other artists aspire to.
There aren't many pages full of text, but thankfully Oldham was able to interview Charley Harper about his life and approach to art before Harper's passing in 2007 (the book came out in 2009). Harper's responses to Oldham's questions are just as straightforward, minimalist and tinged with humor as his artwork. He grew up on a farm (which likely cemented his fascination with animals), took a bold step to attend art school, met the love of his life (Edie), was sent to war, and then made his way commission by commission (including a long stint illustrating for Ford) through a long and rewarding career. The book only presents a fraction of his output, but is organized by major publications and periods: Betty Crocker's Dinner for Two Cook Book, The Giant Golden Book of Biology, The Animal Kingdom, Birds & Words, advertising & promotions, mosaic murals, paintings, and posters. Harper was still working on some of those poster commissions while being interviewed, and the completed pieces are included.
I kept stopping to show various pictures to my wife and son, just to share a brilliant caricature or feat of representation. The illustrations contain so much storytelling that I kept thinking about how much Walt Disney would have loved to work with Harper on his theme parks. At the same time, Harper makes it clear in his interview that he detests anthropomorphism, citing cartoon animals as an example. And many of his illustrations are shocking in their combination of whimsical design and frank depiction of nature red in tooth and claw. Still, I think it could have been a great collaboration.
There's plenty of reasons for designers to keep this one on their shelves; Charley Harper's work is the kind of thing other artists aspire to.
January 1, 2019
I was looking at pictures on Pinterest, when I saw a photo of a Jewelry Designer's work space. On his desk was a book by Charley Harper. I have no idea why it intrigued me, but I immediately looked up the artist and bought this book.
First of all, I love birds, and so did Harper. He illustrated hundreds of birds in his own unique modernist style. He also painted many other animals and also illustrated for advertisements and created incredible mosaics of animals on the walls of universities and other buildings.
The book is about eight by twelve and all the photos are in color. This is a thick little book filled with color and line and simply wonderful paintings of all sorts of animal, but especially beautiful birds.
First of all, I love birds, and so did Harper. He illustrated hundreds of birds in his own unique modernist style. He also painted many other animals and also illustrated for advertisements and created incredible mosaics of animals on the walls of universities and other buildings.
The book is about eight by twelve and all the photos are in color. This is a thick little book filled with color and line and simply wonderful paintings of all sorts of animal, but especially beautiful birds.
July 8, 2023
I am one of those who grew up during the Charley Harper era, seeing his illustrations in the Giant Golden Book of Biology in classrooms as I grew up. His illustrations transfixed me. As an adult I re-discovered his work and it still delights me. I made it my mission to track down and purchase copies of this book and also George Fichter's The Animal Kingdom, also illustrated by Charley Harper.
I checked out Todd Oldham's retrospective of Harper's work from the library and I will eventually add it to my own library. (I often preview books I am considering buying). It's a great overview of the breadth of his work, and a joy to leaf through the pages and revel in the work of this genius. Highly recommended.
I checked out Todd Oldham's retrospective of Harper's work from the library and I will eventually add it to my own library. (I often preview books I am considering buying). It's a great overview of the breadth of his work, and a joy to leaf through the pages and revel in the work of this genius. Highly recommended.
December 23, 2017
Read it in Waterstones Piccadilly. Was thoroughly mesmerised by all vivid illustrations.
November 27, 2017
Highly stylized and creative art that featured prominently in vintage nonfiction books for children. Very inspiring.
August 2, 2018
A fabulous book giving a thorough survey of the art of Charley Harper. Good, large format reproductions of his work. Good notes and interview as well. Recommended
April 11, 2019
An extremely expensive but beautiful book of artwork. Charley Harper is an American master of modern art design and illustration; so completely part, and yet ahead, of his time.
August 6, 2019
Stunning artwork! What a fun book- shows so much of Harper's work and his various subjects and projects.
February 8, 2020
Delightful and nostalgic
April 12, 2020
Pure. Publishing. Perfection.
November 26, 2020
A friend has been sending me home-made greeting cards with images by Charley Harper and I was intrigued enough to buy this beautiful retrospective book of his work over several decades.
September 7, 2021
It's a great collection of his work, but it is abridged.
March 20, 2025
My lips are tingling in anticipation of the taste of yours.
August 5, 2025
5💫
RIP king luv u and ur art
RIP king luv u and ur art
July 25, 2022
What a great book to see the colorful, beautiful, and geometrically shaped art that Charley Harper is known for! I recently became aware of his artwork while on vacation and fell in love with it. This book opens you up to all he accomplished throughout his life. However, the only change I would make on the book is the small type that was in the beginning of the book. It was too hard to read, even with my reading glasses! I wanted to read more about his life, but it was too difficult for me in the size of font that was used. Other than that, beautiful book.
December 26, 2009
Bound Miami SunPost December 17, 2009
http://miamisunpost.com/themorgue/200...
The Colors of Our Life
Todd Oldham’s Homage to Charley Harper
John Hood
With all the dark and lonely nights, the gray days, and the salt-and-pepper view of the world, sometimes a cat just wants to get uninhibitedly colorful. I don’t mean acid flashback, let’s-smash-the-kaleidoscope colorful. I mean simple, bold and ultra vivid colorful. The kinda colors we see in nature, but more real. And the kinda images we find there too, but less busy. I mean clean lines and clear strokes in ever brighter hues that don’t so much defy definition, as they surpass it, on the way beyond imagination.
When the postman rang with a package from Ammo you can bet he didn’t have to ring twice. Ammo’s outta San Francisco, and they publish absolutely beautiful books. I’d reviewed their Zoe Strauss’s America some months back. Then when I’d interviewed Todd Oldham and found out that he had worked with the house on a couple series, I requested to review some of those too.
Thing is I wasn’t sure if I’d asked for Oldham’s design-minded Hand Made Modern or the new children’s spin-off, Kid Made Modern, or if I’d asked for one of the “Place Space” series which features such locations as John Waters’ home and the real Bedrock City. Or if I’d asked Ammo to send his Charley Harper monograph they’d recently re-issued. When I’d spoken with Oldham he’d raved about Harper. And I did remember being keen to see what all the fuss was about.
Boy, was I delighted to find that Ammo had sent the Harper. The book – which is really too magical to simply call a book – is entitled Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life (Ammo $49.95). It’s 12” x 8.5” and 424 pages thick, which, I suppose, does give it the characteristics of a book. Oh yeah, and it’s got pages. So there is that. But otherwise it’s vision-upon-vision of sheer colorful.
Yes, I mean the colorful I was referring to above. The kinda colorful that wipes out the darkness and sheds light on the gray. A colorful that takes your breath away. Something keen and bright and just plain good feeling. An antidote to ugly and awful and irksome and icky. And just the sorta colorful I needed that day.
And for some reason I seem to be needing it more and more as the days pile up on me, which is kinda ironic considering I never knew I needed it before. Hell, I barely even knew who Charley Harper was. Sure, I think I remember The Golden Book of Biology that was handed down through generations of public school kids from the early ‘60s on through the advent of video. And I imagine I’ve stumbled upon one of his wildlife drawings somewhere at sometime or another over the years. But I didn’t know the cat. And I definitely didn’t know just how much I could be stunned by his work.
But stunned I was, and am. And stunned I bet I’ll be for some time to come. Because each image excites some small part of my happy place. It’s odd. And it’s certainly not something I’m used to. Hell, I’ve spent most of my life ricocheting back and forth between scowl and smirk. And generally, if there’s no bloodspill, I’m bored. So yeah, this is kinda kooky. And I kinda dig it.
Besides, like I said, sometimes a cat just wants to get colorful. Kid colorful, if you will. Ignite the child-like mind. I don’t recommend doing it every day, or even for long stretches. Hey, even sugar can lose its sweetness. But with all the doom and gloom, it’s nice to have a little cure-all that you won’t regret in the morning.
Mr. Harper called his work “minimal realism.” I call it an absolute joy.
Thanks, Todd!
http://miamisunpost.com/themorgue/200...
The Colors of Our Life
Todd Oldham’s Homage to Charley Harper
John Hood
With all the dark and lonely nights, the gray days, and the salt-and-pepper view of the world, sometimes a cat just wants to get uninhibitedly colorful. I don’t mean acid flashback, let’s-smash-the-kaleidoscope colorful. I mean simple, bold and ultra vivid colorful. The kinda colors we see in nature, but more real. And the kinda images we find there too, but less busy. I mean clean lines and clear strokes in ever brighter hues that don’t so much defy definition, as they surpass it, on the way beyond imagination.
When the postman rang with a package from Ammo you can bet he didn’t have to ring twice. Ammo’s outta San Francisco, and they publish absolutely beautiful books. I’d reviewed their Zoe Strauss’s America some months back. Then when I’d interviewed Todd Oldham and found out that he had worked with the house on a couple series, I requested to review some of those too.
Thing is I wasn’t sure if I’d asked for Oldham’s design-minded Hand Made Modern or the new children’s spin-off, Kid Made Modern, or if I’d asked for one of the “Place Space” series which features such locations as John Waters’ home and the real Bedrock City. Or if I’d asked Ammo to send his Charley Harper monograph they’d recently re-issued. When I’d spoken with Oldham he’d raved about Harper. And I did remember being keen to see what all the fuss was about.
Boy, was I delighted to find that Ammo had sent the Harper. The book – which is really too magical to simply call a book – is entitled Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life (Ammo $49.95). It’s 12” x 8.5” and 424 pages thick, which, I suppose, does give it the characteristics of a book. Oh yeah, and it’s got pages. So there is that. But otherwise it’s vision-upon-vision of sheer colorful.
Yes, I mean the colorful I was referring to above. The kinda colorful that wipes out the darkness and sheds light on the gray. A colorful that takes your breath away. Something keen and bright and just plain good feeling. An antidote to ugly and awful and irksome and icky. And just the sorta colorful I needed that day.
And for some reason I seem to be needing it more and more as the days pile up on me, which is kinda ironic considering I never knew I needed it before. Hell, I barely even knew who Charley Harper was. Sure, I think I remember The Golden Book of Biology that was handed down through generations of public school kids from the early ‘60s on through the advent of video. And I imagine I’ve stumbled upon one of his wildlife drawings somewhere at sometime or another over the years. But I didn’t know the cat. And I definitely didn’t know just how much I could be stunned by his work.
But stunned I was, and am. And stunned I bet I’ll be for some time to come. Because each image excites some small part of my happy place. It’s odd. And it’s certainly not something I’m used to. Hell, I’ve spent most of my life ricocheting back and forth between scowl and smirk. And generally, if there’s no bloodspill, I’m bored. So yeah, this is kinda kooky. And I kinda dig it.
Besides, like I said, sometimes a cat just wants to get colorful. Kid colorful, if you will. Ignite the child-like mind. I don’t recommend doing it every day, or even for long stretches. Hey, even sugar can lose its sweetness. But with all the doom and gloom, it’s nice to have a little cure-all that you won’t regret in the morning.
Mr. Harper called his work “minimal realism.” I call it an absolute joy.
Thanks, Todd!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 72 reviews