Thursday, December 20, 2007

THE SMOKE FROM KRAZY KAT'S CHIMNEY

We have chatted in the past about artists who delight in drawing subjects such as hair or folds or water, that allow them to take liberties with abstract design.

The great George Herriman rarely passed up an opportunity to draw smoke coming from a chimney. He seemed to place smoke in a picture the way a hat designer would place a feather in a lady's chapeau.



For art's sake, every fireplace in Coconino County must have been roaring all summer long.



Each example is different-- fluid, intuitive and beautiful.



You can look at each of these little abstract designs as a miniature rorschach test:











For comparison, here is a drawing by famed artist Ellsworth Kelly from the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York :



I think the smoke from Krazy Kat's chimney is far superior as abstract art.