Cartoons & Caricatures

Comics and caricatures, more creative than portraits, more artistic? Who says? The artist, that's who. Wander through a gallery, a museum, a government building. Glance at the portraits. That's the evidence: embalmed sitters hang on the walls ornately framed and remembered as serious dudes, not as practical jokers, lame brains or as folk who sneezed, coughed, and farted. Giggles and grins are verboten from portraiture but not from caricatures; there the artist's squiggly lines shows a distinctive mind at the helm of a crayon, pencil or brush. The caricaturist is the standup comic on paper, the exaggerator of all he surveys. Sketches and words can be mightier than guns and knives as lasting retributions. Adults may sever this creativity from youth it remains the province of the adult fun-artist. Beware those who roadblocked us creative kids for we now reveal your souls in squiggly, twisted lines.