Chris Madden Cartoons

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Contemporary still life painting cartoon

December 31, 2019 by chrismadden

Contemporary still life painting cartoon

Contemporary still life painting of take-away food.

The cartoon shows an oil painting in the still life tradition, showing an arrangement of food on a table.
Unlike traditional still life paintings however, the food is modern convenience or take-away food.
As with traditional still life the painting is obviously very well painted, as the man is commenting on the equisite rendering in paint of the texture of the packaging.

Cartoon drawn: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art093
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

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Filed Under: ART, Modern art

Abject art cartoon – art relating to bodily functions

December 31, 2019 by chrismadden

Abject art cartoon  – art relating to bodily functions

Artistic validity within the zeitgeist

A cartoon on the subject of abject art – contemporary art that has a repulsive or revolting quality and that focuses on unappealing aspects of the human body and bodily functions.

In the cartoon an artist has used a toilet roll for drawing or painting on. A visitor to the gallery is wondering what the brown medium is that he painted with.
The cartoon implies that it is human excrement or faeces, which is a typical trope of abject art.
Cartoon drawn: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art097
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

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Filed Under: ART, Modern art Tagged With: contemporary art

The art of sculpture – cartoon

December 31, 2019 by chrismadden

Sculpture already in the stone cartoon

The sculpture is already in the stone, trapped.

A cartoon about the concept sometimes voiced by sculptors, that when they are working with a block of stone or wood the sculpture is already inside the block, and it’s the sculptor’s task to release it.
In the cartoon the sculptor is working on a huge block of stone, maybe marble or granite, which he gradually chips away to reveal the sculpture that is trapped inside it.
The sculpture turns out to be a very small work.

Cartoon drawn: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art091
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

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Filed Under: ART Tagged With: sculpture

Art education cartoon

December 31, 2019 by chrismadden

Art education cartoon

Artistic validity within the zeitgeist

The cartoon shows an art college student creating an artwork.
The tutor is criticising the work because the student is artistically independent minded and the art she is creating doesn’t adhere to the artistic principles that he or the college believe in.
He is saying “You can’t just go off on some crazy idea of your own.”
It is a cartoon about the fact that the wrong art education can stifle a person’s artistic vision rather than expand and encourage it. It is about the role of art educators.
You may notice that the art that the student is creating is in a style that is currently seen in contemporary art galleries. This means that either the cartoon is set in the past before this type of art was adopted (and thus the student was very much justified in going off in her own direction) or the art college is a bit more conservative than it thinks it is.

Cartoon drawn: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art096
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

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Filed Under: ART, Education, Modern art Tagged With: contemporary art, sculpture

Gimmickry in contemporary art – cartoon

December 30, 2019 by chrismadden

Gimmickry in contemporary art cartoon

A scratch and sniff artwork – gimmickry in art.

The cartoon shows a contemporary art exhibit in an art gallery.
The exhibit is a scratch and sniff piece, meaning that if the viewer scratches it it will release an odour.
The artwork looks a bit suspect to me, so I’m not sure I’d want to smell it.
Pieces of artwork that utilise scratch and sniff technology can be fun, but in the example in this cartoon I suspect that it’s just pretentious gimmickry (as does the person in the cartoon).

Cartoon drawn: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art090
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

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Filed Under: ART, Modern art Tagged With: contemporary art

Cartoon – so many paintings to do before I die

December 30, 2019 by chrismadden

Art and death cartoon

Time is the enemy of the artist (and of everyone else too).

An elderly artist working frantically to get all of his ideas down on canvas before he dies.
A cartoon about art and mortality, death and the restlessness of the creative mind.

Cartoon drawn: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art089
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

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Filed Under: ART, Philosophy Cartoons Tagged With: death

Distracting video art soundtracks in art galleries – cartoon

December 30, 2019 by chrismadden

Contemporary art humour cartoon

The distracting soundtracks of video art in art galleries.

Conntemporary art humour. This cartoon is about the annoyance caused by the soundtracks of video art and moving image art in art galleries.
Some gallery goers like the noise level in art galleries to be kept to an absolute minimum, the better to concentrate on the art.
I’m not quite sure why curators allow soundtracks to intrude into this space. Perhaps they think that it makes the gallery space more lively and dynamic and less intimidating.

Cartoon drawn: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art088
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

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Filed Under: ART, Modern art Tagged With: contemporary art

Unusual art techniques cartoon – smoke sculpture

December 30, 2019 by chrismadden

Unusual art techniques cartoon

An unusual art technique – sculpting with smoke.

The cartoon shows an artist manipulating two hand fans to nudge the smoke from a candle into different sculptural shapes.
Smoke sculpture of this type are normally very transitory and ephemeral, however the artist has got a few glass display domes that he can keep the smoke sculptures in so that they aren’t destroyed by draughts.

Cartoon drawn: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art087
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

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Filed Under: ART, Modern art Tagged With: contemporary art

Contemporary art humor

December 30, 2019 by chrismadden

Humour in contemporary art cartoon

Contemporary art humour.

Gallery goers mistaking a slaughterhouse or abattoir for a contemporary art gallery.

The cartoon depicts two visitors to an art gallery admiring an artwork composed of animal carcasses hanging from hooks.
The humour in the cartoon lies in the fact that they aren’t in an art gallery at all – they are in a real slaughterhouse next door to an art gallery.

Original version drawn: 2012
This version drawn: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art086
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
How to obtain license to use cartoon

Filed Under: ART, Modern art Tagged With: contemporary art

Conformity in art – cartoon

December 30, 2019 by chrismadden

Conformity on art cartoon

Conforming to an art movement.

A cartoon about the observation that avant garde or radical art movements can, by definition, be very narrow and restrictive in their own ways.

First version drawn: 2011
This version: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art085
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

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Filed Under: ART, Modern art

Feminist art cartoon

December 30, 2019 by chrismadden

Feminist art cartoon

Feminist art cartoon

An art installation in an art gallery, consisting of a washing line with souvenir tea towels from art gallery gift shops hanging from it.
The tea towels are of famous artworks, all by male artists.
A cartoon about the dominance of men in the art world (and by extension in a few other places).

Cartoon drawn: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art084
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

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Filed Under: ART, Modern art, Social issues Tagged With: contemporary art, feminism

Contemporary art cartoon – a builders’ skip full of traditional paintings

December 30, 2019 by chrismadden

Contemporary art cartoon – a builders' skip full of traditional paintings

Contemporary art cartoon – a builders’ skip full of traditional paintings

A builders’ skip in an art gallery, full of traditional oil paintings as though they are being thrown away as part of a gallery refurbishment.
The skip is in fact an artist’s installation or sculpture. I hope.
The cartoon could be about art galleries trying to modernise and rebrand in order to attract a new generation of visitors.
Or it could be about the current (2020) trend for some traditional art to be judged incompatible with modern values as part of the debate about being woke.

Cartoon drawn: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art083
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

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Filed Under: ART, Modern art

Contemporary art cartoon – self portrait

December 30, 2019 by chrismadden

Contemporary art cartoon – self portrait

All art is a form of self portraiture

A cartoon about the idea that all art reveals something about the artist, therefore all art is a form of self portrait.
Part of the humour behind the cartoon is that the artist is trying to be clever by displaying a kitchen tap as a self portrait, while the woman looking at the work (who is meant to look like a normal member of the public rather than an initiate into the rarified thinking behind some contemporary art) is one step ahead of the artist in her analysis.

Cartoon drawn: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art082
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

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Filed Under: ART, Modern art Tagged With: contemporary art

Repulsion in contemporary art – abject art cartoon

December 30, 2019 by chrismadden

Contemporary art repulsive materials cartoon

The use of repulsive materials in contemporary art (sometimes known as abject art).

The conflict between the urge to be a creative artist and domestic duties.

In the cartoon an elderly woman at an art evening class is creating a sculpture of a cat out of paper mâché. This is very much a cliché or trope about art evening classes.
The tutor is suggesting that she uses other materials to create her model, perhaps spittle and pig’s offal.
This is a comment on a tendency for some practitioners of contemporary art to use viscerally revolting materials in their art.

First version drawn: 2012
This version: 2019

Cartoon reference number: art069
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

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Filed Under: ART, Modern art Tagged With: contemporary art

Masculinity and modern sculpture cartoon

December 30, 2019 by chrismadden

Modern sculpture cartoon with testosterone

Masculinity in modern sculpture cartoon

A cartoon about modernist sculpture that displays a noticeable masculine bent.
Typical of this type of sculpture is hard-edged welded steel sculpture, as shown in the cartoon.
As is figurative sculpture featuring thrusting muscular males of course.
Sculptures that are a bit on the large size may fit the bill too.
The label on the sculpture in the cartoon informs us that the sculpture is composed of steel, granite and testosterone.

Cartoon drawn: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art081
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

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Filed Under: ART, Modern art Tagged With: contemporary art, sculpture

Munch Scream cartoon and Instagram-friendly art exhibitions

December 30, 2019 by chrismadden

Munch Scream cartoon

Munch cartoon – the Scream

A cartoon featuring the Scream by Edvard Munch.
The cartoon is a comment on the way that art galleries and museums are becoming more accessible to the general public and are moving away from their aura of slightly intimidating elitism.
It is also about the way that art galleries and museums are deliberately targeting themselves at the Instagram generation, often arranging their works so that they are Instagram friendly and encouraging visitors to take photographs (which was very much frowned on in the past).
Here the art gallery has set up an interactive or audience participation display featuring a large-scale version of the Scream with a hole in it so that people can photograph each other as the person in the painting. Obviously the people will all have great fun pulling funny faces, often parodying or mimicking the facial expression in the Scream. Part of the joke in the cartoon is that the person being photographed has been asked the common request by the photographer to smile.

Cartoon drawn: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art080
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

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Filed Under: ART, Modern art

An artist on the psychiatrist’s couch – cartoon about artistic temperament

December 29, 2019 by chrismadden

Cartoon about artistic temperament

An artist on a psychiatrist’s couch

A cartoon about artistic temperament and the personality traits of artists.
The cartoon suggests that there’s an assumption that most ‘great’ artists have particular personality traits that set them apart from the general population. These traits or personality types can include neurosis or psychosis, as well as traits such as egotism, self-importance and vanity.

Cartoon drawn: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art079
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

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Filed Under: ART

Contemporary art cartoon

December 29, 2019 by chrismadden

Contemporary art cartoon – meaning and quality

Contemporary art – is meaning more important than quality?

A cartoon concerned with judging modern art or contemporary art by its meaning and by its quality.
Because modern and contemporary art often have a cerebral dimension they are often judged by this metric rather than that of aesthetic quality or the quality of execution.

Cartoon drawn: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art078
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.
How to obtain license to use cartoon

Filed Under: ART, Modern art Tagged With: contemporary art

Picasso cartoon

December 29, 2019 by chrismadden

Picasso cartoon

Picasso painting a portrait.

The cartoon shows Picasso at work on an oil painting of a woman.
The painting is in one of Picasso’s most recognisable styles, in which the features of the person are very distorted.
Picasso is saying “This painting will make you so famous that you won’t be able to walk down the street without being recognised.”

First version drawn: 2007
This version: 2019

Cartoon reference number: art071
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

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Filed Under: ART, Modern art

Graffiti on a statue – cartoon

December 28, 2019 by chrismadden

Graffiti on a statue cartoon

Graffiti on a statue cartoon.

The cartoon shows a row of classical style statues in a park or garden of a stately home.
The plinth of one of the statues has got some graffiti scrawled on it.
A man observing the graffiti is saying “Look – this one’s signed.”

Original version drawn: 2016
This version: 2019

Cartoon reference number: art077
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

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Filed Under: ART

Cartoon of a gathering at an art gallery private view

December 28, 2019 by chrismadden

Art world posers cartoon

A gathering at an art gallery private view.

The cartoon shows a gathering of art world insiders attending the private view of an exhibition in an art gallery.
The people at the private view are all obviously part of a clique, and judging by their ostentatious and pretentious appearance and manner can possibly hold themselves open to the accusation of being posers.

Cartoon drawn: 2019

Cartoon reference number: art076
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

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Filed Under: ART

Modern art cartoon – pop-up book of modern sculpture

December 28, 2019 by chrismadden

Modern art cartoon pop-up sculpture

Modern art cartoon – pop-up book of modern sculpture.

The cartoon shows a man in the bookshop of an art gallery opening a book.
The book is a pop-up book of modern sculpture.
The sculpture is unfolding in the manner of a children’s pop-up book.

The cartoon is partly a comment on the gimmicky merchandising of art as found in art gallery gift shops (I quite like some of this merchandise – I have a Mona Lisa tea tray and a bar of chocolate with Munch’s Scream on it amongst others).
It is also a comment on the welcome move away from stuffy elitism that used to make art intimidating and inaccessible to many people.
The sculpture in the cartoon is of the modernist variety that includes constructivism and industrial steel plate sculptures – genres that lend themselves well to the pop-up treatment.

Cartoon drawn: 2019

Cartoon reference number: art075
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

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Filed Under: ART, Modern art Tagged With: sculpture

Art gallery sculpture cartoon

December 28, 2019 by chrismadden

Art gallery sculpture cartoon

Sculpture displayed in an art gallery – cartoon.

The cartoon shows a row of busts displayed in an art gallery or museum.
The busts all rest on plinths, as is conventional. However, one of the plinths has feet below it as well as a head above it.

Cartoon drawn: 2019

Cartoon reference number: art074
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

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Filed Under: ART, Modern art Tagged With: sculpture

A rehang in an art gallery – cartoon

December 28, 2019 by chrismadden

Rehang in an art gallery cartoon

A rehang in an art gallery.

The cartoon shows workers in an art gallery hanging an exhibition.
There are many masterpieces of art leaning against the gallery walls waiting to be hung.
The workers are having their tea break.
They are using one of the priceless paintings as a table.

Original version drawn: 2011
This version: 2019

Cartoon reference number: art072
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

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Filed Under: ART

Rorschach inkblot test – art cartoon

December 28, 2019 by chrismadden

Rorschach inkblot test art cartoon

Contemporary art composed of Rorschach tests.

The cartoon shows three images of the same Rorschach inkblot test image displayed on an art gallery wall. Each image is given a different title based on different possibilities of what the inkblot suggests.

The cartoon is partly about the multiple interpretations that can be made of works of contemporary art.

First version drawn: 2017
This version: 2019

Cartoon reference number: art070
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

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Filed Under: ART, Modern art

The self-absorbed artist – cartoon

December 28, 2019 by chrismadden

Contemporary art cartoon

A self-absorbed artist and his long suffering wife or partner.

The conflict between the urge to be a creative artist and domestic duties.

In the cartoon an artist is in his studio creating massive colour field paintings. His wife or partner is complaining that he really ought to get round to painting the kitchen.
Part of the joke is that applying paint to a colour field painting is not dissimilar to applying paint to kitchen walls, yet he chooses to only work on the paintings.
Artists can sometimes be perceived as being very selfish self-absorbed individuals who’s work takes priority over all other things, including domestic chores and household duties.

First version drawn: 2012
This version: 2019

Cartoon reference number: art068
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

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Filed Under: ART, Modern art Tagged With: contemporary art

Understanding contemporary art cartoon

December 28, 2019 by chrismadden

Understanding contemporary art cartoon

Understanding contemporary art cartoon

A cartoon showing a piece of contemporary art on an art gallery wall.
It is a text piece, that reads If you think you understand it you don’t understand it.
A man looking at the artwork is saying “Of course I understand it.”

The cartoon is partly about the cliche of the over-confident man who thinks that he knows everything (especially when he’s talking to a woman). It’s also about the related subject of people posturing in their knowledge and understanding about contemporary art.
The artwork on the gallery wall is a form of conundrum or paradox.
Contemporary art often defies easy analysis because it’s beyond the normal parameters of experience. Sometimes it’s accused of deliberate and pretentious obfuscation.

Cartoon drawn: 2019

Cartoon reference number: art067
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

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Filed Under: ART, Modern art Tagged With: contemporary art

Art gallery cartoon – mood music

December 28, 2019 by chrismadden

Art gallery cartoon – mood music

Mood music in an art gallery.

Visitors to an art gallery commenting on the installation of speakers that provide mood music for a painting.

Cartoon drawn: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art065
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

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Filed Under: ART

Art gallery merchandise cartoon – Kazimir Malevich black square

December 28, 2019 by chrismadden

Malovich black square cartoon

Kazimir Malevich cartoon – black square jigsaw puzzle.

A cartoon about art merchandising – the sort of novelty item you can purchase in art gallery and museum gift shops.
Art galleries and museums generate quite a lot of much needed income through merchandising and gift shops (and cafés).
Here the merchandise is a jigsaw puzzle.
It is a jigsaw of Kazimir Malevich’s seminal work of modern art Black Square.
The joke is, of course, that a black square would make for an extremely difficult jigsaw puzzle – it’s bad enough doing the skies in relatively easy ones. So the jigsaw puzzle is in some ways a work of art in its own right.

This version: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art064
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

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Filed Under: ART, Modern art

Artist’s muse cartoon

December 28, 2019 by chrismadden

Artist's muse cartoon

An artist and his muse.

A cartoon showing an artist taking a break from his creative process.
While he’s relaxing a small figure representing his muse wafts in from his studio. He tries to ignore it.

This is a cartoon about the way that the urge to create and the impulse to work can be a bit of a curse for people of a highly creative personality type. Their thought processes just never give the a break.
A cartoon about creativit and inspiration.

Cartoon first drawn: 2007
This version: 2019

Cartoon reference number: art066
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

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Filed Under: ART, Modern art

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