The week's best economy art is the cover for this week's Economist. The illustration is for the cover story, The Panic About the Dollar. The dollar's George Washington, goggled and descending a la Red Baron, with flames, and that sardonic smile, leading us to worry about... a crash? Great graphic to capture a jittery time. I like the fact that Washington's hair stays in place.
Next best: Patrick Thomas' illustration for the NYTimes this week. His Recession graphic for the grey lady's story, The U.S. Economy: Trying to Guess What Happens Next was the most dynamic art in the Sunday paper. The lettering, in red -- the most attention-getting color, is immediately impactful. Tanking down to the right, in the same visual descending motion as George Washington's dollar illustration, shows the idea of submerging, the idea of something that could sink beneath, tilt to disappear. Using the dollar signs for the letters, right at the point of loss, is a great artistic design. The uneven use of ink reminds one of the rubber stamps...
When a penny cost more than one cent to produce, well... spend a penny in British idiom means to urninate. Count your pennies... Dollars and cents. Art and sense. An illustration is worth a thousand words.
By the time that all the journalism majors from college begin writing about the financial markets and economy, it's probably too late. While the readers start becoming defensive, the smart money, who has already been out of the market, is getting back in. If writers understood Wall street, they wouldnt be writing.
Posted by: anthony | November 30, 2007 at 08:08 AM
OK, your post was about art, but I am left brained!
Posted by: anthony | November 30, 2007 at 08:09 AM