The New City Reader: Food (IV). I’ve Got the Obligatory Hendrix’s Perm

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Ok, so let’s say I posted something else before this especially difficult month ended. This is the last of the four cartoons I did for The New City Reader: Food Section, that got lost in November’s posting craze, that time when we all thought that this blog could go into some kind of regularity. The other three, with the series of not-very-funny jokes on Phillip Johnson and friends can be found here, here, and (Voluto, my favorite) here (Or just go to the Food or New City Reader categories in the blog).

This last one, which clearly shows the same out-of-the-box-iness as the one my favorite sex maniacs, Kazys and Robert Sumrell pitched for me, was suggested by Nicola Twiley, from edible geography, who was one of the editors for the issue.  It directly illustrates a real conversation she found in the always amazing “Overheard in New York”. Don’t know this site? Well, check it out, if you dare. It features the weirdest verbal exchanges in urban settings I’ve ever read. So weird they can only be found in real life. There’s a chance once you enter you’ll never be able to leave. They even have a book or two.

So, all this just to make the point I have no obsessions with bondage or body fluids. Or, if I have them, that they don’t permeate through my work (‘permeate’ may not be the best verb to use in this context). At least, I haven’t received any letter from Michael Graves’s lawyer so far. I’ll keep my fingers (and legs) crossed.

(Ain’t the title clever, this time? No? Oh, for Roger Waters’ sake…)

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On Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 8:27 PM, Nicola Twilley  wrote:

In line at an icecream truck:

Two big hip african american women and a 2 yr old girl in a princess dress were in front of me in line.

One woman says to the other: “Shit, we’re going to be late. I have to stop by her sperm donor’s barbershop before he closes up.”

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The New City Reader: Food (III). Being Philip Johnson

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The New City Reader: Food (II). Less is More (Alienating)

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Noone’s gonna get the cinephilic reference (otherwise, prove me wrong if you dare).

In any case, the Food Section of The New City Reader, curated by  William Prince, Krista Ninivaggi, and Nicola Twilley will “hit the stands” at the New Museum next Sunday. Be sure to get a free copy if you are in NY. Unless there have been last-minute changes, you’ll find four cartoons in it (Hence the overload of updates this week and the next one). Previous issues can be read here.

The New City Reader: Food (I). A Man for Four Seasons

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Next week’s section of The New City Reader revolves around food and (in) the city  This issue has been curated (actually, it’s still being produced as I write this) by William Prince & Krista Ninivaggi from Park, and Nicola Twilley, from Edible Geography and co-founder of the engaging Food Print Project.

The cartoons deal with the undergoing subtopic of overhearing and the relationships bred at the informal, unexpected gatherings in food places. Following a suggestion by Will Prince, Phillip Johnson -the habitual guest at Four Season’s table 32 in the Seagram Building- entered the game pretty soon (thanks, Will), but he revealed such a charismatic cartoon character that became a recurring theme himself. For further reading on Phillip Johnson and his relationship with the Four Seasons, you can check Terry Riley’s “Fifty Years of the Four Seasons” in Metropolis Magazine, and Steven Kurutz’s “With a Legend Gone, What Fate for Table 32” in The New York Times. Paul Goldberger also wrote a nice recount of Phillip Johnson’s career after his death for TNY that can be found here.

More cartoons for this issue to follow this week and the next one. The Food section will be available for free pickup at The New Museum next Friday (November 19). You can read all the issues of The New City Reader online in The New City Reader Blog.

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The New City Reader: A Newspaper of Public Space is a project curated by Kazys Varnelis and Joseph Grima. The New City Reader is a performance-based editorial residency designed as a part of the Last Newspaper, an exhibit running at New York’s New Museum from 6 October 2010‒9 January 2011. It consists of one edition, published over the course of the project, with a new section produced weekly by alternating guest editorial teams within the museum’s gallery space. These sections are  available free every Friday at the New Museum and will also be posted in public throughout the city for collective reading. The permanent staff and list of guest editorial teams can be found in Varnelis.net.