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The Importance of Graphic Wit
Picassocino
Eric Yahnker
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Eric Yahnker Eric Yahnker is a contemporary artist whose humorous, meticulously rendered graphite and coloured pencil drawings and elaborate process pieces examine pop culture and politics. Immediately appealing on their surfaces, Yahnker’s drawings convey deeper meanings to viewers who patiently engage with them. The artist begins his drawings as a series of words in a sketchbook, collaging ideas as much as images. The results are aggregations of witty, politically charged imagery
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The Importance of Graphic Wit
Eric Yahnker
Why does humour enter your work? Humour is just something I authentically gravitate to. Growing up, being funny was definitely an important virtue in my family. One of the biggest compliments I receive is when people I’ve known since childhood--before I was an artist-say my work is “so me.” It makes me feel somewhat confident saying that any stranger walking into an exhibition of mine can feel as if they’re actually meeting me, or at least a dominant aspect of my true personality. I’m a big proponent of the DaVincian idea that all artwork is, in fact, self-portraiture. If you’re faking it, that will shine through. If you’re an asshole, that will also come through, and so on and so forth. For me, the première rule of art-making is whatever you’re making, make it genuine to you. I guess truly finding yourself is the hardest part of that equation. I’m still a work in progress.
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Eric Yahnker
Mission Accomplished
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The Importance of Graphic Wit
Abe Lincorn
Eric Yahnker
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Eric Yahnker
Pierced Piety
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The Importance of Graphic Wit
Faith Face
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Eric Yahnker
Golden Asshat
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The Importance of Graphic Wit
Crimea River
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Eric Yahnker
Working with humour is also just innate to my process. It’s a ‘chicken or the egg’ debate. At times I’ve felt I’ve used humour as a crutch, but I’ve learned my natural comedic sensibility is also what makes my work individually unique to me. Generating laughter is just as important as generating thought via satire. While ‘funny’ is probably associated with something more juvenile, a la South Park, wit is probably associated with more intellectually thought provoking humour with an air of gravitas, a la Oscar Wilde. Both are equally effective in their own way, but I’m pretty sure Oscar Wilde never made a fart joke.
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The Importance of Graphic Wit
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Eric Yahnker
Your work for Printed Pages portrays your style of aesthetic and graphic wit. How did you come to design this piece?
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The Importance of Graphic Wit
Kanye Stack
I was contacted by their art director, who had seen another version of a Kanye Stack piece I had already made. He was looking for something for the Printed Pages cover that was in the same general realm, but didn’t have any traceable source imagery, so he asked if I could combine features from different sources into one cohesive face. Unlike the original, which had a plain white background, he was also quite keen on having a bold, striking red cover, so I made it red! Essentially, it’s nearly the same composition as my original piece, but a bit larger and more refined.
Eric Yahnker
Must everything you do evidence the wit of its maker? While I do pride myself on being a smarty-pants, I don’t want it to be a crutch, or part of some strict manifesto. As much as I try to avoid works that are too ‘zany,’ I’ve also definitely had problems with works that feel too clever or too serious. There is a general sweet spot that tickles me, and that is where I typically choose my works from. I feel there’s enough people that draw and paint incredibly well that I don’t want to rely purely on my traditional drafting skills to make my work stand out from the pack. What makes my work my truly my own is its comedic sensibility paired with technical ability. I started out a writer, so in many ways I see my work as visual expressions of language or the written word, as much as I see it as art. I often hint my work is as much to be read as viewed.
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Eric Yahnker
Angel in the Outfield
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The Importance of Graphic Wit
Obamacares
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Eric Yahnker
No Spinoza Zone (Neinstein)
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The Importance of Graphic Wit
Westside Story
Eric Yahnker
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Eric Yahnker
Is humour in art essentially a process of getting away with something?
It can be, but that requires a significant portion of your audience not being ‘in’ on the joke. I’m not against having a very pointed target audience, but if you’re making sociopolitical work, I don’t know that you want to be so limited in your scope and simply end up ‘preaching to the choir.’ It all depends on how much accessibility and reach is acceptable to you.
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The Importance of Graphic Wit
Wrecking Ball
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Eric Yahnker
Bey-watch
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Beyond the O-rizon
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Eric Yahnker
Danny Ducko
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The Importance of Graphic Wit
4-Eyed Dog
Side-Eyed Duck
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Eric Yahnker
What’s the secret to creating naturally funny visual humour? I think you have to be conscious of the line between ‘zany’ and ‘witty.’ If I’m rolling my eyes or feeling squeamish about a concept because it’s too absurd or too forced, then I imagine so too will the viewer. Find your line, and stick to it.
How much of your humour relies on the audience having a previous knowledge of existing references? I try to make work that doesn’t require a textbook to understand, but in some cases, it is helpful to at least have a perfunctory knowledge of current events. Of course timeless work is the best quality to shoot for, but that’s not always easy to come by when you’re trying to visually depict your specific time on earth or express a particular grievance. I’m happy if the work I’m making can be historically sewn into the social fabric that constitutes 26
our specific place in time, but only time can tell whether my work will continue to have resonance beyond its time. If any of my work can be considered definitive of the place and period in which I made it, then it falls in line with a long lineage of historical works by artists such as Hogarth, Daumier, or even more modern day & 20th century political cartoonists, such as Paul Conrad. At least I’d like to think so.
The Importance of Graphic Wit
The Delivery of St. Teresa
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Eric Yahnker
Short Shorts Shorty
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The Importance of Graphic Wit
Eric Yahnker
Medicinal Maestro
When you go to see a stand-up comic, you walk into a place called a ‘comedy club.’ When you want to see comedy on television, there’s a cable network called ‘Comedy Central,’ or you can click on the ‘Comedy’ category on Netflix, or Amazon, etc. There’s no equivalent thing in the art world—a ‘comedy gallery’ would likely be a massive failure because there’s simply not enough support. The closest the art world typically comes to courting comedy is perhaps in the macabre, or black comedy. In the entire world of graphics, however, there are plenty of influential, precedent setting examples, like MAD Magazine and National Lampoon, which turned graphic subversion into era-defining, cultural touchstones. Individual comic artists like R. Crumb and Basil Wolverton have found considerable recognition among the fine art cognizanti, but it’s still quite rare.
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Eric Yahnker
King’s Court
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The Importance of Graphic Wit
Eric Yahnker
Your pencil art is incredibly witty and original, and especially political recently. Why should humour be so noticeable within these political pieces?
Thanks for the kind words. By definition, satire is an exaggerated truth, which, especially in our current political climate, inevitably draws closer to the truth than the known truth. In this way, humour provides an incredibly important and valuable societal function. Also, before you’re about to get your teeth punched in, it’s also nice last resort to be able to tell the bully you were only making a joke!
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Eric Yahnker
Precious Patriotism
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The Importance of Graphic Wit
The most challenging and best humour is that which is not only massively accessible, but also leads from laughter to thoughtprovoking conclusions without feeling didactic or spoon-feeding— an incredibly difficult tightrope to walk. The Importance of Graphic Wit
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