This commission for an illustration came from Tablet Magazine. The commission was to interpret an essay on “The Age of Nuclear Bullshit.” by David Samuels.
“Bullshit is one of the supporting and sustaining pillars on which the greatness of America is founded. The promise of unbounded self-creation—foreshadowed in the Declaration of Independence, and known today as the American dream—is self-evidently bullshit. The idea that men are born equal is bullshit. They are not. The promise that every citizen has an inalienable right to the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness is a spectacularly American type of bullshit—stirring, yet also an easy target for mockery. In reality, America is governed not by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights but by a few dozen billionaires and thousands of unelected bureaucrats—all in the name of “the people,” of course.
AI is a giant manufacturing plant for bullshit. The promises of large pharmaceutical companies to restore your health with mass-manufactured serums and powders is the type of bullshit that has powered the Catholic Church for millennia…………..” Article excerpt.
Wait, a magazine in 2025!!!!
I love commissions of any type, but I especially relish Illustration assignments. They normally have a short time frame for completion, and this compressed schedule forces you to make good decisions at a rapid pace. In this case, there was only a week between the assignment and the delivery date, with a generous pad of a few days to get the work photographed. In most cases, I am left to my own devices in terms of content and composition, with light direction from the client. This ensures high-quality artwork that solves a specific communication goal.
Preliminary sketches and work in progress.
