New York Magazine links to a Cleveland Scene piece about trying to track down the elusive Bill Watterson, the Calvin and Hobbes creator who virtually disappeared from public life after retiring from his comic strip. Also included is a biography of Watterson. I for one never knew all this about him. I knew the guy [...]

Via Blue Tea, two artists that create miniature dioramas using books as their medium. Su Blackwell‘s scenes are part Joseph Cornell, part fairy tale (not that Cornell’s works aren’t themselves fairy tale). Thomas Allen uses pulp covers in much the same way, though I’d say his work is more humorous (perhaps inherently so, due to [...]

Flickr: laffy4k A long time ago someone suggested I write about color words. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not an artist and that most of my color knowledge comes from the Crayola Box of 64. But it’s true, color words are fascinating. For example, vermillion comes from the Latin for “little worm”–there [...]

(No, this is not another Splasher post.)  If you haven’t read Jonathan Lethem’s amazing plagiarism, “The Ecstasy of Influence,” over at Harper’s, go do so. The idea that everything is a retelling is, in itself, not a new idea, but I don’t often think of works of art and literature as being better when they [...]

The Splasher is still at it. He/she made NYT’s B1 today, with one good picture and one photo that is completely irrelevant to the story. (Oh, wait. Behind the dude, there’s a Splashered painting. I have to say I’m not too impressed with whoever edited these photos today.) Marc Schiller, who runs a Web site about [...]

Street art fascinates me. I admire anyone who is willing to risk life, limb, or incarceration for the sake of creative expression. For example, Jennifer Toth’s The Mole People contains a chapter about graffiti writers. Some would work all night on a subway car, dodging cops and literally running for their lives, even though they [...]