Here -- Further Connections

While doing research on Here, I came across a number of artists involved in the tradition of the sort of 'z-index' movement I discussed in my presentation. In my handout, I focused primarily on early illustration work from Edward Hopper. I wanted to use this blog post to connect you to other artists and works that I found speaking to the way McGuire manipulates time.


First, I noted Chris Ware and his review of Richard McGuire's work. I found it interesting to dig into Ware's own comic style to see how, decades later, his work continued to shape temporal narratives. Below, a page from Ware's Big Tex.

Here's another from Ware from The Big Book of Jokes Vol. II. In both instances, we can see a held perspective that creates drama between instances of time and paradoxically seem to evoke a sort of timeless narrative.

If you're like me, you might not readily associate Norman Rockwell with artists like McGuire or Ware. But in my research, I was amazed at the similar use of windows in his work and the attention he draws between domestic scenes and large timescales. Below, a shadow puppet gag projects an iconic figure on the wall. The children (and viewer) are forced to experience a playful scene alongside a reach back in time to a sort of cave and fire presentation. Next, a Rockwell painting from 1921 that continues Hopper's framing techniques.

Finally, mostly because I'm still just blown away by the resonance that I feel from Hopper to McGuire, I wanted to include a few more from Hopper that I wasn't able to cover in the presentation:

Summer Interior (1909)

Room in Brooklyn (1932)

Rooms by the Sea (1951)