Hand-drawn page one in today's Courier-Journal

Not sure if this is being discussed elsewhere on here, but I think it's most appropriate for this board. If this is a d-b, please feel free to remove.

Today, the front page of the C-J was actually a hand-drawn replication by a Turkish artist and a few student assistants. It's to help kickoff the creation of a new organization that wants to promote public art and transform how people experience it.

Here's what it looked like:



And here are a couple articles about it:

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009904100430
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20090410/OPINION04/904100361/1054/OPINION

For some reason, my reaction to this has been quite visceral.

Perhaps it's because the organization's director was comparing this to Christo's saffron gates at Central Park. Perhaps it's because the implication is that a newspaper itself is not a piece of art nor are the writers, designers, photographers, editors and cartoonists themselves artists in their own right.

What I felt when I saw it was the same reaction I felt when Michael Bolton did "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay" a few years ago. Decent effort (in the artists' case, it only took them an hour to hand draw the page -- an impressive feat), but the end product is nowhere near as good or as powerful as the original.

Am I wrong to think that? I've been told by some I'm missing the point to this. If I am, then what was the point?

 

Who needs page designers?

 

I think that the regular version of Page 1A was on Page 3A.

 

It was, doggie

 

Did the artist include an interview with a minority?

 

Come on. We all know the real reason they did this. Management is experimenting with getting rid of all of the computers in the company and laying off all the page designers.

They'll start this way and pretty soon ask all the reporters to "do more with less" and hand-draw their stories directly as a cost-cutting measure.

I just can't wait till someone hand-draws the Southland ad on A-1 </crossthread>

 

Hack, I'm not sure what point you're missing, and I understand your issues with it, but I think it's pretty damn cool. If it's a one-time thing I have no problem with it. I just think it's intersting and creative.

 

I agree with DirtyDeeds; it is interesting and creative. I actually expected something more bizarre.

 

We should all write with Crayolas from now on.

 

Maybe then I'll get color on my sports front.

 

Art. Booooooo!

 

We did this once in college after all the typesetters broke down on deadline.

God forbid, of course, that a newspaper try something that might make readers stop for a moment and think.