Hubris

The Unbearable Sweetness of Being

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“Have I described to you, Dear Reader, the perfect, summer sweetness (that of a warm berry, fresh-picked from the bush, in July) of many of Addison’s cartoons? I believe it is the single most impossible (of a palette of impossibles) and ineffable component of the cartoonist’s art.”—Elizabeth Boleman-Herring

Addison

By Mark Addison Kershaw

Mark Kershaw Weekly Hubris.

ATLANTA Georgia—(Weekly Hubris)—1 July 2022—Editor’s Note: Have I described to you, Dear Reader, the perfect, summer sweetness (that of a warm berry, fresh-picked from the bush, in July) of many of Addison’s cartoons? I believe it is the single most impossible (of a palette of impossibles) and ineffable component of the cartoonist’s art. Vanishing few modern cartoonists possess the gift of “drawing” (and/or drawing out) human sweetness, but, in two of this month’s offerings, Addison turns water into something like St-Germain Elderflower. Two of my many/very favorite of this Atlanta-based (Atlanta-hovering?) cartoonist’s drawings are part of this July’s portfolio. In one, a pig and bear “hold up, and off,” the rain, protecting all life on earth from the deluge. In the other, a little girl addresses sunshine, and then works some metaphysics on our shared world of shadow. Cartoons are impossible (thank Heaven!) to parse or explicate: they simply are. But some melt upon the tongue . . . .

Addison-bed

Addison-Diagram

Addison-Fairyland

Addison-grilling

Addison-Line Art

Addison-night eyes

Addison-sun and shadows color

Mark Addison Kershaw says his influences include James Thurber, Jean-Jacques Sempé, Charles Schultz, Berke Breathed, and several cartoonists from “The New Yorker.” Kershaw was born and brought up in Nebraska, spent college dabbling in philosophy and a few decades during/after in Minnesota, and now makes his home in Atlanta, Georgia, where he may be spotted walking his dog around the lake behind his home, taking photographs, and thinking cartoonish thoughts. (Author Head Shot Augment: René Laanen.)