New York, New York

The New Torker magazine is something that i have been aware of for many years, have heard about the covers, but have never really looked at then. It was by chance that i can across an array of their work as i was surfing the web. At first i was not particularly drawn to the images as many of them do not display overy colours or images, nbut as i looked closer i found that the bigger picture is obvious once a few minutes is spent glancing over them. I particularly liked these three and i believe them to be the most venerated.

For this cover Art Spiegelman created silhouettes inspired by Ad Reinhrdt's black on black paintings, so that the north tower of the twin tower's antenna breaks the 'w' of the magazines logo. The magazine which was published september 24, 2001, it would appear was trying to illustrate the atomosphere of emptiness and illusion of a ghost image, that is reinforced by the varnish that distinguishes the image from the black background. It is a image i think that represents the confusion and darkness that filled New York at that time. A powerful cover that attempts to reach beyond the obvious.


This 2001 cover features a map of 'New Yorkistan' where the city is divided into middle eastern names. Again it is a powerful cover that aims to make the reader think rather than portraying the obvious with perhaps more impactful eye catching imagery. It is sophisticated despite its simplicity which echoes its target market and the issues its illustrating. It is an interesting imitation of the 1976 cover below.


The cover "View of the World from 9th Avenue" is perhaps dated now, and with reprouctions and imitations, the idea has perhaps lost some of its profoundness. Looking at it from the 1970's perspective however it would have been more befitting. It represents manhattans telescoped perception of the country beyond the hudson river, it is supposed to show the limited mental geography of Manhattanites. This could perhaps be put to a new concept of "Americas world view from America", which may highlight Americans ignorance over world geography.