31 December, part 2

This drawing began as a way to address the Sydney Morning Herald’s weekend edition---i.e., one paper covering two days’ worth of news---and naturally became a way to address the entire year, partly from the very local, Australian perspective of the Herald (that "Stadium Inc." sign will not make sense to many people outside of Sydney), and partly from my own experiences with the news all year (a.k.a., our more generalized, global angst). And man, what a fucking clusterfuck this year has been. I will admit that filling up the “loathed” side of this drawing was way easier than filling up the “loved” side. That seems about right for 2017. It also seems right that a fair portion (half?) of the "loved" side is made up of references to artists and musicians. I know that for me it felt like the only oasis of reason and sanity left in the world some days was the realm of Art.

Rounding out both sides required fragments of text and image from many pages in the edition, not just the front. This tactic might be slightly outside the rules established for this project, but established rules are being tossed aside everywhere on our troubled globe, so this move, I believe, is in keeping with the year's overarching themes.

Please also note that this is not an attempt to sum up the entire year in a single drawing---that would be a fool's errand. The last day of the year is a time to look back on all that has transpired over the previous 364 days, but it is also a day of its own and should be allowed to be just that, even if that means devoting the central third of your drawing to representations of fireworks.

Finally, for anyone interested in who/what everybody is in this drawing, I'll put together a key and post it in the first week of 2018. Until then, here's a quick, partial list: Prince Philip, Emmanuel Macron, Australian senator Dean Smith, who championed the legalization of gay marriage here, American jazz vocalist Cecile McLorin Salvant, Australian painter Gareth Sansom, the Go Betweens, the late Annabelle Falkholt, Julian Assange, Kim Jong-Un, Harvey Weinstein, Anthony Scaramucci, Aung San Suu Kyi, and Donald Trump.

I have one other final drawing to execute for 2017, the Los Angeles Times front page for 31 December. I'd love to be the rockstar artist who completes this other final drawing and posts it with insightful commentary before the ball drops in the Pacific Standard time zone, but in reality it might be more of a Jan 2nd post. We'll see. Also, based on my initial perusal of the LA cover page, expect a lot of walls.

See you all on the other side.