Here's a photo of me that looks like I have a chandelier on my head…but I don't care. I don't care because I am flanked by two of the best cartoonists who ever cartooned. The gentleman on the left is Jack Davis and the gentleman on the right is Sergio Aragonés. Mr. Davis was, of course, a contributor to the very first issue of MAD in 1952 and his work appeared in 241 other issues. Señor Aragonés has had his drawings appear in, so far, 511 issues and he's just finishing the cover of an upcoming issue.
If you are a fan of the talents of either man — or of Dave Berg, Paul Coker, Dick DeBartolo, Mort Drucker, Will Elder, John Ficarra, Kelly Freas, Al Jaffee, Harvey Kurtzman, Don Martin, Nick Meglin, Norman Mingo, Antonio Prohías, Marie Severin, John Severin, Angelo Torres, Sam Viviano, Richard Williams, Wally Wood, Emily Flake, Drew Friedman, Peter Kuper, Teresa Burns Parkhurst, C.F. Payne, Tom Richmond, Dale Stephanos and many, many others, this may interest you…
June 8 thru October 27, there will be an exhibition called "What, Me Worry? The Art and Humor of MAD Magazine" at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA. It will feature more than 150 original art pieces, artifacts and memorabilia stretching back to the publication's beginnings in 1952. Sam Viviano, MAD's long-time art director and one of its great illustrators is lead advising and the co-curators are Stephanie Plunket and illustrator Steve Brodner, and Robert Reiner is assisting with original MAD comics and early magazines, historic text and original art. There will be an opening reception on June 8 and you can find out more about this show, which I dearly wish I could visit, at this web address.
And if you only care about Jack Davis, you may want to take in "Jack Davis – A Centennial Celebration," which takes place at the Society of Illustrators in New York City. The exhibition honors Davis on the 100th anniversary of his birth and it's being curated by Robert Reiner along with Benno Rothschild and Clint Morgan working in cooperation with Jack Davis III. If you want to see a lot of original art from many of Jack's most famous pieces from comics, films, albums and much more, this show runs from June 12 to September 21 and its opening reception will take place on June 20. Info may be found at this web address and again, I wish I could be there.