When first approached to publish a book of architectural cartoons, my initial excitement was immediately squelched by the thought of throngs of Braveheart influenced AIA colleagues rushing the doors of my office, screaming “Blasphemy! Infidel! How dare you insult the legacy of Vitruvius, King Solomon, Palladio, and Mike Brady!!!” It is true that unless you are an imagineer for Disney, it is not a good thing to have people laughing at your work so the idea of writing a cartoon book about the craft I hold near and dear to my heart did not come easy. I was concerned about the screams of outrage bellowing from the ivory towers but like the Flying Elvi, Spinal Tap, and the Colbert Report, what better way to honor the world’s grandest and most exclusive profession then with parody, satire and perhaps a little political commentary thrown in?
My very first cartoon was influenced by Chaucer’s 14th century proverb: Men who live in glass houses should not throw stones. Now imagine Mies and Phillip Johnson in a rock throwing fight. So architectural humor may not be ready for primetime stand-up on Comedy Central, but we, the edified, the exulted, the elite…. “get it”.
For example, think of your joy when first introduced to the stretch command in AutoCAD way back when. Oh, the creative possibilities! And if that doesn’t bring a smile to your face, consider watching Howard Roark dynamite the Courtland Building over and over again. Good stuff.
Like Andy Warhol’s celebration of the Tomato Soup Can, there are everyday events and people, anonymous to our awareness, that when celebrated become bigger than life. My cartoons are usually based on these everyday people and memories with a slight twist added. Re-presented reality can be good humor and good medicine. For example, just about every large firm has an “old man” that can run rings around any underling when it comes to putting a building together. He may cuss like a sailor but can draw like Da Vinci. The tragedy is that he would rather gouge out his eye with a protractor than right-click a mouse. Cartooning gave me the opportunity to honor just such a mentor of mine who would now be a sideshow exhibit at the State Fair...”Step right up, see the architect that still draws by hand !”
Subsequently, the creation of Archi-toons became my professional therapy to combat the ills and frustrations of an artist forced to exist in a contractor’s world. For example I could finally have my revenge on the builder that once told me if I rely on Means Construction Cost data, then I better go git (sic) Mr. Means to build it too! In my Cartoonland, I could brazenly walk up to a design principal and say: “Your work looks familiar-what are your influences? Is it Rizzoli, Record, Wiley, McGraw Hill?” In real life I would have been fired quicker than I could stipple a shadow or stack a pinbar but this was now an alternate universe where architecture is religion and contractors and developers alike humbly worship at the altar of design.
It is only natural that television game shows such as Name That Keynote have replaced Wheel of Fortune. Developers restore the original beauty of the landscape if their strip mall fails. The predominant language is littered with design school jargon. (You remember some of them: entrance experience, transition space, positive negative relationship, duality, essence of being, sense of place…) But like a prudent designer, there are limits and one must know when to stop. Imagine the conversation at punchlist time: “C’mon, I was just kidding, I didn’t think you would really build it like that! It was a joke!”
What we do is not easy. We are heroes when a job is within budget, surgeons when it is over budget and expected to be a magicians when given an impossible budget. It is a stressful existence and humor is the antidote. With apologies to The Godfather, only family can lampoon family.
I believe that an inadequate education in the arts has prevented many Americans from understanding the great value of an Architect. Rather than wait for the culture to catch up with us, perhaps we should reach out to the masses. We can preserve the image of our noble profession through the work we produce, but through humor remain accessible to our clients. That is the message of Archi-toons: architects really do make the world a better place, one house addition or tenant upfit at a time. And most important of all, we do it with a smile.
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