More Things Like This by McSweeneys Publishing

More Things Like This Reviews

• 
  Kathleen

  Hours of entertainment. Unwieldy in bed (!), this is best viewed sitting up with lots of light. This book should be larger, some of the reproductions are so small that I gave up trying to make them out. A handsome, high quality book full of treats.
• 
  Katie

  Review:
  
  These are images from a book I read over the weekend called More Things Like This. It contains almost 300 examples of art from dozens of contributors like David Shrigley, Kurt Vonnegut, Leonard Cohen, Shel Silverstein, Chris Johanson, David Mamet, and many more. They premise of the book is the integration of text and art. In fact, on the front cover it says, “289 drawings with funny words also on the same drawing” which is amusing because it is comedically over-descriptive. The whole book is very funny, and I had a great time reading it.
  
  The book consisted of interviews with the different artists, as well as samples of there work. It also had a very insightful introduction and foreword which explained that the book was based off of an art exhibit called Lots of Things Like This at apexart, a gallery in NYC. Both the book and the exhibit strive to show a new side to the art commonly known as cartooning. We traditionally call any art with words cartoons, but many of the pieces go beyond that word.
  
  I think my favorite art from the book was little known paintings by Shel Silverstein. There were about eight paintings of house objects in pretty normal arrangements, but the titles personified the objects to make them funny. For example, a black and white painting of a plate of cookies on a table with a shadow was titles something like “unassuming raisin cookies intimidated by unidentified shadow.” I found them very funny because the titles just got longer and more wordy. They began seeming more far fetched compared to such simple paintings. There was another piece called “Almost Canadian” that was just a blue line that said Almost Canadian in red below. I have no idea what it means, but I still find it funny because it seems like such a meaningless piece of art, and it makes me think. Another piece that I thought was very smart and thought provoking was a detailed drawing of two girls and their mother watching TV. On the TV was a starving child and a bowl. The channel said Unicef. One of the girls is saying, “look mom, we have that same bowl in the kitchen” (or something similar). I thought this was powerful and it made me sad that something like this even needs to exist. Looking at it, I realized how ignorant we are and even thought this is an exaggeration, it still hits close to home for more of our country.
  
  The only thing I didn’t like about the book was that some of the interviews got pretty long and tedious with questions that seemed repetitive. Also, some of the artists weren’t given enough of an introduction, sometimes barely even a sentence.
  
  Overall, I think this was a very interesting, thought provoking, and amusing book. I would recommend it for anyone who likes art that is different from what we normally call art. Even if you just look at the art it is still interesting. If I owned it, I would definitely read it again.
  
  4 out of 5 stars.
  
• 
  Michael Martin

  The worst art book I have ever purchased. 75% of the content hardly deserves to be reproduced and/or elaborated upon. There are a very few exceptions (a great single page by Banksy, and a good section on Maira Kalman) but it’s a rather expensive book that I just donated… that’s how unimpressed I was with most of the artwork and accompanying interviews.
• 
  Phyllis

  I like the interviews with many of the artists in the book. Not my favorite type of art.
• 
  Lydia Scho

  Collected so many of my favourite artists and introduced new favourites. Funny and insightful and brilliant
• 
  Splendy

  Dave Eggers and friends collected a bunch of artwork for a gallery in New York. The work is the intersection of fine arts and humor. Some call them “comics,” but that’s an umbrella term that just doesn’t seem to fit. He jokingly mentions how they struggled the term to define this time of work, but the answer is as plain as the curls on his adorable little head. It’s art!
  
  If you’ve ever wandered around the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco, then you know that the exhibits are based on much more than just goofy comics. There are big ideas, and gorgeous images, and mountains of originality packed into tiny strips or single frames. And if you like this type of art, where images and words are playing a duet, then you should run out today and purchase “All Over Coffee,” by Paul Madonna (who is brilliant, but he’s not featured in “More Things Like This.”) I found “More Things Like This” while browsing the shelves at the SF Public Library, but it’s one that I will add to my wish list and hope someday I can own.
  
  It’s primarily an art book, but you’ll want to spend a fair amount of time with each page, absorbing ideas and humor and reading the wide array of interviews with (some, but not all) artists. From New Yorker illustrator Maira Kalman to the legendary singer Leonard Cohen, and dozens of emerging or lesser known artists. Eggers fans should note that he includes a few of his drawings in the book, and they are going to make you love him even more than you already do (which is a lot).
  
  Artists are asked mostly the same questions, and while this formula might bore some readers, I think the repetition reveals important commonalities. Artists insights help peel back the layers between imagery, process, meaning, and language. I thought the interviews were great, and I wanted more of them, so I guess that's the reason for my 4 stars.
  
  In one interview, Enrique Chagoya explains how his work appropriates European culture from the perspective of an indigenous character. This is helpful in making sense of his paintings, which include familiar pop culture figures like the Cleveland Red’s smiling Indian logo reworked into a border patrol scene depicting the Europeans as the illegal aliens. And he offers advice for art, which I think can be applied to our everyday lives: “Mistakes lead you to things that could not have been planned. That could not have been premeditated. And so they end up enhancing the work.”
  
• 
  Anne

  This book was a holiday present from a very good friend. I was so excited and happy when I opened it! Yes it has been a long read but I read it in pieces, each page is so interesting.
  
  This book is like my older son's definition of "Good for me -- it's good, and it's for me!" Good in that it is an example of possibilities -- I tend to think "Oh, I can't write on this, it's a picture!" Or, in the alternative, "I shouldn't draw all over these notes," even though this is what I've been doing since I could hold a marker.
  
  It's been good for me, too, when I get hung up on some odd "Wait, I can't draw that, I think I saw a picture of a lampshade by Roz Chast somewhere once so I can't carry on!" moment. There was an item on that exact problem, and it helped me stop worrying and draw. What a gift!
• 
  Jeanine

  Found this in the Half Price clearance section and I'm glad I picked it up.
  The book is a well-selected survey illustrating the art style of combining drawings and words for a humorous effect -- but in a very understated way. The results are a blend of graphic design, comic, and social commentary. Think David Shrigley, Banksy, Shel Silverstein, and you're on the right path.
  
  Thoughtful essays are part of the package, with the writing caliber what you would expect from a McSweeney's publication. That is, excellent.
• 
  Eric

  It's great to see text-based fine art—by artists such as Tucker Nichols and Brian Rea—getting its due in this quasi-catalog for an exhibition Dave Eggers put together recently. The book as a whole suffers a bit from the inclusion of lesser artists, but overall it inspires me to make my own "things like this."
• 
  Tim

  This book really went out there and gave it 110% today. The review just went in it's favor and I gues it just pulled through. Very enjoyable for the $4.90 (!) someone else paid for it. Pettibon, Silverstein, Kalman, Crumb, & Mamet really made the plays. Anytime David Shrigley is in the starting lineup I am FABULOUSLY ENTERTAINED. Here are his statistics, you will not find them lacking.
• 
  Heather

  This book was so disappointing. I was tricked into buying it because I love 99% of everything McSweeney's puts out, PLUS, if you flip through it, the only pages that you will open up to are hilarious or thought provoking. Blatant book trickery. One of the few images that made me laugh was this:
  
  ______________________
  almost Canadian
  
  See? That was the best part of the whole book.
• 
  Kate

  Making art is liking finding one's way without a map.
  
  Music has lost its power. So has visual art. So has prose. Now it is the sole responsibility of the writers of limericks to describe the human condition.
• 
  Adam Wilson

  A well-curated assemblage of well... that's the question. The only thing in common with all the artists featured in this book is their folding together of text and illustration. It invites surrealism and articulates something about the strangeness of our times.