The New Yorker “Auditions”

September 2023

I’ve always loved The New Yorker covers, and then, one day, I wanted to make covers FOR The New Yorker,
or at least LIKE The New Yorker. I’m sure many artists dream of this. I know I’m not the only one

The New Yorker covers capture very human moments, sometimes current events, but always with an eye for something we may have missed, or how those current events will affect us. It’s remarkable how a magazine centered on New York can appeal to people in the Midwest, the Pacific Coast, the Southwest, the South. I want to give credit for that feeling of unity to the cover artists. While the inside of the magazine may touch mostly on New York, the covers record universal moments from urban and rural areas across the US. Yes, they are all IN New York, perhaps, but they COULD BE anywhere. And that’s what makes the magazine have that cross-country appeal, I think, that feeling that this artist gets ALL of us, and OUR lives too. There’s some wisdom in every New Yorker cover.

[Francoise] Mouly, who has overseen nearly a thousand New Yorker covers, says she looks for "images that will be relevant, images that will make you laugh, images that will move you."
From CBS NEWS “New Yorker Cover Selection”

My favorite artists (that I’m most influenced by) from the New Yorker are Peter de Seve, John Cuneo, Adrien Tomine, Barry Blitt, Arthur Getz, Edward Sorel, Perry Barlow, but I also love the work of Nicole Rifkin, Kadir Nelson, and Jenni Oliver.

Not surprising that many of those artists are whimsical with messy lines and a watercolor feeling.

This is NOT how you audition for the New Yorker. I don’t know how one would. I don’t think they take unsolicited works, but let’s imagine that I create the covers anyway. This then is less about current events, more about moving you, finding the universal in the specific. My works also find some joy, I hope.

If one COULD audition for a position as a New Yorker Cover Artist, this portfolio here would be that audition. I plan to build it that way as I go, at least. I think of this as “practice for the job you want.”

And it’s a lot of fun too!