If a picture paints a thousand words, American Illustration 26 would be a veritable treasure trove of verbose gems. This year’s definitive authority on the American illustrative landscape grabs you from the get-go and doesn’t loosen its grip until you’ve completed the entire voyage. Sit back, take a deep breath – and immerse as necessary.




Title: American Illustration 26
Publisher: Amilus Inc.
Designers: Arem Duplessis and Gail Bichler

The journey begins by whetting our appetites, with the cunningly playful peek-a-boo cover that features artwork presented by up-and coming Berkeley CA artist Evah Fan. Spanning a comprehensive myriad of works culled from magazines, children’s books, graphic novels, promotional materials, and even previously unpublished personal work, American Illustration 26 stands illustrative luminaries such as Christopher Niemann, Marc Rosenthal, Nathan Fox and Vivienne Flesher side by side with exciting new talents like Travis Lampe, Zohar Lazar and Ben Weeks.



It’s plain for all and sundry to see why the American Illustration series stands alone as the most influential annual juried illustration collection in America. As the Savannah College of Art and Design aptly enthuses, "American Illustration is American art at its best, a rare experience in enjoyment and a trip to illustration Utopia”. Transcending across age, gender, sexual preferences, locality and political agenda, these images, which are handpicked by the rigorous jury, are united solely by the visual impact that they create.



Whether intentional or not, American Illustration 26 also doubles up as a particularly insightful commentary into the political and social climate of the country – which makes for fascinating viewing on the part of the audience. Lyrical renditions of a multicultural landscape intermingle with images bordering on the grotesque, conveying incisive dissent intermingled with a strange affinity. Illustrators who have complex love-hate relationships with society are given free rein with the fevered, yet luscious, fruits of their imagination, which are fully fleshed out and explored between these pages.



Popular American icons such as Mickey Mouse, G.I. Joe, Dick Tracy, MTV and even Hollywood stars like Angelina Jolie, Sasha Baron Cohen and Jack Black make brief, albeit highly recognizable, appearances. Firmly embedded in the collective American subconscious, these figures have popped out of the “mundanity” of everyday media, and find themselves in the happy position of being elevated to the status of modern art - with the aid of a few deft strokes by talented illustrators.



And that, in essence, is where the sheer magnificence of American Illustration 26 lies – in transforming the ordinary everyday into something not only transcendental, but which also manages to be both celebratory and uplifting, it is, quite simply, living the quintessential American Dream.

From delightful whimsy to stinging satire, American Illustration 26 strikes a chord of defiant irreverence with its audience, featuring work that is remarkably, incorrigibly original, intelligent, and an inspiration to all who delve deep into its Midas-gilded pages. Best enjoyed with a slice of all-American apple pie, a sturdy leather armchair and as many hours of solitude as you can afford.





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