Drew Friedman | |
|---|---|
 Friedman (left) with Rob Clough in 2014 | |
| Occupation(s) | Cartoonist, illustrator |
| Known for | Cartooning, painting, illustration |
| Relatives | Josh Alan Friedman (brother);Bruce Jay Friedman (father) |
Drew Friedman is an Americancartoonist andillustrator who first gained renown for his humorous artwork and "stippling"-like style ofcaricature, employing thousands of pen-marks to simulate the look of a photograph. In the mid-1990s, he switched to painting.
Friedman's work has appeared in such periodicals asEntertainment Weekly,Newsweek,Time,The New York Times,The Wall Street Journal,The New Yorker,The New Republic,The New York Observer,Esquire,RAW,Rolling Stone,The Village Voice,Mineshaft, andMad. His works have been anthologized in seven collections, and he has illustrated a number of books, includingHoward Stern'sPrivate Parts andMiss America, as well as books of portraits released under his own name.[1]
Since the 1990s, Friedman has provided caricature illustrations for mainstream publications. However, he first attracted public attention in the 1980s producing morbidalternative comics stories, sometimes working solo, sometimes with his brotherJosh Alan Friedman scripting the panels. These stories portrayed celebrities and character actors of yesteryear in seedy, absurd, tragi-comic situations. The brothers also wrote stories abouttalk-show hostJoe Franklin, including one strip, written by Drew, forHeavy Metal, "The Incredible Shrinking Joe Franklin", that prompted Franklin to sue the artist for $40 million. The suit was later dismissed.[2] NovelistKurt Vonnegut Jr. compared his work toGoya's.[3]
The Friedman brothers were first published inRAW Magazine. Working with and without his brother, Drew's comics were published inHeavy Metal,Weirdo,High Times,National Lampoon and other comics anthologies from the 1980s into the early 1990s. The brothers published two collections,Any Similarity to Persons Living or Dead is Purely Coincidental andWarts and All. In aComics Journal interview, Drew Friedman lamented that he and his brother had failed to earn a living creating work that was time- and labor-intensive yet earned little. Josh gave up comics to become a journalist and a musician.[citation needed]
Beginning in 1986, Drew illustrated a monthly feature, "Private Lives of Public Figures," forSpy; these illustrations were compiled in a book published bySt. Martin's Press in 1992. He also provided illustrations forHoward Stern's two best-selling books,Private Parts andMiss America. Friedman served as comics editor for theNational Lampoon in 1991,[4] introducing the works ofDaniel Clowes andChris Ware to a wider audience. Since 1994, he has provided regular front-page illustrations forThe New York Observer.
In 2006, Friedman publishedOld Jewish Comedians (Fantagraphics Books), a collection of portraits of famous and forgotten Jewish comics of film and TV in their old age, about whichSteven Heller, inThe New York Times Book Review, wrote: "A festival of drawing virtuosity and fabulous craggy faces... Friedman might very well be the Vermeer of the Borscht Belt."[5] A sequel,More Old Jewish Comedians (Fantagraphics Books), was published in 2008. A collection of newer work,The Fun Never Stops! was published by Fantagraphics in 2007.
Describing his illustration style in 2017, Friedman said it might not appeal to "people who find warts, pimples, wrinkles, flop-sweat, jowls, boils, rosacea, nose hairs, ear hairs, drool, baggy eyes, gin blossoms, moles, liver spots, neck waddles, nasal labia folds, crinkles, furrows, creases, puss, pustules, bumps, lumps, yellowing and/or rotting teeth, missing teeth, gums, dentures, saliva, double chins, triple chins, blotches, scars, lumps, zits, five o'clock shadows, folds, bulbous noses, craters, chapped lips, man-boobs, goiters, pock marks, whiteheads, blackheads, rashes, nose leakages, emasculations, calluses, scabs, balding/bald heads, nodules, freckles, protuberances, welts, carbuncles, papules, festers, andShemp distasteful," adding, "Liver spots are myNinas."[6]
While continuing to accept commercial assignments, Friedman began working as a portrait fine artist. "It helps if I'm passionate about the subject I'm drawing," he said in a 2015 interview. "As I get older I have less patience to draw someone or something I have no connection to or don't really like, or hate, even a politician. I just don't like the idea of staring into the face of someone I detest for several days drawing him or her. It's unsettling."[7]
Friedman was one of the artists photographed in his studio forThe Artist Within: Book 2: Behind the Lines by photographerGreg Preston, published in 2017.[8]
Friedman's portrait ofBarack Obama appeared on the cover of theNew Yorker on January, 26, 2009. Friedman's 2019 bookAll The Presidents featured portraits of 45 United States presidents.
Friedman is the subject of the 2024 documentary filmDrew Friedman: Vermeer of the Borscht Belt.[9]
Friedman attended New York'sSchool of Visual Arts from 1978 to 1981. While there, he took classes from (among others)Will Eisner,Harvey Kurtzman,Edward Sorel,Art Spiegelman,Stan Mack andArnold Roth. During his tenure at SVA, Friedman edited both Eisner and Kurtzman's year-end magazines of student work (Will Eisner's Gallery of New Comics andKartunz, respectively) Friedman's classmates at SVA includedMark Newgarden,Mike Carlin andKaz.[10]
He is the son of author/satiristBruce Jay Friedman.
Friedman was recognized for his work with theNational Cartoonists Society's Newspaper Illustration Award for 2000, and he was nominated again in 2002 and 2007. That organization also awarded Friedman their Magazine Illustration Award for 2000.[11] In 2014, Friedman was awarded theInkpot Award.[12]
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