Some Artistic Heroes

Below I have assembled some of my artistic heroes (excluding music). I have only thought about this recently, so more names may pop up, but even so, I recommend checking out everyone of these people. It has been interesting, and I have noticed some trends—I seem to like liberal males like myself. I don’t limit myself to such constraints, but that seems to be where my highest respect falls. I respect all of these men as intellectuals and philosophers as well.

Alan Moore - Perhaps the greatest writer of comics ever, Moore is able convey metaphor and innuendo visually through his scripts at an amazing level. Some of his works have been converted into movies, such as The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and From Hell, but he refuses to see them. His books all have a sort of underlying social commentary, and he is known for rescuing series and making them classic, like the Swamp Thing. Though he has officially retired and moved on to practicing magic, Mr. Moore will always remain a legend in comics and a personal hero.

Oscar Niemeyer - Mr. Niemeyer is the most recent addition to the list, though he is the oldest man on it. I just read about him in this week's New York Times Sunday Magazine, and he seems to represent everything I like about Modernist Architecture while being an awesome individual also. At 97, he continues to combine sensuality with Modernism, creating new buildings in his native Brazil and around the world. In the 50’s, he helped create the new capital of Brasília, and now teaches philosophy on the weekends to anyone who shows up. He may be a staunch Communist, but I find it more telling that he remained loyal to his beliefs through the Cold War.

Dave Eggers – I could love Dave Eggers if all he did was found McSweeney’s and 826 Valencia, but he is also a really good writer. I have yet to get into his books, but I love everything I read on www.McSweeneys.net and every article he writes in SPIN. He just seems like the kind of person that I want to be in a few years. I considered putting former Green Lantern writer Judd Winick up here, but as Chuck Klosterman points out in Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, both men applied for the Real World in San Francisco and couldn’t both be on the show because they essentially fit the same archetype of sympathetic cartoonist/writers that I enjoy/try and emulate.

More to come later.