with Vandenbroucke’s new collection, White Cube, we finally have the perfect response to fine art in comics form — and that response is the visual equivalent of a whoopee cushion.
Printers Row
$21.95 CAD/USD
With few words and gorgeous style, a cartoonist takes aim at the hypocrisies of the art world
White Cube is the Belgian cartoonist and illustrator Brecht Vandenbroucke’s debut book, a collection of mostly wordless strips that follow a pair of pink-faced twins as they attempt to understand contemporary art and the gallery world. Their reactions to the art they encounter are frequently comedic, as they paint over Pablo Picasso’s famous mural Guernica, and re-create a pixelated version of Edvard Munch’s The Scream after receiving one too many e-mails.
Lushly painted, these irreverent strips poke fun at the staid, often smug art world, offering an absurdist view on the institutions of that world—questioning what constitutes art and what doesn’t, as well as how we decide what goes on the walls of the gallery and what doesn’t.
Vandenbroucke’s distinctive work blends the highbrow with the low, drawing equally from Gordon Matta-Clark’s site-specific artwork and the Three Stooges’ slapstick timing. With a knowing wink at the reader, Vandenbroucke continuously uncovers something to laugh about in the stuffiness and pretentiousness of the art world.
Praise for White Cube
Vandenbroucke is a wildly imaginative illustrator. His colorful, rude and whimsical book is an anarchic delight
Richard Pachter, Miami Herald
White Cube throws “High” Culture & “Low” Culture into a blender and presses pulverize: Picasso, Tom of Finland, The Muppets, and many more get smashed together and mixed like paint. The resulting canvas is a grotesque hyperworld, hilarious and horrifying at the same time.
Broken Pencil
Vandenbroucke’s colorfully painted strips burst the pretentiousness of the art world without disrespecting the works’ validity.
Booklist
The art is colorful, humorous, and at times very lush and vibrant…visits to an art museum or gallery won’t be the same after reading this.
Danica Davidson, AV Club
