Blown Covers

July 4th: The Winner!

The Ground Zero memorial pool is becoming a new New York City landmark, and here it’s used to good effect. I confess that I resisted the image at first because the site itself still gives me shivers. But then our New Yorker offices are moving into the Freedom Tower next year, so I better get used to it as not only a mass grave, but also a tourist destination… and a patriotic landmark.

06/8/12

July 4th: Runners-up # 1

By Matthew Kalamidas and Olga Gessen

A comment not only about July 4th, but July 4th now. It’s true that these days we tend to experience our most special and celebratory moments from behind the lens of our technology. I prefer Olga Gessen’s composition here—it makes more sense to me that the Statue takes a picture of the fireworks than a picture of herself in front of them—but then what do I know? I’d just watch the fireworks!

06/8/12

July 4th: Runner-up # 3

By Sergey Maidukov

A nice graphic, well composed——the stripes and the pared down red, white and blue color palette allows it to read as a July 4th picture from a mile away. I also like the storytellling aspect: standing on shore, the abandoned crown and the addition of an all-American baseball bat.

06/8/12

July 4th: Runner-up # 2

By Oliver Weiss

This is in the vein of a classic New Yorker cover—effective and beautiful. Nadja also likes how the artist elegantly uses a synesthetic metaphor to evoke the experience of watching fireworks—very cool.

06/8/12

July 4th: Runners-up # 4

“Even Founding Fathers get the bbq’s” by Gabriel Guma, Chee Yang Ong, Sean O’Neil and Julien Couty

These are such wonderful responses to the assignment: “Fireworks, barbecues, American flags, folding chairs — it may not be exactly how our Founding Fathers celebrated, but it feels like the traditions are old as time.” The artists’ sense of humor are at play here, and, as a result, George Washington and Benjamin Franklin have never seemed more at home. Look at the top image - who actually ate those barbecued dogs?

06/8/12

July 4th: Runner-up # 5

By Fred Stesney

Native Americans are very much on my mind right now (thanks to the book I’m reading), but Fred Stesney’s image makes a very valid point: Amerindians should be on everyone’s mind anytime we celebrate anything about this extraordinary continent.

06/8/12

July 4th: Runner-up # 6

By Brigit Schössow

A beautiful composition that makes a city out of the elements of the flag, and also manages to evoke the city at night celebrating with fireworks.

06/8/12

July 4th: Runner-up # 7

By Jean Tuttle

The Statue of Liberty, but here she’s swimming, a mythical creature, a mermaid at the foot of the island. I like how the artist contrasts two worlds: the crowded, jumbled city one, and the serene one of the ocean.

06/8/12

July 4th: Runner-up # 8

By Kim Murton

Clever: a pretty and graphic evocation of the sounds of July 4th, but done in a way that also brings to mind the delightful visual surprises of the fireworks.

06/8/12

July 4th: Runner-up # 9

By Nicola Boccaccini

I love the strong graphic element of this cover, but the meaning is a bit ambiguous. Is the sparkler itself on sale? or is it a broader point about the house we’re in front of? or about America?

06/8/12

July 4th: Runners-up # 10

By Tim Foley and Vincent Des Jardins

Two artists (with a strange psychic connection) each sent us two images, and both their images matched. Tim Foley’s are on the left, Vincent Des Jardins’s are on the right. I love the dogs hiding away from the fireworks. All four images have something else in common - they’re about finding the quiet, private moment amidst the loud celebration.

06/8/12

July 4th: Runner-up # 11

By Chee Yang Ong

Nadja read this image before I did, but then China is more on our minds now that it was ten or fifteen years ago… The Chinese flag super-imposed on the American red, white and blue is a good use of symbols to make a timely point.

06/8/12