EdgyCute: From Neo-Pop to Low Brow and Back Again

The resurgence in the popularity of illustrative art can be attributed to an array of factors. Although the acceptance of graphic novels as something more than ?just comic books? has been established for quite some time, when McSweeney?s released its all comics issue in 2004, the mainstream media?s reaction elevated the medium, its words and images, to something beyond genre. As a result, such drawings and illustrations have found their ways into marketing campaigns, ads and galleries. While the work of individual artists varies greatly, much of it strikes an irresistible pose, whether viewers are staring at enlarged heads on distorted bodies or a shot-dead bird, its killer and a birdhouse both crying. The work is at once disturbing but oddly attractive. We here at MBP have dubbed this quality ?EdgyCute.?