Meeting Mr. Fish

I would like to ask Mr.Fish about the use of physiognomy and Lavater’s ideas of what makes the character in the comic speak to the viewer even if the viewer isn’t aware of it. I’d also like to dabble more in knowing how you accomplish a generalization about a personality while aiming it in the direction the comic is speaking towards. Another conversation that would be interesting for me would be about the use of animal in place of the human and why some animals are chosen over other, what that animal means by itself and what it means to the person being portrayed. I think that’s a conversation that would carry over to all of my studies.

Question for Mr. Fish

I was mainly curious where you pull the subject matter from. You have such an array of religious and controversial topics portrayed in your work. My main question however, is how one knows when a political cartoon has crossed that fine line from being hilarious to hurtful. Being that you are a well known political cartoonist it will be interesting to get your views on how much is too much when creating a satirical version of another person. Also, does this vary based on the impression, personality and popularity of a person?

Mr Fish Mr Fish

Like many others, I'm curious as to where he got his start and why he chose cartooning.  I'm also curious if he is religious at all.  Based on his cartoons on religion on his site, I would guess not, but one never knows.  Along with that, what are his political beliefs.  

Who inspires him?  Is it another cartoonist or is it one of the great painters such as Da Vinci?  

Also I wonder how he feels about how others view his work.  Does he care that he offends people?  Is that his goal?
And why did he decide to draw his cartoons in different mediums?

The End

FISH

Questions For Mr. Fish

Although I have many questions, I think I'm most curious about how he feels about being so controversial. Within each cartoon, Mr. Fish has the ability to offend thousands of people individually, or social classes, or religions, or people of different areas, or even people of different careers. I can't even imagine having to defend myself against some of the comments and unhappy remarks I'm sure he receives about his artwork. I would also like to know if he's happy that he became known through his controversial artwork, rather than being an "excellent artist." By that I mean, he seems to have in his mind that he wants to create controversial cartoons that gain reaction of his viewers, rather than creating masterpieces, like Van Gogh or Picasso. Although cartooning and caricature is not fine art, it would still be interesting if he worries more about the content of his cartoons and controversy of them than he cares about how well they are rendered, or what they look like.

Mr. Fish

I'm very interested in meeting Mr. Fish, his work is very interesting and unique. In the sense that I got a lot of feedback when hanging the posters, you can tell he has a very diverse appeal to the public. I was informed to not post any more of the zebra cartoons seeing as they were "racist" to a few people who made remarks. I'm very interested in looking at what Mr. Fish uses for inspiration and what he bases his techniques in his sketches from. I also interested in his feedback on what our work for this class will be. I also am curious to see where he started in this field? What motivated him to go into cartoons and sketches?

Mr. Fish Question

I want to ask about his ideas on the future of editorial cartoons.

He wrote, " Editorial cartoons help prevent the authoritarian powerbreakers of society from completely suffocating democracy with the bogus idea that only professional politicians and high powered businessmen should be allowed to engage in the public debate about how government can function." While newspapers, and magazines are struggling to compete in today's society, and are inevitably being forced to retrench, how does he view his work morphing in the future? Does he see his work reaching a wider audience? (other than Harpers etc.)

Another theme that subsumes his oeuvre is the conflicting arguments between religion and politics. I'm wondering if he could sort of expound upon this?

Mr.Fish and a dish

When Mr.fish comes to lunch with us I'm truly obligated to ask the questions of how did he get to do what hes doing. What is his inspiration and motive behind his work? There's also the question of how is it do make these cartoons as a job. But in a different note I will stray away from common questions. I want to ask who his favorite artist is. I want to also ask when he started doing comics. I want to ask if he doodles in his spare time and if he sits down and watches political debates or if he goes off of the general talk around us. The questions ask more that what do you do. These questions are more about talking to him on a level of a fellow colleague and finding who he is. I want to more than anything know the personality of this humorous cartoonist. From his work he seems like a very intelligent and funny guy. I want to actually get something out of this opportunity and talk to him on a personal level. This may be a stretch but it why not let the chance go to waste.