Political Cartooning—in General, and On eBay

By Robert Wittig

7:01 a.m. 03/22/2002.

After roughly two years of writing social commentaries, and painting in a for the most part representational, realistic style, I have 'discovered' the political cartoon. Of course I do not mean that I just noticed its existence, I have been seeing them all of my life, but in just the last week, I have begun to experiment with them as a form of communication. (You can call it art, or you can call it politics ... depending on the artist, or commentator, it can be either or both.)  I did not plan on this sudden zag from the usual course of my work; it just happened ... the confluence of events. Also, it would never replace what I am doing in other areas of my work, either. It is just the form my work has decided to take at one of the multiple interfaces in my life where painting, social commentary, and eBay come together.

Anthrax in Colour
By Robert Wittig

If one subscribes to the 'tortured artist' theory of production (I do not), then one would expect to see an explanation on the evolution of a painter's work, that included adjectives and descriptive phrases like 'suffering' and 'struggle' and 'internal demons' etc. In my case the explanation is, as usual, a lot more prosaic.

When I began painting six years ago, I had not a clue as to any good plan, where to start, so I divided up the work into three categories; people, places, and things. I was attempting to learn the raw basics of the craft, and this was good enough. Since then, there has been some intermixing in these categories, but a quick perusal of my output demonstrates that I have not intermixed these three categories to any great degree. Occasionally a person creeps into the landscape, or a still life object creeps into an interior or a portrait, but my 'style' (for lack of a better word) has begun to develop in directions that exploit this 'people-places-things' trichotomy, rather than suffering from the imposed limitation, so I am inclined to give the process free rein, and not try imposing my conscious notions upon a process better left to the other parts of my brain ... that make decisions for me without consulting me first.

When I began writing a couple years ago, a similar sort of partitioning took place, so that some articles were about 'art', and some were about 'socio-political concerns', and some (a little later) were about computing interests. Again, I was attempting to learn the raw basics of the craft, and this was good enough. Since writing (as I do it) is by its very nature an act more controlled by consciousness, it can almost be seen as the opposite side of the 'coin of expression' from painting, so the pigeonholing of articles into discrete categories is done more consciously.

Along the way, there have been incursions of social and political opinion into my painting, a matter that I have observed and discussed in previous essays. (First, do no harm—Hippocrates vs. The Medical Establishment, Y2K. August 2000; Gun—A Study in Violence. September 2000; Shopping Cart People—American Prosperity vs. American Reality. October 2000.) This has been the exception, more than the rule, though, in the major body of my painted work.

T.V.I.V.
By Robert Wittig

... and then, along came eBay.

As soon as I discovered eBay, just about two years ago, shortly after I got a computer and came online, I became an avid seller. Since I exist below the poverty level, and have some background knowledge in antiques and collectibles, and was already a confirmed alley bopper and dumpster diver, with a basement full of the stuff I had been picking up for free, eBay offered me the opportunity to sell off the junk in my basement, and use the proceeds to bid on other eBay auctions, where people were selling art supplies, and books about art history, technique, etc. In a very real sense, eBay subsidised, and continues to subsidise my education.

Then, three weeks ago, I joined one of those free Yahoo Groups (ArtAnon), and there was a discussion in progress about selling art on eBay, in a recently opened section, for self-representing artists. Since I had some auctions up at the time, I went and checked out the section, and decided that it was something I wanted to try. The section offers an opportunity to sell some work, and of equal or even more importance, to meet some collectors, with the possibility of developing a client base, something which, at the moment, I really do not have.

The second thing that I noticed (the first thing was that people were actually getting bids) was that those bids were not very high, typically around $10 to $50. I did not want to sell a painting that had taken me days to execute, for $10, but I did want to participate in the selling, so I went to my easel, to see what I could come up with quickly, and ... out popped a political cartoon.

Religions Waging War
By Robert Wittig

I posted the cartoon online, offering it for $0.01, just to see what would happen, and within 24 hours, the price was up to $10. Encouraged by this, I executed three more quick, political cartoon-like offerings, and posted each of them for a penny. As of this writing, two of those three have bids of a penny each, meaning that they have sold, but that if no one else bids on them, they will wind up selling for a penny. Heh ... and people say that the penny should be discontinued, because you can't buy anything, even a gumball, for a penny, anymore. I guess those people have not visited the self-representing artist section on eBay. The fifth political cartoon I posted, I set the opening bid at $10, as part of the ongoing experiment, and after 24 hours, it has not yet received a bid.

Like everything else in life, posting work to auction on eBay is a skill that must be learned and refined, and since it is a new media, I am sure that I will have to continue to adapt my selling strategy as the venue matures. Also, the skill of 'political cartooning' is one that must be developed independent of my other painting and drawing, as well. It will be interesting to see what develops over the next couple years, on both of these fronts.

This is a good example of how financial necessity can drive the creative engine, and cause one to experiment with things that might not otherwise be bothered with. When I get in front of an easel, one of the things I like most about the experience is that it is, in addition to everything else, a place for me to practice technical virtuosity. This is not to say that I am a technical virtuoso, but rather, that I enjoy sharpening my technical skills, and being able to execute paintings that more nearly can represent what I see, and/or what I want to paint ... the whole hand-eye coordination thing. This means that I wind up using models for a lot of my work ... actual objects, photos and sketches of actual people and places, etc.

Lawyers with Guns
By Robert Wittig

Cartooning does not allow for very much of this, so I am forced to develop a new set of mental tools for the job. If I had been earning a good living selling the work I have been producing to date, I probably would not have considered political cartooning. Still, now that I have taken the 'leap', I would not consider going back, either. I can see how the new skill sets that I will have to develop to do this kind of work, will eventually benefit the other work that I am doing, as well, and besides, I certainly had the built-in desire to make the kinds of commentaries that political cartooning is suited to. It will allow me to say things that are in the gap, between easel painting and the written essay. If I am lucky, they will also earn me a few dollars, since there are a lot more people who might purchase a good cartoon on eBay for $10 or $20, than would consider bidding $500 or $1,000 on an oil painting.

Future visitors to my website will have to be a little more careful where they step, than in the past ... there is no telling what might be lying around, that they would not want to have to scrape off of their shoe. Heh.