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Mad props for cartoon artist Chris Ware. He made the following work of art for the New Yorker's 2006 Thanksgiving issue, which has caused more arguments between me and my friends than any other single frame of 21st century artwork:
(click for large; other covers in this series of 5 can be viewed here)
Notice that these pictures tell a story just as well as any two thousand words could do. Although it is an image, it is certainly not television. You can compare and contrast at your leisure, and analyze it if you feel like, just as if you were analyzing two passages in a book.
People tend to get very defensive when they see this cartoon. They say stuff like, "my family's not like that," or "what makes him think the first picture is better."
Where on earth do they get the idea that he's casting judgment? They barely even pay attention to the first picture after determining that they are images of the past and present. It's very interesting-- this assumption seems to be loaded into everyone's perceptions of this very simple cartoon of two family gatherings in two different years. Examine it closely and tell me what you think.
Apparently my friends and I not alone in having spirited discussions about this cover; the New Yorker invited Ware to do an interview about this single, silly magazine cover. Here's hoping he makes more works of art that are just as poignant.