Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for July 18, 2023

Being a critic — “No Art”

Which of Calvin’s words best describes this strip?

Autobiographical comic strip.

“low art”… “high art”… now I’m dizzy…

Where fore art thou?

Just where did Watterson get all those ideas?? He should have pursued higher goals, instead of being a cartoonist!!!

Not to mention – “derivative”! (I know the critics like to use this word a lot!)

There are cels from the Disney vaults that have been displayed in major art museums.

Whoahhh, panel 4 is a Calvinception! Blind Moan! (Sorry… dang spoonerisms!)

And yet it is the way that money is made. It’s the how the artist makes their way in life…

I think that was just accomplished by today’s strip. Well done, Bill.

Watterson’s quandary, in his own words. i.e., how should he rate his work?

So where do comic books fall on that scale?

It’s an interesting idea, Hobbes…

If a cartoon strip makes me happy/laugh it´s high art, also if a painting7drawing is better than I can do, also high art.

Stacking bricks in the Tate – labouring, not art at all, tent covered in names – outdoor toilet?

How much for a “Buy a Print” of a lowly, vapid, commercial, juvenile comic strip by a retired (but not yet dead) cartoonist?

Banana taped to a wall, not art. Buying it for big bucks, no brain. Criticizing it favorably, no scruples. Displaying it as art, ridicules. Sometimes art seems to just be a bunch of self-serving folks trying to be/sound/act impressive and in-the-know when they’re just as clueless as the rest of us. If I like it, it’s art.

This reminds me of the Campbell Soup can painting done by Warhol.

All those syllables. Both of you, STOP.

Go look at “Bliss”. Single panel high art pretty much every day.

This strip makes me laugh out loud most days and gives a lot of enjoyment. So, to me it is high art.

The best was the concept of the First Critic in the movie History of the World!

There is as much, if not more, art in a comic strip as in a painting.

Think Calvin is more tuned in to low art.

I know art when I see it. I know B.S. when I hear it. I know when to keep my mouth shut so I’m not a good critique.

Overthinking a simple pleasure?

So a cartoon of a cartoon would be low, low art.

Critic – the legless man that teaches running…

So, is Watterson admitting that he created “vapid, juvenile, commercial hack work”?

Eye of the Beholder. QED.

Calvin and Hobbes—-don’t really care whether it’s characterized as “low” or “high” art—-it makes me happy.

Suppose I photograph an NFT of a cartoon of a painting of a comic strip?

When did Calvin upload a dictionary into his brain?

I like when Watterson commented on the nature of his work.

In later life, Hobbes changes his name to Steve Melcher and creates a comic called “That Is Priceless.” https://www.gocomics.com/that-is-priceless

AI-generated images: Lazy, uncreative, effortless, spat out by a machine. Not art!

Say Calvin, isn’t that a lot like drawing yourself out of existence?

Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach. Those who can’t teach, become critics.

A Bill Watterson Calvin + Hobbes Sunday strip, such as the one from two days ago:

High Art. For Sure.

Huh!!!

Think that Bill was making a comment here?

Hobbes, you’re getting way too meta for this ’verse.

Self-indulgent…self-congratulatory…pandering.

Third wall comes crashing down. Love it!

We know what we’re here for, Calvin.

Gotta love Hobbes and his rational logic.

Art is in the eye of the beholder. Or so they say.

Martin Mull once set up an exhibition in the Metropolitan Museums mens room. Called it “Flush with the Walls” or “I’ll be Art in a Minute”. Just wanted to share.