Recently longtime Baltimore Citypaper Art Director Joe MacLeod got the axe when the paper was bought by the Baltimore Sun, in that all too familiar tale of whatever's left of the once-thriving world of Alt Weeklies being swallowed by bigger, blander media. Joe was escorted from his office with no severance pay (!!) I assume in retaliation for angry tweets? I don't really know the full story... I would check one of many articles for details.
A group of employees and freelancers are organizing a benefit / concert / art auction for Joe this month. I've donated the original of this rejected Citypaper cover from a couple years ago. The first event is tomorrow night, and the final bidding / second event is March 28th, both at Ottobar I believe. More details here: http://wrongfest.tumblr.com
Joe MacLeod was one of the first people to hire me, and seemed to have a knack for assigning exactly the sort of work I wanted - completely over the top and/or humorous takes on serious subjects. Lenny Bruce, Nigerian con artists, Fat tourists with fanny packs and Old Bay tattoos.
One of the highlights is this illo about Evan Wright's book Generation Kill (later an HBO miniseries). I'm pretty sure this political stuff led to my later gig illustrating Steven Wells' column every week for a few years.
Another classic with some foreshadowing of the hot dog thing. The "Bavarian Music" guy in the corner still cracks me up.
Some vegetarian propaganda relating to Jonathan Safran Foer.
"Portrait" of Corey Harris from Mother 13.
One of the earliest, from 2002.
More recent work.
Anyway THANKS JOE for all the great work over the years. Follow him on twitter @JoeMacleod666 or read his Mr Wrong column which is maybe still going to run in the Citypaper? And keep your eye on the Wrongfest site for how to bid on the auction.
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