Thursday, July 24, 2008

Happydale #2 cover

A great Seth Fisher crowd scene.
One of the things that is most characteristic of Seth's work, and most appealing, is that no matter how great the population of a scene, each person has a home life, a personality, and his or her own needs, interests, and quirks. Nowhere is this more true than in Happydale, of course, where the citizens are notable for their eccentricities.
In this scene, in Happydale where everyone knows everyone else, someone has been shot, the perpetrator is holding a few people hostage, and of course everyone else wants to see. It is the biggest, most interesting thing that has happened in their little burg in ages, and nobody wants to be left out of the action.
You could examine each person in the crowd, and you would know a little something about each one. That is Seth's eye, and it is also how he saw people in life. There are no throwaway people; everyone has a story. Everyone matters.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

What a great page - signature Seth! I've been back a number of times now to look at it. In terms of art history, I suppose this type of detail has a long tradition. The one that springs immediately to mind is Hogarth (Rake's Progress - do you know that?) - though I'm sure there are other artists. Every character is individual, as you say, and there is a story with each one. Great stuff.