As many lettered New Yorkers will tell you, The New Yorker is as much about it’s finely curated selection of cartoons as it is its fiction and literary criticism. (Perhaps more so, judging by what’s taped to the average workplace refrigerator.) That page real estate however is costly, and competition is high. Even with the online additions of “Daily Shouts” and digital-only cartoons, there are still many cartoons that never quite make the cut.
It’s not always for lack of talent or content. As the latest gallery showing at the Rye Free Reading Room shows, because of timing or any number of reasons, even seasoned veterans previously published by the magazine fail to receive the traditional “OK” email signifying a purchase of their work.
“Not OK” — Great Cartoons That Weren’t Good Enough is a collection of works by previous New Yorker-published cartoonists that fit exactly that bill. Curated by artist and Brooklynite David Ostow, this series has come to Westchester for a month-long showing following the completion of its original gallery run in Bushwick.
The gallery is open for viewing all month long, and on Saturday, January 27 at 4 p.m., Ostow will welcome guests to a panel in which he will sit down with four of the featured artists: Jason Adam Katzenstein, Amy Kurzweil, Maggie Larson, and Ellis Rosen. Ostow will interview the artists before opening the floor to Q&A from the attended guests.
“The New Yorker, especially in this part of the country, it’s sort of this cultural touchstone that everybody knows about,” says Ostow. “I think that you see them on the printed page and that’s sort of the only experience you have with them. Being able to sort of peek behind the scenes is something that’s kind of fun.”
The collection features work by 14 artists beside Ostow, from newcomer Hilary Campbell to seasoned veteran Julia Suits. All of which is available for purchase. Well, almost all. The panel will also reveal the winners of an exclusive contest Ostow has partnered with Westchester Magazine to present:
We will be raffling off two signed prints from the gallery, Ellis Rosen’s “Rabbit Revenge” and Julia Suit’s “Möbius Dick,” which you can see below.
  |
To enter, simply visit Westchester Magazine on our Instagram page, follow us, and like our “Not OK” posts for either or both cartoons. We’ll randomly select two winners, to be first announced by Ostow at the panel on January 27.
The gallery showing will continue through the end of the month. Scroll down to view even more of the collected works.
|
|
The New Yorker is aware of but has no official connection to or endorsement of “Not OK.” Works are owned and provided wholly by their creators
