Publisher at The American Bystander
is Blogmom of Hey Dullblog. His novels and parodies have sold 1.25 million copies in 25 languages. He lives in Santa Monica, CA, and runs The American Bystander all-star print humor magazine.
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Master illustrator Stephen Kroninger has contributed this portrait of John Lennon to Bystander #13. I thought you might like to see it. (Yes, it’s illustrating a column of mine. Naturally.)
In addition to being a serious Beatles/Lennon fan, Stephen’s a genius. He’s done a couple of great illustrations of the Fabs, early and late.
Related posts:
John Lennon’s Self-Portrait
Why People Love John Lennon
John Lennon on Allen Klein, 1973
John Lennon and Attachment Disorder
Prove Violence Doesn’t Work: Do Good in John Lennon’s Name This Dec. 8th!
John Lennon’s…
I Only Have Eyes For You (A Lennon Collage)
Robert Christgau on “John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band”
Just how blind was John Lennon without his glasses?
John Lennon on Evolution
When I’m Seventy-Three: What John Lennon would look like today
John Lennon, “Hollywood Scumbag”?
Never ceases to amaze me how few elements it takes to create an instantly recognisable likeness. It also captures something ineffable about the man’s personality.
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I found this article fascinating when I discovered it a couple of years ago – the Beatles all painted? Together? Well? They did something in hotel rooms besides hide from fans and smuggle in women and drugs? https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/09/how-a-painting-by-the-beatles-ended-up-stashed-under-a-bed-for-20-years/262034/
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So much to enjoy here. Paul’s corner emphasises harmony and precision and, with its obviously vulvic shape, is the only contribution that remotely suggests the painting’s subject. John’s corner looks like it was airlifted back in time from Pepperland. (It’s the Penny Lane vs. Strawberry Fields dynamic yet again, ladies and gentlemen.) George’s corner is a Revolution #9-style nightmare. And Ringo’s accomplished pop art suggests that, not content to be the best actor in the band, he was the best painter as well.
I feel SURE we posted about this when the article came out, but I can’t find the post!
I emailed it to you a couple of years ago when I first discovered it, maybe that’s what you’re remembering!
That sounds like me 🙂