POLITICAL CARTOONS part 5: MIRKO ILIĆ

So far this series on political cartoons has focused on artists I admire for their hand drawn line. In the process, I've said some unkind things about the misuse of digital art tools. But of course digital tools in the right hands can create powerful, important, beautiful political images.

Mirko Ilić is off the beaten path from the other artists in this series, but his work is so strong I feel the path should be re-routed to go past his door.

I met Ilić in 2013. I had just finished a rousing discussion with Milton Glaser about art and he said, "You know, you should really meet Mirko. He's right upstairs." I'd never heard of Mirko, but when Glaser picks up the phone and tells someone you're coming, you don't say no.

"Mirko" turned out to be the co-author with Glaser of a book about social and political graphics, and a formidable talent in his own right.

 

Ilić was born in Bosnia and attended art school in Zagreb.  His first work was as a cartoonist and illustrator, drawing innovative and politically active pictures for Yugoslavian and other European magazines.

Mirko Ilić on terrorism

Soon he was working internationally for magazines such as Heavy Metal and Marvel's Epic Illustrated. He moved to New York in 1986 where he worked for many of the top publications.

He continued to grow, and in In 1995 he founded Mirko Ilić Corp., a graphic design and 3-D computer graphics studio. Since that time, he has produced bold, imaginative and significant images which have received numerous awards. His work is represented in the Smithsonian Museum and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Fraudsters who pilfer your nest egg

Tribalism

The scope of airport surveillance

While some artists use the computer as a crutch to simulate realism, Ilic uses the computer to transform the attributes of realism into wildly imaginative and creative images.  These are award winning images from a series on Sex and Lies.