Today we’d like to introduce you to Benjamin Schwartz.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I had two dreams growing up: I wanted to be a cartoonist, and I wanted to be a doctor. As I got older, I realized my passion for cartooning was stronger than my interest in healthcare, but I continued down the doctor path all the way through med school and beyond because it seemed like the safer move. Eventually I gathered up the courage/stupidity to leave medicine and try my hand at comics and cartoons, and before long–and with a lot of luck! –I was a regularly contributing cartoonist for the New Yorker.
Now I split my time between making silly cartoons for the magazine and combining my creative skills with a fluency in the language of medicine to teach medical students the art of storytelling, as an assistant professor at my alma mater, Columbia University.
Please tell us about your art.
I make very silly cartoons for a (mostly) very serious magazine. My work is all single-panel drawings, supplemented with a line or two of text. The fun and challenge of working in single panels comes from trying to tell a coherent story in such a small space. Sometimes these stories are meant to humorously comment on real behaviors and events. Sometimes they’re just meant to be goofy and superficial. My baseline hope is that they provide the readers with a momentary smile.
Given everything that is going on in the world today, do you think the role of artists has changed? How do local, national or international events and issues affect your art?
It’s tough. Politically-charged art can educate, inspire, and rally, so we probably need artists to engage with current events now more than ever. At the same time, when the real world brings so much stress and anxiety, apolitical art can provide welcome comfort and relief.
I’m not sure what the right balance is, but as long as the art world doesn’t become so political that people get burnt out or so apolitical that people check out, I think we’ll be okay.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
My work can be seen in the pages of the New Yorker and on their website, https://www.newyorker.com/. You can buy prints and originals of my cartoons from the Conde Nast’s Cartoon Bank, https://condenaststore.com/conde-nast-brand/cartoonbank.
Contact Info:
- Twitter: @bentschwartz
Image Credit:
Benjamin Schwartz/The New Yorker
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