The Ideal Creative Workplace

This is one of them. A cartoon demanding our attention. Unreservedly demanding us, and that on a Monday morning, which in this house was one of those mornings, where my Father bled from the intubation in his throat, and yet in the midst of the haste and the scare, I showed him the editorial page of today's Politiken: - You simply have to see this!

But how does it come about that something in two dimensions makes demands upon us, to a degree that we ought to discuss intention as an aspect of the artwork and not of the artist?

For one thing, this is the grand portrait of a potentate, a king within in his field. And secondly, we instantly recognize him as well as his face as a carrier of experience and a life lived to the full.

These are the two elements with which the drawing is laid out before us. The grandeur of the ruler is underlined by the confrontation of the black/white planes, creating stately, clear outlines. The white in turn is broken into by the sketcy lightness of the myriad of figures surfacing and again transforming into each other. With Per Marquard Otzen's trademark volutes, spiraling into eternity.

This is a portrait of Joe Cocker and the mental imagery he creates in us, how he transforms our idea of the world. Even on a Monday.

Ultimately, my words are but an excuse to give in and surrender to today's editorial drawing: - You simply have to see this!

Per Marquard Otzen, Joc Cocker turned 70 the other day, June 2, 2014:

"I have always imagined Joe Cocker's LP Mad Dogs and Englishmen as the ideal creative workplace, such as that of a newspaper. I have no difficulty seeing Bo Lidegaard as the "Space Captain", Bettina Heltberg as the "Delta Lady", Henriette Lind as the "Honky Tonk Woman" and the entire cadre of design columnists showing up at work "Thru' the Bathroom Window".