A Story of a Caricature Artist

He pulled out his pencil, looked around until he spotted an interesting subject. Frank then opened his book and began to draw.

People started to gather around him on the small town street. Franks hands were steady, but the picture didn’t seem to look exactly like the subject. It was exaggerated. The man sitting on the bench ten feet in front of him did have a large nose, but in Franks drawing it was huge!

Frank is a caricature artist. He sees the world a little different. The faces he draws are exaggerated to highlight the character and features of his subjects. People rarely get mad when they see his grotesque interpretation of their face and body. Quite often they ask to buy the work of art from him. He always obliges and requests a reasonable price for his work.

He signs every drawing with F.G. in the corner. No one has ever asked what the G stands for and Frank has never offered the answer.

It’s kinda odd. You would think one person might ask after years of drawing caricatures on the downtown street.  No, no one has. They are so thrilled with his work that they rarely notice he signed the work of art.

Frank believes that a true caricature artist takes exaggeration to the extreme. Some caricature artists play it safe so they don’t offend their patron, not Frank. He will take on any and every feature he can to satisfy his impression of the subject in front of him.

What people don’t realize is Frank shares his opinion and commentary on society with every drawing. He does care about the people in his community. With that said, if you were to place all of his creations side by side you might see a trend. The banker, the soccer mom, Mayor and schoolteacher all have something in their image that relates to society around them.

Now, I know when you saw the word banker you though greed. That may be the case in some communities. In Franks town the banker happens to be one of the most generous people around. She gives to the poor and has saved many a local farm with a pull of a string or two. The school teacher is another story.  Frank has secretly placed a sign of selfishness or contempt inside many subjects exaggerated portrait. Today was no exception.

Frank is an observer. He loves his community and on this day he drew quickly. Every person who sat or stood in one space long enough received a caricature. Free. Frank refused to accept money.

Frank placed a mirror in front of him for his last portrait. When the artist completed the drawing he stapled it to a wood post behind him and walked away. Franks big smile exaggerated the deformities in his own face. His last portrait is of a tall handsome soldier, no deformity, no exaggeration and not a wrinkle in the subjects army uniform. Today is Franks last day.