On the Medicis’ Coffee Table
We watched the Oscars last night, so I finally got to see Tom Gauld’s Diet Coke can animation in action after a flurry of “Wait Wait! Go back!” and rewinding.
Love ’em or hate ’em, ad agencies have great taste in music and comics sometimes. (I’ve seen two commercials using Amon Tobin, but have yet to hear the guy on commercial radio).
I’ve enjoyed Gauld’s work for a while, since the day Kurt alerted me to Gauld’s sublime Hunter and Painter. Gauld’s The Gigantic Robot is a delightful, if brief, read, and his Noah’s Ark comic was my favorite piece in Kramer’s Ergot #7. Check out his recently launched personal site for more info.
The road from Kramer’s Ergot to multi-million dollar national ad campaigns isn’t usually so straight, but hey, any port in a storm. Every generation has its Medicis and sometimes they take unexpected forms. It’ll be fun to see what kind of future work from Gauld this windfall might help fund.
March 3, 2021
I felt the same way about the iPad ads; another song that will get wider exposure, just like the one for the iPod when it came out. How soon before there is a comic shown on an iPad in an ad? You know, the family all huddled around their iPads on a sunday morning, reading the funnies…
I just want a big book of Gauld. His work is wonderful, but what I have of it is scattered all over the house. I’d never complain about his experiments with format — they’re part of the fun — but I hope that someday there’s a compilation of all this wonderful work.
Agreed. He really deserves the omnibus treatment.
his three volumes of 3 Small Comics are both the prize of my collection and some of the best comics i own.