Françoise Mouly

We love the Barry Blitt cover on the right, but Mouly says it was rejected because the Mentos and Diet Coke reference — when mixed exciting things happen — was deemed to obscure.

Here are a few other highlights from the Salon piece.

On what makes for a good cover:

What I’m really looking for are ideas that come from the artists on topics that will give us a sign of the era that we live in and, as a collection of images, will collect a picture of our time.

On why Blitt listens to Rush Limbaugh:

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The cover of this week’s New Yorker depicts NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg staring at himself in the mirror while he munches on Valentine’s Day chocolates as hearts dance around his head.  Not exactly the most humble depiction of Mayor Mike, but surprisingly Bloomberg is not at all upset with the narcisstic tone of the caricature.  After joining President Obama, former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani, and the Pope as cover subjects for the New Yorker, Bloomberg was flattered at the thought of the “Bloom in Love” illustration.

If I am in that company, boy, I guess I should have a very big smile on my face.  I like what I see in the mirror, and I hope everybody here does.  I get up in the morning, and I work as hard as I can, and my kids have turned out great. I’m a lucky enough guy to have made a lot of money, and I’m giving it all away and making a big difference.

Cover artist Barry Blitt also considered using Sarah Palin or Julian Assange for this Valentine’s Day issue, however he felt Bloomberg was the right man for the role.

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Barry Blitt, the cartoonist responsible for the New Yorker‘s controversial terrorist fist-jabbing cover, among others, returns this week to “vet” Barack Obama. Of course this time around “Vetting” refers to the all important decision of picking a “first” puppy — thus far we know they want a mutt, but that it needs to be hypoallergenic and won’t be a girly dog. The cover may not be all that far off the mark, actually, turns out the original meaning of the word “vetting” was to to “submit an animal to examination by a veterinarian.”

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One wonders if a similar cover of Hillary Clinton would have elicited such a response, or how about one of Hillary and Obama in bed together, or one of George Bush in an apron, or maybe a foreign head of state being propositioned in a men’s bathroom a la Larry Craig, or the entire Oval Office swimming in post-Katrina waters for that matter, or sailors kissing? Considering these are all subjects depicted on previous Barry Blitt New Yorker covers the answer would have to be no. Take a look for yourself after the jump.

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