Abstract City

by Christoph Niemann

Overview

This anthology of the illustrator’s New York Times blog features a chapter of all-new material: “a masterpiece of sophisticated humor” (Library Journal, starred review).

In July 2008, illustrator and designer Christoph Niemann began Abstract City, a visual blog for the New York Times. His posts were inspired by the desire to re-create simple and everyday observations and stories from his own life that everyone could relate to. In Niemann’s hands, mundane experiences such as riding the subway or trying to get a good night’s sleep were transformed into delightful flights of visual fancy.

In Abstract City, the struggle to keep up with housework becomes a battle against adorable but crafty goblins, and nostalgia about New York manifests in simple but strikingly spot-on LEGO creations. This brilliantly illustrated collection of reflections on modern life includes all sixteen of the original blog posts as well as a new chapter created exclusively for the book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781613123201
Publisher:	ABRAMS, Inc.
Publication date:	04/22/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	326
File size:	22 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Christoph Niemann is an award-winning illustrator, designer, and children’s book author. He is a regular contributor to the New Yorker, Wired, and the New York Times. He lives in Berlin, Germany.

Editorial Reviews

If OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) were an art form, Niemann would be Michelangelo. He does best concocting a graph to illustrate his fluctuating coffee cravings; a pie-chart to isolate the components of that slippery beast, the Really Great Idea; or even a photomontage designed to underscore the difficulties of combating lint. His undeniable graphic prowess becomes diluted when he focuses on the Berlin Wall over 10 pages, as well-meaning as his intentions may be. “She was the wall’s first official victim,” writes Niemann, about Ida Siekmann. “And here I was, pitying myself because I had slept only a few hours and couldn’t get my DSL connection up and running.” Indeed. There’s nothing really abstract about Abstract City, a compilation retracing Niemann’s often self-aggrandizing New York Times blog, but he does have an uncanny knack for encapsulating those anecdotal-yet-unavoidable moments that constitute the background chatter of a New Yorker’s existence, like shopping at Fairway. He does almost equally well describing the more serious vagaries of metropolitan life, such as the subway system and the weather. Most satisfying is the section Niemann devotes to “unpopular science,” in which his linear art and his fastidious, analytical wit mesh perfectly, distilling some wicked good humor. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

This title is a compilation of the 16 essays originally published in Niemann's (regular contributor, The New Yorker, New York Times, Wired; That's How!) eponymous visual blog for The New York Times, which ran from 2008 to early 2011. The appeal of Neimann's work resides in his ability to capture absurdities in everyday life, much like the classic New Yorker art of Saul Steinberg. Subways and road maps are frequent topics in Niemann's illustrations, in which the directional symbols become metaphors for songs, games, dance steps, and foods. In this book, Niemann's visual essays—which are, in fact, lists, figures, and charts created with drawings, computer graphics, and photographed objects—present his perceptions of New York City in thought-provoking ways; for example, one diagram describes how to poke a muffin from the side to test for freshness; another group of small Lego sculptures illustrate different coffee drinks. VERDICT A masterpiece of sophisticated humor, this is a brilliant, one-of-a-kind work that will interest readers who enjoy compilations of comic strips and magazine art.—Eric Linderman, Willoughby-Eastlake P.L., Willowick, OH

Library Journal