☛ Paul Madonna: “Things Your Grandmother Taught You To Steal”, 2009

From an art review by Kristin Farr found at the KQED Art website:

Paul Madonna’s grandmother was obviously a fan of condiments as his eleven delicately rendered images of single-serving packets indicate — two kinds of honey, two kinds of butter, malt vinegar, ketchup, soy sauce, and a cellophane-protected toothpick. Each has perfectly replicated, recognizable logos, but the peel-away wrapper topping an Irish cream-flavored coffee creamer happens to subtly incorporate the show’s title. In his signature style, the artist paid special attention to detail, perfecting things like the shade of gold on the foil wrapper of a melting pat o’ butter, making each drawing delightful. […]
The packets of condiments in Madonna’s show at the Bell Jar Gallery hint at nostalgia with a nod to the current economic climate, and they are beautifully drawn in such a way that they deserve to be inspected up close and also admired from a distance. (“Paul Madonna Steals Honey”, June 4th, 2009)

About Paul Madonna:

Paul Madonna produces the strips All Over Coffee in the San Francisco Chronicle and on SFGate.com, and Small Potatoes on TheRumpus.net. In 2007 the first book collection of All Over Coffee was published by City Lights Books, and the second collection, Everything Is Its Own Reward, will be released in April 2011. In 2009 Paul launched the artbook series Album, and the second volume is scheduled for the fall of 2011. Paul’s work has been reprinted in various book collections and publications, and exhibited in museums, galleries, restaurants and cafes. Paul is the comics editor on TheRumpus.net and also teaches drawing at the University of San Francisco. In 1994 he received a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University, and that same year was the first (ever!) Art Intern at MAD Magazine, for which he proudly received no money. Paul currently lives with his wife in San Francisco.

Here are some more online resources about Paul Madonna’s work:

• Paul Madonna’s official website, press links and store
• An interview with Paul Madonna about his weekly serial All Over Coffee: “San Francisco is the central character in The Chronicle’s contemplative new comic” (by James Sullivan, February 10th, 2004)
• A more general interview published in the sfist: “SFist Interviews Artist Paul Madonna” by Leanne Maxwell (May 4th, 2007)