Poetics of the Mundane

The Art of Living: Saul Steinburg.
Fantastic book of illustrations. one page in the book (not displayed here as i couldn't find it) depicts a scene from a house, with the front façade removed, revealing a glimpse into the events within. The goings on of the some 23 rooms inside include a range of mundane activities dramatised with line, submerged in a swamped mass of detail. These include a man having a shower in the lower floor bathroom, one upright piano with stool, three fireplaces, of which only one is working, one doll in a pram and a number of termites. The drawings hold a great amount of layers, and not only can they be studied to find a series of 'where's wally' type findings, but also their content encourages you to raise questions and form conclusions about the sketches themselves; their intention often illusionary. For example. The scene appears to be a house, which brings to mind a series of questions concerning the characters going about their day to day activities within. Primarily, there are 26 persons within the house, which by no means is a traditional nuclear family. This encourages us to search for clues within the scene that could give us a solution. A small sign next to the door solves the problem; displaying the words 'no vacancy.' It is here that the narrative of the scene begins to be unpicked by a series of clues left by the artist.