The Little Mermaid by Kathy Buskett in Fairhope

Artist’s statement Caricatures often conjure up images of distorted faces, quick sketches or lampoons from MAD magazine. As a professional caricaturist with a fine art emphasis, my work is unlike any of these preconceived notions. I seek to find a balance in my work between humor and finding an actual likeness, and I try to capture something of the personality of the models in my work. My body of work spans nearly a quarter of a century and I continue to work to create whimsical and recognizable caricatures from popular culture in both drawing and painting. My mentors included caricaturists Buddy Rose and Ben Burgraff, and my artistic influences include Al Hirschfeld, Quentin Blake, Shel Silverstein, Roz Chast, Norman Rockwell, Vincent Van Gogh and even Leonardo Da Vinci, who was likely the first well-known caricaturist. My philosophy is that caricature can also be fine art, and that is my goal, along with my colleagues; to legitimize caricature as an art form. Thank you for reading.