Convocation: Steve Brodner

Steve Brodner's award-winning career as a satirical illustrator and art journalist spans three decades. His iconic caricatures of pop and political culture have appeared in every major publication in the United States, not to mention his visual essays of political campaigns and the struggles of everyday working people and their families. His work is credited with helping spearhead the 1980s revival of pointed and entertaining graphic commentary in the United States. "The face that politicians present to the public is a mask," says Brodner. "Everyone knows it's a mask. The mask is what political cartoons comment on. You're never drawing the person; you're drawing the persona." Politicians have never hesitated to tar their opponents, and neither have their satirist contemporaries. And over his 30-plus-year career, Brodner has proven himself as nothing if not a masterful visual communicator. The title of his presentation was "The Art of Politics".