Last year Naomi Bardoff graduated from Bard College, where she majored in fine arts and studied watercolor, ink drawing, and book-making. Since moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, Naomi has been working on her illustration portfolio, working in an office, and volunteering and taking classes at the San Francisco Center for the Book.
Naomi Bardoff
Articles illustrated by Naomi Bardoff:
in Issue 27 | Drone Robot Cyborg (Apr 2013)
“Vet” by Naomi Bardoff
Pollination
in Issue 26 | Good Sex (Mar 2013)anywhere except in an envelope - the old winter chore of threshing and drying and preserving seeds has been replaced - trusting their stuff to the winds - helicopter seeds - but the proverbial redheaded child of the postman - the parents of well-known hybrids are corporate secrets - Monsanto DNA - sterility in wild forests - nearly every bite of food we eat was grown
Telling It Like It Is: Laughter, Idiocy, and Art
in Issue 25 | Conservatism and Reaction (Feb 2013)« That was uncalled for! » - the rape joke - Truth in Comedy - the cult of sincerity - rendering the mainstream obsolete - « something mechanical encrusted on the living » - unwitting dukes - a form meant only for sleepy appreciation
The Short End of the Stick: Gender Pleasure
in Issue 20 | Difference (Sep 2012)This is a joke about penis envy. - the only sexual organ devoted exclusively to pleasure - enthusiastic politicization - Zeus and Hera - thought grasps pleasure most deeply in longing - Daniel Paul Schreber - « the plot whereby my soul was to be murdered and my body used like a strumpet. »
The Lonely World of Vladimir Propp
in Issue 15 | The Elements (Apr 2012)The Morphology of the Folktale - an end in itself - scientific analysis relating to narrative structure - « Hero leaves home » - what his favorite book was about - gigantic charts to codify literature - « Toward a Structure of Reality Shows » - procedure is king
“An illustration changes us”: Images of Innocence in John Ashbery
in Issue 14 | Innocence (Mar 2012)« totally regret life » - a more complete mimesis - « brittle, useless architecture » - rivers, parks and suburban homes - clogged by nostalgia - a sudden turn inward - the streets of New York with a dictaphone - « insidious giggles » - « the excitement of spring »
Two Forgotten Stories of a Guest
in Issue 8 | Hunger (Sep 2011)English was not his mother tongue - belinted, striped socks - show us a trick - « the snake slid down » - « he had been forced to tear them to pieces » - certainly a bad joke - I listened from the doorway - « whatever it was, he’d ‘out-eat’ it » - « after three days, a jar of honey » - metaphor for mourning
Leaving in Style
in Issue 6 | Making an Exit (Jul 2011)why doesn’t she leave as a chicken - disheveled or drunk versions of the attendees ducking into cars and going home - showing off that torn dress - John Wilkes Booth - « you’ll pay for the lack of Cool Ranch Doritos! » - his general incompetence and lack of participation no longer matter - run, run as fast as you can
Something Is Sought
in Issue 5 | Realism (Jun 2011)what sort of novel is like life? - « the form of fiction most in vogue » - the narrator as a low-flying bird - charismatic distance - the way of true friends - a thing that burrows into the heart
Recurrences: Contemporary Music and the Question of Time
in Issue 4 | The Progress of Memory (May 2011)the medium of music is time - the concept of return - the gradual expansion—and then, decay—of tonality - mnemonic too-muchness - « competing trajectories as constituent contradictions » - the totalizing effect of the unisons - a dizzying array of dance - extremely strange sounds