Anya Forger from the manga Spy x Family.
Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:
It’s that time again! The Indiana State Fair is an annual celebration of Hoosier pride, farming, food, and 4-H, with amusement park rides, cooking demos, concerts by musicians either nearly or formerly popular, and farm animals competing for cash prizes without their knowledge. My wife Anne and I attend each year as a date-day to seek new forms of creativity and imagination within a local context…
…and wow, did a lot of art stop me in my tracks this year. We’ve shown some pieces done in Lego and in other sculpture media. Here’s more art but of the imagery-on-flat-papers-and-canvases variety, from artists of many ages!
An autumn-themed piece by Charlotte Brown-Parrot, who’s self-published a children’s book about abuse and designed a companion board game.
Another piece by the same artist, which the fair had hung in an easily overlooked closet-shaped corner.
An Escher homage.
The Grand Canyon, I presume.
Pieces like this are why I wish the State Fair would include the names of works on their tags.
Same goes here; names can add meaning to already meaningful imagery.
Santa with cute pets too young to be in any of his Christmas carols.
Kirby on vacation.
Jazz hands amid sunflowers really speak to me!
Uncle Scrooge in a greedy mood.
Now the most popular iteration of Paul Atreides from Dune.
Din Djarin, TV’s Mandalorian.
Boris Karloff’s Frankenstein’s monster’s head’s drawing.
Jack Skellington, watching other Selick/Burton movies at home.
Alice in Wonderland silhouettes.
Visit scenic Hobbiton, home of Hobbits!
Don’t visit Mordor, home of Sauron!
Antiwar needlepoint.
Elephant quilt.
A submission sewn by Dug from Pixar’s Up.
In recent years I’ve also taken an interest in 4-H educational posters designed by kids. I imagine not too many casual fair attendees take the time to peruse the hundreds of effortful posterboards on display, but occasional flashes of wit and wisdom shine through. I brake for terrible puns, which were sadly in short supply this year. There’re other ways to draw my eye, though.
A serious agroscience project involving multiple soil types and human underwear
You don’t know Fred the Snowman, but his life and death can teach you much about snow. (The tombstone is a brilliant touch.)
The veterinary science posters frequently teach me new animal diseases I’ve never heard of.
TAKE *THAT*, BEN EDLUND!
A salute to Ivermectin, Nobel Prize-winning defense against meningeal worms.
Saturday, August 19th, the Indiana Department of Transportation had a booth where folks could help paint a snowplow. It was the last art we saw before we left the State Fair for the year.
To be continued! Other chapters in this special MCC miniseries:
Part 1: Our Year in Food
Part 2: The Year in Food Art
Part 3: The Year of Basketball
Part 4: The Year in Lego
Part 5: The Year in Art, 3-D Division
Part 7: The Year in Animals
Part 8: The Year in Antiques
Part 9: The Year in Miscellany
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Midlife Crisis Crossover! 