Work Sample

Innovasion is an original illustration inspired by the following story: One evening, in the mood for some lo mein and oolong tea, I headed for my favorite neighborhood Chinese bistro. When the waiter had taken my order, he handed me a set of flatware, but asked if I preferred to use chopsticks. I chose the latter out of habit. But as I returned the fork, I had a strange notion about this ubiquitous tool. If a fork normally has four tines, why is it not called a ‘fourk’? Silly, I suppose; nevertheless, I soon began to wonder about the design and taxonomy of gastronomic utensils in general. For that matter, why are two or three-pronged implements not called ‘tworks’ or ‘thorks’? Following this fork in my thought trail, I recalled Edward Lear’s famous poem, The Owl and the Pussycat in which the lovers ate their mince and quince with a runcible spoon, a very practical utensil that combined a fork and a spoon. Now it’s called a ‘spork’. Well, I couldn’t stop there. As I mused on the look and possible names of other hybrid utensils, my eye noticed a brown marmolated stink bug staring down at me from atop my computer monitor. Eeuww. And the image you see above began to materialize. For sure, this drawing has other levels that you can enjoy interpreting, but you can get back to me on that…