Lewis Powell

 I am going to introduce you to the single greatest genre of visual art that exists.  That genre is "depictions of the nursery rhyme Hey Diddle Diddle"

Now I am sure you are thinking to yourself "surely there are artistic accomplishments that rise above this genre". Or perhaps you are thinking "come on, seriously?"  But what you should be thinking is, "how many different depictions of Hey Diddle Diddle is Lewis about to share with me, and how much will my mind be blown?"

Let's start with a fairly basic version. Cartoony illustration, but nothing particularly jumps out at you. I think this is a fine baseline to start with. Compare it to this second option, though. Just take in not merely the vastly different artistic style overall, but the fairly distinct choices made by the artist.  The cat is not dressed.  The dish has a face and arms and legs, but the spoon is not anthropomorphized at all. In both, the Cow is not literally jumping over the moon, but still has a capacity to jump that is entirely incompatible with physics and cow musculature. In one the moon is anthropmorphized, but not the other.  Appreciate, for a moment, how different the moods are for the two cats.

Please take a look at this folder full of illustrations, and consider: is the cow literally jumping over the moon? Is the cow jumping over a rising or setting moon? Is the cow jumping over the moon's reflection? Are the dish and the spoon people? How are we gendering the dish and the spoon? Why does the cat get to wear clothes so much more often than the dog? Why are there so few illustrations where the cat doesn't have the ability to hold a bow and perform fine manipulations of violin strings?  Why do people have such weird views about what it means for a dog to be "little"?  Maybe the fiddle is being played by a rat, technically that's consistent with the nursery rhyme.  Actually, lots of things are technically consistent with this rhyme if you think about it.  Questions abound.

There is a clear best dog. There are many great cats. I think there are at most three I would hang on my walls. Guesses welcome.