The Risko Book

by Robert Risko, Kevin Sessums (Editor), Graydon Carter (Editor)

Robert Risko's celebrity caricatures are instantly recognizable -- recognizable both as unmistakable portraits of famous subjects and as examples of Risko's bold and fluid style. Risko's career was launched in 1978 when Andy Warhol gave him an assignment for Interview magazine. Since then he has drawn likenesses of hundreds of notables from the worlds of film, television, politics, and culture. In addition to countless images for Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, and other major magazines, Risko has illustrated book jackets, video covers, movie posters, and CD packages. The Risko Book is the first collection of his work. Almost two hundred striking images are divided into ten groups: Television, Style, Music, Thinkers, Film, Scandals, Media, Sports, Theater, and Politics. Bill and Hillary Clinton ride the wave of Whitewater across from well-shod Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos; a young Christian Slater grimaces back at legendary star Jack Nicholson; Dolly Parton bursts out of a television set to the accompaniment of Stevie Wonder; Bishop Desmond Tutu, amid a rainbow splatter of color, looks on as Boris Yeltsin has a great fall; alter egos Dame Edna and Barry Humphries face Julie Andrews' split personality of Victor/Victoria. Other famous faces include Julia Roberts, Dominick Dunne, Sophia Loren, Elvis Presley, Martha Stewart, Spike Lee, Giorgio Armani, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Steven Spielberg, Barbra Streisand, Michael Jordan, Madonna, Elvis Presley, Jesse Jackson, Claudia Schiffer, and David Letterman. Not only a showcase for Risko's high-style caricatures, The Risko Book is a fascinating portrait of the newsmakers, both famous and infamous, of the last two decades of the twentieth century.

224 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2000

Reviews

[Books Ring Mah Bell · Rating 4 out of 5]

My habit at Barnes and Noble is to grab an art book to browse through while my son hangs out at the train table. He plays, I appreciate (or not) art. This book, in the used art book section, caught my eye in a hurry. There, on the cover, is J. Edgar Hoover in some sexy lingerie. So I grab the book and sit down… There is an inscription in the front: “To Sandy. I love you, Which is Your 1st problem, right there. HAPPY BIRTHDAY." it is signed by what looks like Crail Biecko, who follows his signature with (TV, FILM, STAGE, SAG, ARMY....) It continues, but I can't make any of it out. I really love when people write personal notes in books and give them as gifts. I can't explain why. As for Crail (?) and Sandy, I'm assuming they are no longer an item.
ANYWAY....
I flip the pages and discover it’s all caricatures of celebs. This is almost an instant turn off because I really could give a crap about celebrities. Then my eye lands on a pic of Tom Cruise and Rosie O’Donnell in bed together. I laugh out loud; my son looks up from the train table. “What’s so funny, Mom?” Not willing to explain, (or knowing HOW to explain) I say, “nothing” and we both go back to our tasks. I decide to give the book a chance. I note the table of contents breaks the celebs down into film, media, theatre, politics, thinkers, television, sports, and my personal favorite, scandals. Cool. The art is vibrant. It’s amusing. There’s a great little interview with the artist in the back. All in all, it was a good use of my art appreciation time.

[Bonnie G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book of illustrations- def of its time so we had to really look at the table of contents to see who it was being drawn. I was annoyed that when he did a group drawing, he didn’t list who all the people were in the image just would write “women of music” - a nice relic of a coffee table book

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robert's work is phenomenal. I just love every illustration.

[Jen Dee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent! Risko is a caricaturist on the order of Al Hirschfeld and Miguel Covarrubias. His art is spot-on, beautiful and actually inspires me in my own art.