I don't know Christoph Niemann personally. But I have seen his illustrations, without knowing it at first, on the occasional cover of the New Yorker magazine. So, when I came across a blog entry he did for the NY Times recently, I thought I'd share it with you. Since my husband and I left NYC 5 years ago, after living there for some years, we often find ourselves remembering the oddest things from that magical and energetic city. So, when I saw these sort of Lego construction/illustrations that Niemann put together as a sort of remembrance of the NYC he had left recently .... well, they just struck a cord. And, if you are familiar with NYC, you'll get the idea too. I'll share some of the images with you. If you want to see more you can check them out here.
I checked out his website out of curiosity to see what else he has done and found myself sincerely amused (the kind of amusement where you find yourself chuckling out loud) by the simplicity of some of his imagery in many cases, and his eye for the subtle and absurd. He's the kind of guy, it seems to me, who can take an everyday word and alter a few letters to reveal something you'd never knew was under your nose the whole time! That kind of humor..... ! My favorite kind, besides good 'ol slapstick. Here's his website, have a visual stroll around - I recommend you start in the section where he lists his blog entry series for the NY Times. There's a fun one there where he describes visually his kids obsession with the Subway system - and god how I know my kids love that subway!
Anyway, I was happy to hear that he is the father of three young boys too. His basic bio says that he lived in NYC for several years and then recently moved to Berlin with his wife and kids. If you know him, tell him we'd like to interview him for our Global Parents segment.... I'm sure his 'story' and insights would be interesting. From the looks of his imaginitive mind - he sure looks as though he studies the world much differently from day to day than we average folk! How FUN!
And, if you haven't seen them - be on the look out for his 2 children's books The Pet Dragon (which teaches kids about Chinese characters) and The Police Cloud. What fun - I'm glad I stumbled on his work! You can see, and find out more, on his website christophniemann.com.
