Alex Nabaum's Illustrations Portray Serious Social Issues Using Visual Duality

Alex Nabaum

People have been using cartoons a medium to convey important social and political messages for decades now. Still, the power of Alex Nabaum’s images manage to pull the rug out from under our feet, every single time.

Having illustrated for money since his school days, while he was growing up in Littleton, Colorado, a suburb of Denver, he has been working as a full-time illustrator with globally popular newspapers and magazines such as Wall Street Journal, ESPN, Economist, Fast Company, National Geographic, Oprah, Bloomberg Business Week and New York Times, ever since 2004.

Interestingly, despite his obvious talents, Nabaum seems to let the obvious visual appeal and colour tones of his work take a back seat to let the heady message of his work stand out from the din. He uses the negative space to depict the serious dual reality of society and politics around us.

Of course, it is not easy to come up with creative content on such unique topics, which is why his illustrations are formed through a slow evolutionary process from rough pencil strokes to revised sketches to full-fledged illustrations. His brilliant use of polysemy adds and extra layer of depth to his profound illustrations...

Scroll down to see some of his most powerful creations:

On how progress destroys cultural heritage

An illustration for Washington Post about battered NFL wives. A message from the cops and the league: Keep quiet.

For the Wall St. Journal Health section on the debate of cow’s milk for babies.

On the unspoken pain of infertility

For Wall Street Journal for a post about how we so easily agree to online legal forms (itunes etc. etc. ) without even realizing the harsh consequences contained in the legalese.