An homage


I opened up You’re All Just Jealous of my Jetpack this morning, and this cartoon leapt out at me.

I felt so smart, like a classically trained art historian, because I knew instantly that this was a reference to a famous cartoon from Gary Larson’s The Far Side. I even remember seeing it in the newspaper back in the 1980s, and puzzling over its profundities.

It’s become the painting of a pipe for our age.

Comments

  1. submoron says

    I spotted it too.
    Link to Wikipedia entry for the Larson original https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cow_tools
    I got the same satisfaction when I recognised the ‘Tristan’ theme originating from a Mozart quartet and Beethoven’s ‘Muss es sein?’ in ‘Die Walkure’. It’s always good to spot something for yourself.

  2. submoron says

    I looked down ‘You’re All Just Jealous of my Jetpack’ and believe ‘Physics for Cats’ to be a reference to M C Escher.

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