When I was 11, I remember fumbling through my older cousin's stacks of magazines, eventually uncovering a trove of MAD Magazines. I sat in the middle of his room reading them for hours, until I had to be physically removed. The parodies made me a NY cynic far in advance of my first experiences in Manhattan...and the art, well the art made me want to draw, create and entertain. I've had a lifelong fascination with the magazine and it's illustrators. It's an 'obsession' that has shaped my life and career.
In my late 20's I started collecting original art from the magazine, initially buying and trading on Ebay. As I matured and could afford a few better pieces, I started shopping Heritage's auctions, looking for opportunities to upgrade my collection. That would eventually lead to a management role with the auction house and would change my career entirely.
My fandom led me to track down 'Fold-in' creator
Al Jaffee in NY and enjoy a few minutes with he and his wife at his studio & home. Al was such a mensch, he inked this piece for me after our meeting and sent it to me at my home...a trophy gag!
One of my favorite MAD artists is Mort Drucker, a sympatico with pen & ink, is credited with illustrating parodies of the most iconic American movies, ranging from the Godfather to Yentl. Mort and his wife Barbara hosted me for an afternoon in their New York home, and I left with a few pieces, including the art for one of the last covers that Mort had illustrated for MAD.
My first influence was Don Martin, who drew single-page gags for MAD and Cracked magazines. I learned to draw cartoon faces by tracing his renderings onto notebook paper. Don's are probably the most difficult to find of MAD artist's original works, but I've managed to snag a few. Don passed away in Florida in '99 after parting ways with MAD after 40+ years with the magazine. I never had a chance to meet him, but a few MAD writers (especially Dick Debartolo) have shared a few stories of the quiet but amusing cartoonist.
In the field of cartooning, Sergio Aragones is considered the
world's fastest artist, he pens his works in a matter of minutes. If you've ever squinted trying to see his 1-3 panel gags littering the margins of MAD Magazine, you'll understand the brilliance of his brevity in humor. He is also the nicest and most-beloved artist I have ever met.
I enjoyed coffee with artist Angelo Torres in his Brooklyn flat 2 years ago and reminisced about the early days of MAD while rummaging through some of his more recent art. Angelo and Drucker were always the featurists, illustrating the longer satires and parodies in the magazine. Angelo is a great illustrator and such a pleasant man.
In 2006 I was asked by DC Comics (a Time-Warner Company), to auction the remaining MAD artwork, then stored in the offices of Nick Meglin, former editor of MAD. The $1m+ collection of original MAD art was only the beginning. What followed was an offering of the best art from MAD, collected by MAD's creator, Bill Gaines, himself. In 2008, DC called me back to enlist my help and that of Heritage Auctions in selling the remaining 36 pieces, considered to be the holy grail of MAD Magazine. We realized $750k for the 36 pieces, a newsworthy event,
so noted NBC. For that, MAD writer Dick Debartolo let me sit on his lap, next to former MAD editor, Nick Meglin (in the middle).
Some days are Madder than others, but I thank the writers and artists of MAD for all the madness they've given me.
I never thought that I would be captured by what I have always considered a more dated form of art, art glass. A few contemporary artists have transitioned my thinking. One of note is Paul Stankard, the oft-lauded Godfather of the art glass world. Stankard has shown me that glass can attract collectors of contemporary art. Art glass doesn't have to be a paperweight to fit on your Grandma's fresh-pressed doily. It can be imaginative and curious, and make you wonder how'd he do that.
While other designers of glass paperweights struggle to achieve a thousand-dollar price-point for their pieces, 67 year old Stankard has flirted with auction prices topping $40k for some of his better pieces. Premier auction houses have all carried his works, and continue to sell his pieces with strong results.
These two pieces sold at auction in 2007 for $41k and $27k respectively...despite an estimate of $5-$7k each. Of course, these are two of his best exemplars, so that must be factored into appraisals of his other works. 
Stankard's pieces are incredibly detailed and amazing in that each piece of his composition, from buzzing bees to ornate flowers, is crafted out of glass. No detail is ignored, and that attention is not lost on the collectors willing to pay top prices for a piece of Stankard's wizardry.
