
Paul Madonna is an award-winning artist and author whose unique blend of drawing and storytelling has been heralded as an “all new art form.” He is the creator of the series All Over Coffee, which ran in the San Francisco Chronicle for twelve years, and the author of seven books, All Over Coffee , Everything is its own reward (winner of the 2011 NCBA Award for best book), On to the Next Dream , You Know Exactly (finalist for the 2022 Golden Poppy Book Awards), and the Emit Hopper Mystery Series, Close Enough for the Angels , Come to Light , and The Commissions . Paul also collaborated with award-winning author Gary Kamiya on the best-selling book Spirits of San Francisco . Paul's drawings and stories have appeared internationally in numerous publications such as the Believer and zyzzyva, as well as in galleries and museums, including the Oakland Museum of California, the San Francisco Contemporary Jewish Museum, The San Francisco International airport, and the William Blake Association in France. Paul was a founding editor for therumpus.net, has taught drawing at the University of San Francisco, and frequently lectures on creative practice. He holds a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University and was the first (ever!) Art Intern at MAD magazine.
by Paul Madonna
Rating: 4.4 ⭐
• 2 recommendations ❤️
Beginning with his hometown of San Francisco and traveling to cities such as Paris, Rome, Buenos Aires, and Tokyo, Paul Madonna delivers his second body of drawings and writings. This stunning new collection, a testament to an artist and storyteller's careful observation of both the external and internal worlds, outdoes the masterful performance of his first book All Over Coffee, offering an even richer catalog of pen and ink cityscapes, short stories, conversations, and thoughts. Entertaining and moving, gorgeous to look at, Madonna's work remains unique and unclassifiable. This full color, hardbound edition comes complete with a removable poster.
In February 2004, the San Francisco Chronicle began printing an enigmatic feature called “All Over Coffee.” Almost immediately, letters of love and hate, confusion and praise poured in. Accustomed to the familiar formats of comic strips and cartoons, some readers struggled to understand a creation that seemed to live both within and beyond those boundaries. All Over Coffee blends the timing of comics with the depth of poetry. Artist and writer Paul Madonna has fused art, literature, and comics by pairing timeless cityscapes with philosophical musings and poignant stories in masterfully rendered ink-wash drawings that surpass the art of Ben Katchor in elegance and architectural detail. His work has been compared to “a meeting of the tone of Edward Gorey, the uniqueness of Chris Ware, and the artfulness of Raymond Pettibon.”Quirky, whimsical, and often profound, All Over Coffee’s stunning imagery and thoughtful writing combine to create a conceptual world, both dreamlike and familiar. This selection will delight anyone who has ever lived in or visited San Francisco—or dreamed of doing so—with its original, off-the-beaten-path view of the city and its inhabitants. Paul Madonna moved to San Francisco and began to self-publish comics after graduating from Carnegie Mellon University’s fine arts program and an internship at MAD magazine. In 2002 he launched his incredibly popular website, www.paulmadonna.com, posting a new cartoon each week. In 2004 the San Francisco Chronicle and SFGate.com picked up his strip “All Over Coffee,” which continues to appear weekly.
Emit Hopper was a one-hit wonder—twice. First as a rock and roller in the 80s, then as a literary darling in the 90s. Now it's twenty years later, and despite his desire to remain a simple laundromat owner, stardom has found him once again. As he’s drawn back into the limelight he meets Julia, a former celebrity chef with an enigmatic past. But when she disappears while hiking with two other women, Emit finds himself chasing down a mystery that promises to leave him forever changed.From the artist and author of All Over Coffee and Everything is its own reward, Paul Madonna uses his signature blend of drawing and storytelling to deliver a beautiful and entertaining novel filled with suspense, surprise, and humor. With over one hundred lush and haunting drawings, this full-length, character-driven story is a fresh and innovative reinvention of the illustrated novel.
From award-winning artist and author Paul Madonna comes an electrifying mystery novel full of unexpected plot twists, lively characters, and over one hundred lush drawings. Presented in an innovative three-volume boxed set, Come to Light is a gripping page-turner that weaves an intoxicating tale of love, murder, books and art. Featured as a CrimeReads "Daily Thrill" "Almost any book is sure to please the bookish, but a book that can pique the interest of bibliophiles is as precious as a padparadscha sapphire. Here are some such gems. . . Artist and author Paul Madonna pens a mystery novel full of unexpected plot twists and lively characters accompanied by more than 100 strikingly rendered drawings that bring this novel to life. This tale of love, murder, books, and art is presented in a three-volume box set.— Publishers Weekly "Blown away by Paul Madonna's new book Come to Light . [Madonna] blends a mystery novel with his usual stunning artwork--highly recommended."— Mike Krieger , co-founder and former CTO of Instagram Come to Light is a fresh and original mystery with an unusual Emit Hopper, a former rock star turned author and artist. Six years ago, Emit's wife, Julia, went missing. Now the remains of her two hiking companions have been found buried in the California wilderness. But the discovery raises more questions than answers, so with his love for classic detective books and rye whiskey, Emit sets out across Europe chasing down clues, sketchbook in hand. Quickly, Emit finds himself embroiled in a plot far larger than he could have he becomes a target of a State Department investigation, gets entangled in an international ring of art thefts, and discovers his own artwork stolen. He meets an exuberant French nobleman, a murderous five-year-old, and a bohemian Roman heiress. From the Venice Biennale to the flooding of Piazza Navona, you'll find yourself laughing, gasping, and drawing right alongside Emit as he travels through some of the most beautiful regions of Europe, unraveling a suspense-filled and surprisingly tangled mystery. Replete with strikingly rendered drawings that bring this exquisite and intriguing novel to life, Come to Light is the thrilling follow-up to the adventures of Emit Hopper, which debuted in Close Enough for the Angels.
The third and final volume of All Over Coffee presents some of the most beloved and never-before-collected pieces from the weekly series. Originally published in the San Francisco Chronicle , this timeless work, which includes collaborations with many prize-winning authors, is now collected for the first time into a new gorgeous hardcover edition. "[Paul] Madonna, Bayview-based artist, illustrator, writer and award-winning author, is renowned for his long-running city-inspired comic strip series ‘All Over Coffee.’ Once described by Madonna as ‘a comic strip without the comic,’ the series paired intricate sketches of The City—a street corner, a view of Alcatraz or a deserted alleyway—with poignant, poetic text. The infusion of art and literature challenged typical comic strip conventions, attracting a regional cult following and setting Madonna on a path of artistic discovery. The third and final installment [of the series], You Know Exactly, launched this month."— San Francisco Examiner "All Over Coffee was in many ways a gift to the city. It immortalized the San Francisco that locals see every day; not the one most commonly depicted in movies and on TV. Because of its grounding in familiar corners, sidewalks and liquor stores, Madonna's art can also ask viewers to explore their own psyche, or to suspend their disbelief, or to go on a journey with him they weren't expecting. And sometimes, just sometimes, it'll be so close to home, you'll think he's made a personal visit."— KQED Arts & Culture "[A]n impressive coffee-table style volume, You Know Exactly, the Third Collection of All Over Coffee is an inherently fascinating book to browse through."—Midwest Book Review You Know Exactly enigmatically melds art, story, and travel to capture the profundity reflected outside and resting deep within the soul. With original writings plus collaborations with award-winning writers including Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Cheryl Strayed, Andrew Sean Greer, Robert Olen Butler, Kristen Tracy, Daniel Handler (otherwise known as Lemony Snicket), and more, artist and writer Paul Madonna pairs words with exquisitely rendered cityscapes to create a poignant, thought-provoking showpiece. Each page offers something short stories, poems, fleeting thoughts, and one-liners displayed alongside pen and ink drawings that travel from San Francisco to New York, from Paris to Tokyo. The effect coalesces into a mesmerizing work that you’ll want to return to again and again.
Get ready for a rollicking and irresistible new mystery from award-winning artist and author Paul Madonna.Amsterdam, 2019—following the conclusion of Come to Light. Former rock star-turned-artist Emit Hopper’s life has taken yet another strange turn. His old friend, the legendary San Francisco private detective Ronnie Gilbert, is dead, and his killer has just been acquitted. But when a disheveled acquaintance from Ronnie’s past walks into Emit’s shop, a puzzling mystery resurfaces, twenty years cold. We’re transported back to San Francisco, 1999, when Emit and Ronnie first met. Emit has returned to taking commissions drawing people’s houses, only to be strong-armed by a shady police lieutenant into acting as her off-the-books spy. On top of that, a strange young woman claiming to be his daughter refuses to leave him alone. From there unfolds an intricate tale of corruption and murder that leads to an explosive scandal, with consequences that, two decades hence, are finally revealed. From the world of the Emit Hopper Mystery series, The Commissions kicks off the origin story of what promises to be an unforgettable new eccentric detective, Ronnie Gilbert. In a mystery filled with suspense and surprises around every corner, Paul Madonna brings to life the last days of San Francisco before the turn of the millennium with dozens of his signature pen-and-ink drawings.
BRAND NEW softcover, free tracking number, clean text, solid binding, NO remainders NOT ex-library, smoke free; slight gentle shelfwear / storage-wear; WE SHIP FAST. Carefully packed and quickly sent. 201713814 For the Electric Works "(In What Era Will You Get Stuck?)" show, Madonna, whose work redefines comics by combining art and literature, rethinks the process of creating a body of work for exhibition. Album puts the book first. As the primary show object, Album is the focus and final product, with the art hung on the walls serving as a catalog for the book. A play on single panel cartoons, Madonna’s large-scale (up to 50 by 60 inches) meticulously drawn pen and ink images of 1970s and 80s childhood-era toys, swell the poignancy of the punch line. Wanting the work to live beyond the large two-dimensional panels hung on a gallery wall, Madonna offers the book object as portable art, stemming from his life’s career of zine and book-making, and the love of the book as a tangible, tactile art form. Transformed beyond merely a record of the exhibition, Album is as much a conversation between the artist and reader about the impetus that led to the creation of the drawings, as well as a document of the various completed works, some pieces of which have been purposely destroyed, buried under the final, displayed version. Please choose Priority / Expedited shipping for faster delivery. (No shipping to Mexico, Brazil, Argentina or Italy.)
by Paul Madonna
A solidly successful, mid-career artist and writer embarks on a creative journey to explore the collections in the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco with one question in mind: Does art do anyone any good? The reader follows along as he tours the galleries, making drawings of his favorite pieces and talking about their history, and telling stories about his own journey to become a professional artist. In an accessible, narrative format that blends memoir and art history, he discusses his philosophy of art-making, with the over-arching theme of trusting one's own inner compass. Soulfully written and beautifully illustrated, Follow Yourself is a powerful affirmation and a manifesto for anyone who believes that the world is made better by the existence of art, and by those who dedicate their lives to making it.
by Paul Madonna