TV Guide June 18-24 Preliminary Cover ‘Laverne and Shirley’ 1977

This is a preliminary TV Guide cover of ‘Laverne and Shirley’ by Jack Davis, it's all ink and color marker, probably made sometime in the 70s. Look at the exuberance of these characters riding a bike together. I can almost see Davis drawing it, starting with a loose sketch, then laying down those confident lines, each one describing a form, an expression. Notice how the ink creates depth and movement, like the wheels are really turning. Those joyful scribbles communicate pure, unadulterated fun! It reminds me of some of Philip Guston’s looser figurative works, where the line becomes a way of capturing a feeling more than a likeness. Davis is part of a lineage of artists using humor and exaggeration to tell a story. Each artist builds upon the other's visual language, creating a conversation across time. Like all great paintings, it embraces ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations, and inviting us to bring our own experiences to the work.