Gone to New York

by Ian Frazier // Picador

Cover photograph by Laura Hanifin

Ian Frazier's Gone to New York is a collection of humorous essays about the wonders of living in the city of New York.
The cover takes its reference from the story "Bags in Trees." About a man who looks up and begins to notice that the trees are littered with snagged milky-white plastic bags, most which are slowly fading into gray shredded Spanish moss. Annoyed at the chaos, he vows to clean up the mess. Snagging one plastic bag at a time.


On the opposite end, I found a blog, Bags in Trees, that surprise, is dedicated to appreciating the beauty of snagged bags in trees. This love of natural found art reminded me of the scene in American Beauty, “The most beautiful thing I ever filmed.” It’s a fun blog. But to be expected, this website is not a huge fan of this book. As evidenced by this blog entry.


Most stores in NYC use these bags as an opportunity to advertise themselves. But some have the simply iconic I "HEART" NY logo that was designed by Milton Glaser. It was a no-brainer to reference the logo with my title treatment. Here's an interview that Milton gave to Chip Kidd that appeared in The Believer.