The Risko Book

Robert Risko's celebrity caricatures are instantly recognizable -- recognizable both as unmistakable portraits of famous subjects and as examples of Risko's bold and fluid style. Risko's career was launched in 1978 when Andy Warhol gave him an assignment for Interview magazine. Since then he has drawn likenesses of hundreds of notables from the worlds of film, television, politics, and culture. In addition to countless images for Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, and other major magazines, Risko has illustrated book jackets, video covers, movie posters, and CD packages. The Risko Book is the first collection of his work. Almost two hundred striking images are divided into ten groups: Television, Style, Music, Thinkers, Film, Scandals, Media, Sports, Theater, and Politics. Bill and Hillary Clinton ride the wave of Whitewater across from well-shod Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos; a young Christian Slater grimaces back at legendary star Jack Nicholson; Dolly Parton bursts out of a television set to the accompaniment of Stevie Wonder; Bishop Desmond Tutu, amid a rainbow splatter of color, looks on as Boris Yeltsin has a great fall; alter egos Dame Edna and Barry Humphries face Julie Andrews' split personality of Victor/Victoria. Other famous faces include Julia Roberts, Dominick Dunne, Sophia Loren, Elvis Presley, Martha Stewart, Spike Lee, Giorgio Armani, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Steven Spielberg, Barbra Streisand, Michael Jordan, Madonna, Elvis Presley, Jesse Jackson, Claudia Schiffer, and David Letterman. Not only a showcase for Risko's high-style caricatures, The Risko Book is a fascinating portrait of the newsmakers, both famous and infamous, of the last two decades of the twentieth century.

Robert Risko is an artist and caricaturist who has published his work in Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Time, Interview, Rolling Stone, The New Republic, Newsweek, and many other publications.

Graydon Carter is the editor of Vanity Fair.

Kevin Sessums is a contributing editor of Vanity Fair.