Drawing for Babylon, first published 1979 at Diogenes Verlag AG, Zürich). In the world of children’s books, writer and illustrator Tomi Ungerer is somewhat of an outsider. Far from the norms of happily ever after, his stories are dark, abnormal and frightening even for many adults. ...Now, at 83 years old, Ungerer lives with his wife in a remote region of Ireland near Cork. He began his career in New York in the mid-1950s, living there until the ‘70s when he moved to a farm in Nova Scotia as a form of self-imposed exile. Over the years, he’s accomplished a lot. “I’ve done over 150 books, I write as much as I draw, and I have my sculptures and my architectural designs. I have my fingers in so many behinds,” he told Art News. If you detect a hint of bawdiness in Ungerer’s tone, you’re not off base. The artist has long dabbled in erotic drawings, including an illustrated Kama Sutra starring frogs, titled “Joy of Frogs.” He was widely blacklisted in the 1960s when word of his graphic images hit the children’s literature circuit. At a conference surrounded by people in the youth publishing business, he famously declared “If people didn’t fuck, you wouldn’t have any children, and without children, you would be out of work.“ In a later interview with The Times, he softened his edges a bit, explaining “Eroticism is a safari.“ ...Aside from his erotic drawings, Ungerer also drew a wide variety of advertisements for publications including The New York Times and the Village Voice, as well as satirical cartoons chronicling the inner workings of the business world and bold images protesting fascism, racism, animal cruelty and the Vietnam war. ...Although Ungerer’s subject matter and style has a spectacular, if not unthinkable range, for Drawing Center curator Claire Gilman one fact remains consistent. “For him, it’s always about showing what is considered abnormal. The protagonists are outsiders, they’re people who are not accepted by society.” (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/23/tomi-ungerer_n_6518750.html)