John Holcroft

John Holcroft is a famous British illustrator with many drawings that deal with issues from corporate greed to society’s dependence on technology. He has worked for many well-known employers such as BBC, Reader’s Digest, The Guardian and the Financial Times. All of his works look aged and old-fashioned because of his style which is based on advertisements from the 50’s.  However, the issues at hand in his art are problems that we are facing today. The first image shows a student with his head on his desk, but his brain is out of his skull walking away from the child. This fits perfectly into the rationale for arts integration because without education challenging students to think critically, children will just go through the motions of school while never really reaching their potential or truly learning. In another one of his pieces, there is a man in a suit walking around in a bubble filled with his office supplies. Holcroft is displaying how obsessed our society has become with work. Ambition has taken over the average family man whose primary concern is now making the most money. So much so that he cannot leave his work alone; it is now a part of him.