John Donohue & Universes in THE MATRIX

John Donohue — by the small-world principle — is within 6 degrees of most humanity. The matrix uses the principle behind this phenomenon to position the world's artists within discoverable reach of each other, and the planet.
THESE CURATED NODES are one degree forward from this John Donohue node. Are these John Donohue's curations?

CURATION STATUS

1 degree forward: Yes! I recommend these artists!

Who & Where

Name: John Donohue
City/Place: Brooklyn, New York
Country: United States

Current News

What's Up? ALL THE RESTAURANTS: Hand Drawn

I launched this project in New York City on January 1, 2017, inspired by the late Jason Polan’s Every Person in New York and James Gulliver Hancock’s All the Buildings in New York. At that time, according to a New Yorker profile of the critic Pete Wells, there were some 24,000 restaurants in the city. It is mathematically possible to visit all of them in under a year by spending 20 minutes at a stop. Luckily, it takes me almost exactly 20 minutes to draw the façade of each place, working strictly from life, in ink (without a pencil or erasing anything).

In a perfect world, I would have finished New York City in twelve months. Of course, my calculation didn’t take into account openings and closings, travel between each one, sleep, work, outside responsibilities, and coloring and printing. Or black-swan events like the Coronavirus pandemic. So, I have been at it ever since.

Since 2017, I’ve expanded my reach to include Paris and London and (hopefully) beyond as I expect to continue doing this work for the rest of my life—which is precisely the point. I first conceived of this site’s title as intentionally hyperbolic, but it has a deeper meaning. For when I say, “All the Restaurants,” I’m being more aspirational than descriptive. It’s my aim to draw forever, and your support of this project makes that goal achievable.

I draw at least twice a day, and if you are curious about why, details are in the articles below. In a previous life, I was an editor at The New Yorker magazine, where I also published a few cartoons. In 2011, I edited “Man with a Pan: Culinary Adventures of Fathers who Cook for their Families,” a best-selling anthology featuring recipes and essays from Mario Batali, Mark Bittman, Mark Kurlansky, Stephen King, Jim Harrison, and many others. I also used to write about cooking at home on my blog, Stay at Stove Dad.

Life & Work

Bio: I’m an artist and a writer and the founder of All the Restaurants in New York. My articles and cartoons have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Barron’s, and other publications.

I’m also the editor of “Man With a Pan: Culinary Adventures of Fathers Who Cook For their Families,” a 2011 best-selling anthology featuring contributions from Mario Batali, Mark Bittman, Mark Kurlansky, Stephen King, and many others.

Contact Information

Email: my-first-name [at] johndonohue [dot] com

Media & Markets

▶ Buy My Art: http://www.eatdrawrepeat.com
▶ Book Purchases: http://alltherestaurants.com
▶ Twitter: eatdrawrepeat
▶ Instagram: eat.draw.repeat
▶ Website: http://johndonohue.com
▶ Website 2: http://alltherestaurants.com
▶ Articles: http://www.newyorker.com/contributors/john-donohue
▶ Articles 2: http://www.stayatstovedad.com
▶ Articles 3: http://www.art.com/gallery/id--a419881-b704688/john-donohue-new-yorker-cartoons-by-subject-posters.htm

Quotes, Notes & Etc. “John Donohue is the Rembrandt of New York City’s restaurant facades.”
– Adam Platt, restaurant critic, New York magazine

"If you know someone who’s wild for a special New York restaurant, this is the perfect present.”
– Ruth Reichl, former editor of Gourmet magazine

"John Donohue, a former editor at The New Yorker, has a talent for the visual image, not just the written word."
– Florence Fabricant, of The New York Times

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THE MATRIX WAS BUILT HERE, inspired in (the kabbalah-inspired fiction of) Borges' El Aleph, that in the pillar in Cairo's Mosque of Amr, where the universe in its entirety throughout all time is perceivable as an infinite hum from deep within the stone.

The Brazilian "aleph" doesn't hum... it sings.

w/ David Dye for U.S. National Public Radio

Given the immense untapped power of the small-world phenomenon, from Brazilians the matrix was expanded to include nodes per jazz artists, given jazz's common roots with Brazilian music (nodes based in publicly available information; some artists we informed — Bob Mintzer, Kamasi Washington, David "Fuse" Fiuczynski, Vijay Iyer, Greg Osby — and got thumbs up, others we'll get to), and moved on from there. Artists/academics are welcome to create their own nodes and curate (connect to other artist nodes, so that others may follow). BTW, our logo is a cortador de cana, cane cutter. It was designed by Walter Mariano, professor of design at the Federal University of Bahia to reflect the origins of the music the shop specializes in.

MUCH MORE on all of this in the window below (which, if you are logged in, will instead contain instructions on recommending), and in the window within that window (which includes a "radio" called by The Guardian one of "10 of the best music radio stations around the world"):