Ex Libris

In addition to the show I'm curating at Light Grey Art Labs I am helping Kerry Morgan with a comics-ish section of Ex Libris, a book arts show she's mounting at MCAD during Autoptic. I just got a box of treasures from Mayumi and Raphael at Icinori, one or two of which will be a part of that show.

That's right, God and the Devil were paired up at random.

Mostly PFC is about process, not results. But there has historically been one exception. In 2011 Icinori put together a beautiful accordion book collaboration (scroll way down) between the artists of that year, based around depictions of the 12 Tasks of Heracles:

We didn't have the benefit of Icinori's boundless energy, subtle skill and guiding hand this year, but we really wanted to make something of the kind happen again.

So with the help of June, Zak and I came up with the following project: we made a list of characters, made each of the artists choose one, then paired them up randomly (with an emphasis on pairing English and French speakers together), and then asked them to create a page in which their characters interact in some way, with the additional constraint that something, somewhere must get broken. Zak's chose 'an alcoholic', I chose 'escaped convict'.

The result is this three-color, screenprinted accordion book, hand-assembled by the participants, printed by the inestimable Dan Ibarra at Aesthetic Apparatus (also, as it turns out, of boundless energy and subtle skill). And this all happened in less than a week. Our undying gratitude to everyone involved for their patience, indulgence and enthusiasm.

The few remaining copies are available here, $45 each. Proceeds will go to make whole the tireless volunteers of ChiFouMi, without whom none of this could have happened, and to support future incarnations of PFC. Dan generously offered up the test prints as well, which we cut down into stacks of 5" x 6 1/2" "postcards", a few of which will get thrown in with every order. For me these cards complete the collaboration, because in addition to being in many cases surprising and jewel-like, they incorporate the work of Aesthetic Apparatus with imagery from the book. Which brings everything full circle.

And in case you are curious who got paired with who, the collaborators were as follows, in order: Marc Bell and Domitille Collardey, Lilli Carre and Emilie Plateau, Tom Kaczynski and Jean-Christophe Menu, Sandrine Martin and Kevin Huizenga, Lisa Hanawalt and Pierre Ferrero, Eugene Riousse and Jim Rugg, John Porcellino and Benoit Preteseille, Eleanor Davis and Max de Radigues, Genevieve Castree and David Libens, and Zak Sally and myself.

Put your ear to the tracks

I was driving around earlier today delivering posters and cards for the Saltwater Weather/Eyeworks event. At some point I got in the car, turned the ignition, and the radio came on and I thought: "I know that voice." Turned out it was Zak Sally talking to Euan Kerr about the new Xaime show he just put up at MCAD. Listen here, and then book your flight if you haven't already. The show is great and it's just the earliest rumblings of this giant freight train of awesomeness that is Autoptic.

Exercises

1. A superhero

2. A Horrible Monster

3. Someone who's very old

4. Someone who's very ugly

5. Someone with the head of an animal

6. someone with a mechanical/robot head

Have each one answer the Following Question:

Part 2
1. Someone who's almost dead.
2. A favorite comic character from when you were a kid
3. God
4. A Horrible Monster.