Tag Archives: art magazines

Dimonds Among Spades

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The internet has everything in spades, not least of them t shirts and magazines. But these two enterprises came to my attention lately, and I quite like them.

Put your favorite book on your chest, with these literary inspired t-shirts. My friend Brian just started this operation, so kudos to him. The design at left is from Kafka’s Metamorphosis, thus the cockroach on his back saying “Oh Bother.” I love it, but I’m tore between this and the Alice and Wonderland t shirt.
(Hint hint, nudge nudge, Christmas is coming.)
This webzine is like culture megalomania at its best. Want poetry, fine art, and general thoughts on creativity and genius? It’s here. Not to mention, the site helps artists sell their work through an auction process (which, granted, I don’t fully understand.) The people writing for it are the Web 2.0 version of citizen journalists with an interest in the arts, and, full disclosure, I hope to submit something really spiffy to them in future.

So that makes for two great endeavors, completely despite my status as an interested party. Hopefully I’ll be able to give both my more thorough attention when I have a permanent residence again. I moved my stuff into storage yesterday morning, and took my few-too-many bags over to a friend’s house for the night. You know you’ve overpacked when you can’t carry everything by yourself. I need to edit my luggage down. But luckily I have some really nice friends who I’ll be staying with for the week while I tie up a few loose ends, i.e. my job and finding a place to live on St. Maarten.
8 days until I leave!

Ravels in Review Friday (already!)

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Has another week really passed? It seems so here in Art Ravel’s land, which has been hopefully busy despite a recurrence of hangovers.

Reasons to be hopeful:

1) Spring has returned to Manhattan and gallery hopping can commence again, as I document here. Sure, in between then and now we had some freezing days, but a thaw is coming. *Could also be a reason to be hungover.

2) YouTube’s content gets more fun by the minute. See Richard Serra shovel Vaseline under Mathew Barney’s direction. Not to be missed.

3) A new play by Moises Kaufman shows us how to make time stand still, in addition to its other good qualities.

4) In another exorbitant claim, a man has discovered the secret of beauty. *Could also be a reason to be hungover.

5)I said goodbye to Culture Pundits, and hello to cool art magazines.

6) Asking questions about Kara Walker, rather than critique, in a further positive, hopeful effort.

And so what do I think sums up this week, its hopes, its hangovers?

Lobsters, obviously. Why? Ask the Surrealists, or read Signs of Spring.

Oh, For the Love of Art!

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Artforum, when I picked it up in a bookstore the other day, immediately reminded me of a heavy Vogue issue. Both were thick with ads, and thankfully intelligent ones at that. Just as Vogue contains cutting edge photographs of high-end labels, exactly what people buy the magazine for, Artforum is full of attractive glossy spreads of gallery openings and artist’s work. Both blend the edge between content and advertising, and add a depth to the zines (at least in inches).

Artforum, ARTnews, and Art in America dominate the shelves, but in between them, even in chain bookstores (at least in New York city), you see the smaller volumes that exude individuality. The lesser-known art magazines are often the efforts of small groups of people who don’t have the same responsibility to cover the big stories. They can choose their content. Appearing sporadically and with varying production levels, often disappearing after a dozen issues, these are the art lover’s magazines, if only because they are clearly a labor of love by those that produce them.

The publishers who are able to sell a few copies express their individuality and ideology down to the typeface, and the design of the magazines is where the fun begins. They may not have Gagosian ads, but they do have vertical type and matte collages that beg to be ripped out and put on your wall. Their innovative design and unpredictable content are an adventure compared to the heavyweights. Truthfully, I’m envious! What a project–it tempts me to design an Art Ravels magazine, if only so I could lay out the pages.

Yet as much as I love browsing through the more off-beat art magazines when I see them, I always deliberate over whether they’re really worth the $10. On the other hand, I don’t buy ARTnews either. But were I to throw my $10 in the art publishing ring, I know which one I’d choose.