Saturday, February 21, 2015

A Book Launch, a Zine Fair and some New Acquisitions

Louise Jennison unveils the Salvaged Relatives

On Wednesday, 11 February Shane and I attended the one night only exhibit of Salvaged Relatives, three unique state artist books by two of our favourite works on paper artists, Gracia and Louise. It was a privilege to view all three works: SALVAGED RELATIVES, EDITION I (RED), EDITION II (YELLOW) and EDITION III (BLUE) before they take their places in prestigious public collections, namely the Baillieu Library at Melbourne University, the State Library of Victoria and the State Library of New South Wales.

A selection of Salvaged Relatives, 2014-2015, Collages by Gracia Haby,
bound by Louise Jennison

As a souvenir and memory-jogger of these exquisite works, I was able to acquire a couple of zines (one for myself, the other for a fellow G & L admirer) as well as two limited edition prints of the exotic Salvaged Relatives.

That same night I bumped into my dear friend Paul Compton, another talented artist and zinester. When Paul and I caught up recently, I was thrilled when he gifted me with number 1 in the editions of his two latest zines (see the large and small black books in the second photograph below).

Last Sunday my haul increased at the annual Sticky Institute Zine Fair at Melbourne Town Hall, where I acquired more zines from Gracia and Louise and a great little zine titled Coma Toes by Jase Harper.

Sticky Institute Zine Fair, Sunday 15 February

My stash: works by Gracia and Louise, Paul Compton
and Jase Harper

Doubtless inspired by the above, I've been on a bit of a zine-making spree of late. Several new publications are under way, and the mini-zine, Dark Dames, is nearly completed. I'll be developing the others over the next little while in tandem with other projects, most notably the fledgling homo-insecta paintings on wood, progress views of which are regularly documented on my Art Blog