Store 1026 Now Open!

In a post about Expozine 2008, I briefly mentioned the awesome Philadelphia-based art studio/community Space 1026. Well, they just opened an online store and it’s fabulous. Picture the Expozine booth of your (my?) dreams that makes you really cream your pants, but bigger and open 24/7. I’ve already got my eyes set on this great Mr. ET print by Andrew Jeffrey Wright (pictured above), as well as colorful rainbowy Wu Tang logo print by Crystal Stokowski (pictured below). I’m sure you’ll find something of your liking over there, so shop around and encourage a sweet bunch of artists!

Expozine 2008 - good times

 I’m really into all things pertaining to printed matter, so y’all can imagine how glad I was to attend this year’s much anticipated edition of “one of North America’s largest small press fairs.” Like always, I thought the experience was definitely inspiring and invigorating and I left the Saint-Enfant Jésus Church with burning feelings of satisfaction, envy and determination, which was great. Here are 7 things I hate about you I found and loved at Expozine, in no particular order:

1) STOLEN.BIKE.MTL, an intriguing zine by Sheena Hoszko which compiles her online correspondence with strangers who engaged with her last intervention. Let me quote an articule email that explains the artist’s project probably better than I ever could:

In the summer of 2008, Sheena Hoszko placed paper tags on stranger’s bicycles which read, “Last summer my bike was stolen, now I’m looking for a bike to steal”. These tags also included an email address. The artist privately corresponded with people who contacted her regarding their thoughts, anger, and questions about the tags found on their bicycles. These email conversations have been archived within a limited edition zine. STOLEN.BIKE.MTL aims to initiate a dialog surrounding loss, ownership, and potential.

2) Jason Hsu’s Holy Shmoly 2, printed at Space 1026 (in Philadelphia) and sold to me by Space 1026 founding member Maximilian Lawrence. This is a gorgeously screen-printed colorful pamphlet full of psychedelic visuals, cool-looking characters and references to late 80’s/early 90’s cartoons.

3) Walter Scott’s newest zine. This one features great collages/drawings/photos that all demonstrate the density and the awesomeness of Walter’s mind. I’ve been keeping an eye on his art for more or less a year now and it’s been so nice to see it more and more all over the city. But allow me to tell you more about Walter in an upcoming (and way longer) blog post, as he totes deserves it!

4) Lisa Czech’s Lazy Eye #2 is a collection of collages and drawings that was sold at the table Lisa, Walter and their friend Rick Trembles were sharing. This one contains lots of ice cream and female gymnasts with awkward facial expressions, which I always appreciate.

5) Elif Saydam’s Things I Have Loved & Lost: 1989-2009 is my friend and co-worker’s adorably honest, funny and sweet reflection on - you guessed it, the things she lost since 1989. Her writing warms the heart, and it’s a pleasure to relate to her charming and personal stories that make you go ‘I feel you, man’ at every single chapter.

6) Photographs by Erik Osberg, who just got mentionned in Amy’s post. I was sold at the first page, with a shot that got me lingering on the decaying beauty of all-night diner / Montreal hot spot Nouveau Palais (281 Bernard W). Things only got better with pictures of corporations oddly surrounded by trees, or a shot of Bobo the cat sleeping under the protection its plush-cat-mom. The zine ends with super insightful words from Erik regarding both photography in general and his own practive of it. Oh yeah.

7) The great folks over at Art Matters put together this collection of drawings and collages made by fellow Concordia University students the night of a drawing party over at Korova on November 12th. Under its lovely (and oh so shiny) cover, you’ll find two pages dedicated to my new nineties-inspired cartoon rubber-furries. You get a preview of that if you click on the image below, although I guess it’s not really a preview if I give you 1,5 pages out of 2. Oh well.