We never set out to create themed issues in our weekly magazine, but often the content falls into a natural rhythm and assumes a narrative all its own.
This week we have arrived on the topic of paper in various mediums– books, aged photographs, collage scrap, digital magazine pages and poetry. We learned from Amir H. Fallah’s work in Issue 01 that the mundane objects we surround ourselves with every day, largely reflect who we are. We leave an undeniable fingerprint on such objects, and books are no exception. Like a perfectly worn-in baseball glove, the pages of books develop a memory about their reader. The fold in the spine, the accidental dent in the cover, the waterlogged pages that wrinkle and wither and the tagged corners of random pages.
Emerge artist Jeremy August Haik found us by submitting his work through Tumblr. As bibliophiles we recognized many of the covers depicted in his photographs and shared his sentiment that books are inherently domesticated, reflecting not just its environment but the reader.
When we first encountered Miller Updegraff’s work at Art Los Angeles Contemporary, we were instantly drawn to his paintings. Using a limited color palette reserved mainly for dark blue and nearly black hues, the paintings possessed a mesmerizing power, as if being caught off guard by the discovery of fading, sentimental photographs.
A neatly coiled pile of scrap paper serves as treasure trove for collage artist Lou Beach. Inspired by the chance of finding just the right image for a collage, Beach searches through swap meets and eBay to find source material that serves as his collection and the foundation for his practice.
Amir In Evolve we begin our investigation on magazines that explore art and culture on the same digital platform that we use to produce Installation Magazine. Think takes us inside the writer’s journey as poet Todd Baron reflects and meditates on his recent book of poetry, AS YET. Having known Todd for many years I would often seek his counsel when my back was up against a creative wall. He would always remind me of the same mantra that he devised, “forget everything you know, and then write.” Easier said than done, I can assure you.