Review - Fresh Prints
In Dirty Harry,
Clint Eastwood when he makes his final approach to an injured criminal the line
goes: ‘You've got to ask yourself one question. Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya,
punk?’.
Well, as Central
institute of Technology gasps it’s name for the last time in a “foot in the
door” Advanced Diploma course set to disappear forever; you would think I would
have to be.
….not so sure?
My renewed artist
push that started with a Digital Imaging Photoshop course at E Central in 2009
and in 2011 drawing a 5 page finally to my long neglected Earwigo comic before I
commenced my Visual Arts studies (which is itself is a renewed effort).
….going where with this?
I think I must be
lucky. At the moment there are some good exhibitions that show me the standard
of what is happening today. I was inspired by comic artists Gilbert Shelton and
R. Crumb, Heavy Metal magazine, 2000AD Comics and Oink
in my post high school years when I was also learning some early art techniques
here at Central. Today we have the “Tragic Comics” exhibition at AGWA with more
than 150 examples of the most moving and compelling comic work.
...good not to live
in the past ;-)
Not much chance of
forgetting the past when taken on a voyage through the British Museum’s
collections to explore the last two million years of human history.A
History Of The World In 100 Objects at Western Australian Museum
features Katsushika Hokusai’s: Illustrated 'manga' (14 book set). The
word "manga" comes from a Japanese word meaning "whimsical or impromptu
pictures". These published sketchbooks were some of the first to be known
by this term (1814–1834).
…
One attraction of
comics / manga for an emerging artist is that they can be easily be published
with a photocopier in the form of a “’Zine”. So, I knew I was lucky when I
heard about the “Fresh Prints”
market fair for ‘Zines, independent publishing, small press, artist books,
comics and printed works while listening the radio. Also I have got to the
subject of this essay in the first page of this essay I think.
…(whew)
“Fresh Prints”
Over 40 market stalls was what I found at Northbridge Piazza when I
visited this event on the 16th April; which started at 12 noon. This
is the second year this event has run.
Luckily the weather was good because all that paper would
not have gone well with rain. The occasional gust of wind kept stallholders on
their toes. The space was further redefined for the event with documentaries
showing on the large permanent video screen. To sit down and watch; Made You Look (2015) an Australian
premiere documentary about the UK DIY graphic arts scene of the 21st century at
1:30pm I think organisers planned visitors would have arrived on time and
visited the stalls. Not a bad plan, but I did not myself and never really gave
much thought to what was showing. The park space is a little cramped but mostly
Northbridge has an inerrant chaos that means you can only focus on the screen
if that is the only thing going on or is the centre of attention. Guess I was a
bit unlucky there.
My main focus was taking in the stalls and having a chat
with artists who are making good in the industry. I took many professionally
printed business cards with graphics that helped put faces to the art on
display. It was not surprising to find many of the exhibitors were emerging
artists, especially in graphics field. There were a few associations I could
join such as the Print Council of WA. The Centre for Stories and Barefaced Stories joined
forces for a live storytelling event, we asked our storytellers to share what
their grandparents told them. But like most youngsters, I had my own things to
do and missed that too. Should have done a bit more research on what the
program was I guess, but it generally wasn’t clear what was the unifying theme
of the event, let alone which stall had the program.
It was good to chat with the various artists and I felt I
had much in common with many of them. Some had folio with work of high
standard, but most was sub-professional, which is in keeping with Zine theme. One stall; Sticky
Institute had some high
quality comics in a not for sale form, other Zines for sale and even some work ( a selection of A5 Zines called You) for free. Many hours
of reading here if I get the time. On the day I had no spare cash so I could
not support these artists to the degree I would have liked.
I did not read much of the work obviously, so it is hard to
review this event with great depth. Culturally the work was modern and hip.
Where AGWA has presented comics in an easy to read format with original
artwork, this event had more in common with the Supanova annual exhibition. Perhaps its existence is owed to the
fact not many locals get exposure at the Supanova
event (that boasts many celebrities in a variety of pop culture fields). Some
of the exhibited works at Fresh Prints seem to be of quality and style that
might get further exposure at Supanova
in future years if a more commercial publication is achieved. Some stalls had
gifts and products that could have outlets at other venues.
Fresh Prints had
a Comics Workshop with Campbell Whyte in the Community Room that I
missed. Would seem a shame to spend 4 hours there and miss the other activities
though. From this site it seems his work has much in common with that on
display in AGWA;
Running every hour from 12:30pm was a Pop-art collage activity for kids.
Mostly I
found out I was lucky when I got a phone call that I had won a competition I
had entered for an print of my choice from Danielles Darkroom taken
by Danielle Briggs. I picked it up today. Looks Great!
Essay
–Michael Rule
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