20x20 magazine issue Nine by Francesca Ricci

20x20

magazine

issue nine | 2012

20x20 magazine issue nine London, 2012 ISSN 1757-9007 Editors | Giovanna PaternĂ˛, Francesca Ricci www.20x20magazine.com | info@20x20magazine.com All rights reserved Copyright ÂŠ 20x20 magazine and all contributors Ed.

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Cover image: Graham Day, How not to draw the Sri Cakra Yantra, 1975

20x20 magazine issue nine

contents

Welcome to issue nine of 20x20 magazine, a

visions | Dmitry Borshch, The Making of Brothers,

square platform for writings, visuals and cross-

Betrothal of the Virgins and The Budding Patriarch

bred projects. The works in this issue have been

words| Nigel Jarrett, My Mother’s House

assembled around the meta-words A SERIOUS

visions | Georgina McNamara, Untitled II

GAME, to which the artists and authors have

words| Sean McPherson, The Purloined Lesser

responded in very different ways. The aim is

blender | Amy Whitehead, Noughts and Crosses

to bring together interesting contributions and

blender| Jeremy Evans, The Colour Wheel

create a collection of pieces with no expiry date.

words | Alan Harrington, 05 September 1972

We would like to thank all contributors for their

visions | Michael Sweet, Ghost, Daze, and Such a Doll

work that inspire us to put together and publish

words| Allison Leigh, A Particularly Bad Rendition of “Foolish

this magazine.

Games” by Jewel or You Can’t Go Wrong with a Blue Ceiling

visions | Mary Yacoob, Marcellus Mind Maze

words| John O’Neill, A Serious Game

visions | Edgeworth Johnstone, Chess

blender| Richard Kostelanetz, Ouroboros

Francesca and Giovanna, London 2012

We believe in good faith that all content published in this issue has been authorised for, however if you think that your copyrighted work has been reproduced in our magazine without authorisation in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, you may notify us by e-mail: info@20x20magazine.com.

(design by Denzel Russell) contributors | biographies

A special thanks to dalla Rosa Gallery who sponsored the printing of this issue and HATO Press for their collaboration.

www.dallarosagallery.com

www.hatopress.net

Dmitry Borshch, Betrothal of the Virgins

page 03 | 20x20 magazine

words

my mother’s house Nigel Jarrett

A chair in the corner. Irena is sitting at the table in

with our reasonable demands. (He removes his

one of the chairs, resting her head on her arms,

jacket and hangs it over the back of the chair

as if asleep. The jailer is sitting in the corner chair;

opposite IRENA and sits.) What we are asking for

she has a Kleenex in her pocket. As a distant bell

amounts to nothing. But you are making things

starts slowly chiming four, the jailer rises, walks

difficult. Now where were we?

forward and shakes Irena by the shoulder to rouse her. Irena sits up, tired. The interrogator enters the

IRENA: What time is it?

cell. The jailer returns to the corner and stands. The interrogator motions the jailer to sit. He is

INTERR: Did you not hear the bell?

wearing glasses and carrying a file of documents, a pen, a notebook, a paperback book and a cassette-

IRENA: Three or four. Four?

recorder, which he places on the table opposite Irena. He starts the tape and takes a couple of

INTERR: Three. (The JAILER smiles, the INTERR

steps away from the table, with his back to it.

shuffles some papers, opens the book.) Now. We

He removes his glasses and buffs them.

were talking about the character José, the so-called friend brought in to do something about César’s

INTERR: Did you sleep well?

treatment of his wife. I must say you have a very readable style. But then, perhaps you have to. Who

IRENA (Barely audible): Yes.

or what does José represent?

INTERR (Turning his head): Sorry. I didn’t quite get

IRENA: Represent? César is a drunken brute who

that. Please speak up.

beats his wife.

IRENA (Louder and gesturing towards the JAILER):

INTERR: Matryona.

Yes. Until she woke me. IRENA: Yes, Matryona. So the son, Cesar’s and INTERR: (Replacing glasses and returning to the

Matryona’s son, calls on José for help. He doesn’t

table): No matter. These things are necessary.

represent anything. I’ve told you this. page 05 | 20x20 magazine

visions

If you want to get out of here you need to comply

blender

A prison cell. 4am. A table with two chairs facing.

words blender visions

Georgina McNamara, Untitled II

page 09 | 20x20 magazine

Jeremy Evans, extracts from The Colour Wheel visions

blender

words

05 september 1972 Alan Harrington

blender visions

I wake to birds before dawn, as early as 4:30 in the

retired a few months early to take care of her when

summer, though it is getting colder now and I may

Dr. Corley explained to me that she wasn’t well,

not leave the window open much longer. There are

feeble February light dulling everything in the room,

birds, some in temporary fall nests now, squatters,

the eye chart grey and appearing to me as if it spelt

chaotic songs, it’s like the kind of jazz I feel I ought

something.

to like but cannot, calling in the dawn, and then things quieten down by the time the sun begins to

I listen to the phone ring and am tempted to pick

appear. I’m reminded of Coltrane in New York with

up. When the phone used to ring this time of day

Emily when she was well, our kids at my mom’s, and

we would leap out of bed and grab it, fearing

us laughing about the experience after the concert,

someone’s death, and it had always been someone’s

most of which appeared to be one number, lasting

death that time of day back then.

almost an hour, clueless, running through the rain toward Romeo Salta’s Chianti to be turned away.

She was up all through the night, her last week at home, baking, doing house work—but it was all a

Emily calls at 6:30 a.m. every day, and I let it ring.

mockery of what she said she was doing. I would

They only give her so long before they make her

go down in the morning for tea and the cupboards

hang up and try again in one and one half hour

would be empty and the contents on our dining-

intervals. When I used to pick up she would scream,

room table, beans and bannock in the oven. She

“Come get me!” and profanities until they would

would be whisking something obsessively, mumbling

take the phone from her. The next morning the

to herself. Mandrax for sleep and Adderall for

phone would ring at 6:30 a.m. Now, when it stops,

waking. Dr. Corley tries to balance her after her

I go down for tea and wait for her 8:00a.m. call. I

hysterectomy. He wants to add a sedative in the page 17 | 20x20 magazine

Michael Sweet, Ghost, New York City, NY 2012

page 19 | 20x20 magazine

words blender visions

a particularly bad rendition of

“foolish

It is the game of the fool to have no fear and to be living, I’m humming. Once you know nothing

games” by jewel

can hurt you, it is easy

many hours of this day have passed

you can’t go wrong

and still I have done nothing

with a blue ceiling

with the stained-glass windows

Allison Peters

day is going through with it,

to think up danger. How

but think of the little house by the old school? How another nearly over now, and I’m in a chair, gone, too. Life has to be a metaphor for something greater, I consider in a chair. The chair is a metaphor for black holes. So was Eden, and the apple that maybe saved them, or us, which are likely one in the same. I cannot describe the danger I’ve thought up. A musing in my tea is worth reading into: there’s the black spot, outed, a garden, a chair, and what the death are you doing here, run. Let not the pace leave you behind. Let not the fool escape you for he will hold you underwater where the weather is nice and the air is less precious than that familiar sinking feeling.

20x20 magazine | page 22

opposite: Mary Yacoob, Marcellus Mind Maze

words blender visions

Marcellus Mind Maze is a propositional drawing for a maze. The design of the maze is a splice between a diagram of a human brain and the architectural plan of the open-air Marcellus Theatre in ancient Rome, which was an inspiration behind Christopher Wrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s design of the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford, built in 1664-8.

John O’Neill

visions

blender

words

a serious game

The Hall seemed to lose all its appeal on this one night a year. The echoes of spirited play and easy camaraderie were pushed further out the door with every strike of the clocks unrelenting hands... There were but minutes left.

In the anticipation the mats had been ripped from the floors and stuffed within a bloated storage space to mingle with countless sought-after orbs, every symbol of joviality confined to quarters, even the impressive array of cords that dangled down from above were not spared, disguised behind the tawdry blood-red curtains. The clock signalled, leering down from where all could see it, and awaited a show... it was six in the afternoon, the children’s practice may have been abandoned long ago, but the real games were about to begin. Parents’ night had arrived.

Their procession flocked through both openings. A blur of panicked faces, growing more akin to a stampede as the sight registered with each pair of youthful eyes. Their Sports Hall was gone, swallowed up by the colossal succubus that now lay in its place, awaiting dreams to be cast aside when the little lambs come face to face with the cold glare of reality... had any of them a reason to cling to hope? As they planted themselves in the view of a sturdy and blemish-free desk, many of which had encroached upon the once joy-filled haven, it became clear that there were a minority of brave specimens amongst the crowd. Those who came with a stratagem in place. Those with their aged doppelgangers already exposed to some clever deciet...

But as the air around them seemed to quake under the “Crack! Crack! Crack!” of an incoming pair of heels they knew... and as if constricted by the very tendrils of fear their hearts began to shiver, their bones loath to take orders, every face bursting with sudden realisation; the stains of past indiscretions glowing red hot below their skin and leaking from every pore...

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HI S

contributors

issue nine

Dmitry Borshch is an American artist of Soviet origin. Born in Dnepropetrovsk, studied in Moscow, lives in New York. His work was exhibited at the National Arts Club, Brecht Forum, Exit Art, CUNY Graduate Center, Salmagundi Club, ISE Cultural Foundation; Frieze Art Fair (London).

Georgina McNamara graduated from Central St Martins, London in 2011 with an MA in Fine Art. Amplified by the fanfare and hype of last summer’s sporting events, this recent work is a tongue in cheek response to fluctuating feelings about personal fitness and exercise. www.georginamcnamara.com

Graham Day was born in 1946 in London and studied at Hornsey College of Art, Bath Academy of Art, and Slade School of Fine Art. He recently exhibited a retrospective of his works from the 1970s at Dalla Rosa Gallery, London (2012); his work is in the collections of The British Library, The British Museum, The Victoria and Albert Museum in London; The Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, and The Museum of Modern Art in New York. www.grahamday.co.uk

Sean McPherson was born in Anchorage, AK in 1987 and currently resides in Olympia, WA. He received his MA in Spanish from Tulane University. A grapheme-color synesthete, he derives much of his inspiration from the colors he sees in letters and numbers. His poetry has appeared in The Bacon Review, The Commonline Journal, The Conium Review, ditch,, Main Street Rag, Pterodáctilo and Thirteen Myna Birds.

Jeremy Evans works in drawing, video, performance, text and occasional objects. He was selected for Bloomberg New Contemporaries’ in 2008 and had his first solo show in London in 2012. He will publish his book of drawings “My Left Hand Wants to Buy me a House”, in 2013. www.jeremyevansworks.com Alan Harrington lives in Spring Valley, Prince Edward Island, Canada, with his wife and three children. He teaches at the University of Prince Edward Island and his research area is the publishing practices of John Ruskin. Alan’s most recent publication is the short story “Escape Rehearsals” in Riptides: New Island Fiction. Nigel Jarrett is a freelance writer and music critic. He is a winner of the Rhys Davies Award for short fiction. In 2011 Parthian published “Funderland”, his début collection of stories, which was widely praised. He reviews poetry for Acumen magazine and jazz for Jazz Journal. He lives in Monmouthshire. Edgeworth Johnstone, born Brussels 1977 is an expressionist artist working and living in Muswell Hill, North London. He works directly from imagination, with no preparatory sketches. His influences are mainly from early-mid twentieth century European Expressionism, and contemporary South American figurative art. Individual entries on Richard Kostelanetz’s work appear in various editions of Readers Guide to Twentieth-Century Writers, Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature,Contemporary Poets, Contemporary Novelists, Postmodern Fiction, Webster’s Dictionary of American Writers, Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians,Directory of American Scholars, Who’s Who in America, NNDB.com, Wikipedia.com, and Britannica.com.

20x20 magazine | page 28

17 years old John O’Neill from Northern Ireland, is currently studying an Animal Management course. His interests are pretty simply summed up as “nerdy stuff”: comic books, art, anything fantastical. Just recently he has decided to start submitting writing and test the waters to see if his former English teacher was lying to him. Allison Leigh was born in Bakersfield in 1989. She studied poetry, literature and film/media at the University of Michigan. She won an Academy of American Poets Prize in 2010 and is the founder, publisher and editor of Orange Quarterly and Nothing Press. Her work can be found in Evergreen Review, The Collagist, MUZZLE, Michigan Quarterly Review, Red Lightbulbs, Burner Magazine, and Dunes Review. lmnoleigh.wordpress.com Michael Ernest Sweet is a Canadian award-winning educator, writer and photographer, dividing his time between Montreal and New York. His signature work features gritty black and white “grab shots” of the human fragment as caught on our city streets. Michael’s first full-length collection of photographs will be released in 2013 from Brooklyn Arts Press. MichaelSweetPhotography.com Amy Whitehead is an illustrator and writer from the UK. She lives in North London in a small studio-flat on a dark and leafy street. She likes to entangle words and images, and reveal the beautiful in the ordinary. London-based artist Mary Yacoob studied at Central Saint Martins and London Metropolitan. She appropriates symbolic visual grammars from architectural plans, geological maps, scientific diagrams, and alphabets. Her work involves documenting the minutia of daily life in diagrammatic form or creating proposals for often unrealisable or absurdist architectural or artistic interventions. www.mary-yacoob.com

20x20

magazine

issue nine | 2012

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Cover image: Graham Day, How not to draw the Sri Cakra Yantra, 1975