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ISSUE 13 FALL 2013 / VHCLE MAGAZINE
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On the Importance of Photographs, On Coffee and Tom Waits: The Joy of an Acquired Taste / Vhcle Books: Short Stories, 1984, Everything is Illuminated / Vhcle Woman: Julie Craig / Elise Wehle, Gianmarco Maganani --
Featured Art work ( pp 38-57) Woven Seascape Elise Wehle
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contents VHCLE MAGAZINE / ISSUE 13
art music film photogr aphy Design fashion life/politics books Vhcle man / Woman / picks
04 contents 05 MASTHEAD 06-07 Contributors 08-011 On the Importance By Tim Sunderman 012-017 On Coffee By Marc Ingber 018-031 Vhcle
of Photographs
and Tom Waits: The Joy of an Acquired Taste
Books
020-023 Short
Stories
By Jamie Thunder 024-027 1984 Reviewed by Emma Davies 028-031 Everything is Illuminated Reviewed by Myles Lawrence-Briggs 032-037 Vhcle
Woman – Julie Craig
038-073 Featured
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Artists
038-057 Q&A
with Elise Wehle
058-073 Q&A
with Gianmarco Magnani
masthead MASTHEAD / CONTRIBUTORS
Charlie Lee / Founding Director charlie@vhcle.com Editorial
Cassie Lee / Founding Editor cassie@vhcle.com Jamie Thunder / Books Editor, Sub-Editor jamie@vhcle.com Designers
Raoul Ortega / Visual Director raoul@vhcle.com Thomas Adcock / Visual Designer thomas@vhcle.com CONTRIBUTORS
Tim Sunderman, Marc Ingber, Jamie Thunder, Emma Davies, Myles Lawrence-Briggs, Julie Craig, Elise Wehle, Gianmarco Magnani Cover: Gianmarco Magnani, Print 001A Vhcle Books: Illustration by Thomas Adcock Vhcle Woman: Photo on (p32) by Raoul Ortega, Photo (p34) provided by Julie Craig -Vhcle Magazine Tel: USA +1 415.364.8568 contact@vhcle.com Facebook: Vhcle Mag Twitter: @vhcle -Published by Charlie Lee: Vhcle Magazine, www.vhcle.com All content copyright 2013. All rights reserved. Without limiting rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced without the prior written permission from both the copyright owner and the publisher of this magazine. Vhcle Magazine is not responsible for the return or loss of, or for any damage or injury to, any unsolicited manuscripts or artwork.
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CONTRIBUTORS alphabetically by last name
– Vhcle — Occidental, CA
Myles Lawrence-Briggs / Writer Myles Lawrence-Briggs is a 24-year-old recent graduate from CU Boulder in English literature, Myles has moved back to the wine country to start a wine label with two childhood friends. He manages the estate vineyard and in his spare time reads far too much and writes far too little. www.senseswines.com – Vhcle — St. Helena, CA Julie craig / vhcle Woman Julie Craig is a 24-year-old girl wandering her way though life, merging her love for photography and baking. Though studied to be a photographer, she now works at a boutique in St. Helena. Never staying in one place too long, Julie can always find home in the kitchen, behind the lens. – Vhcle — United Kingdom
Emma Davies / WRITER Emma Davies is a journalist from the south-west of England. She likes books, red wine and her duvet, and is at her happiest when managing to combine this trio of good things. – Vhcle — Minneapolis, MN
marc ingber / writer Marc Ingber is a communications specialist and writer for a nonprofit based in Minneapolis, MN. He was born and raised in the Twin Cities and attended journalism school at the University of Kansas. His primary interests include rock n’ roll, movies, food and drink, the Minnesota Vikings and the Minnesota Twins – probably in that order.
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v hcle issue 13
– Vhcle — Lima, Peru
Gianmarco magnani / illustrator Gianmarco Magnani is a graphic designer, with a focus in illustration. His personal projects are 100Prints & Sixty Watts. www.silencetv.com, www.sixty-watts.com – Vhcle — San Francisco, CA
tim sunderman / writer Tim Sunderman is a graphic designer in the San Francisco bay area who does most of his art without a computer, using traditional techniques in drawing, painting, photography, calligraphy, and even sculpture. He is a graduate of the Academy of Art in San Francisco. He eschews speaking of himself in the third person, as he is here, but doesn’t mind too much for shameless self-promotion. www.timsunderman.com – Vhcle — Reading, UK
Jamie thunder / writer Jamie Thunder is Vhcle’s books editor, and he works, reads and writes in the South of England. When he’s not doing any of these he runs long distances, and is always very relieved when he’s got to the end. – Vhcle— Utah, USA
Elise wehle / artist Elise Wehle is a paper artist and printmaker originally from California. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Brigham Young University. Since then, she has been featured in various exhibitions across the country, receiving multiple awards and recognition for her work. She currently lives in Utah with her husband and family. www.elisewehle.com
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vhcle / Photogr aph y
On the Importance of Photographs By Tim Sunderman /
V hcle Maga zine Issue 13, pp08 -11
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Photographs occupy a
strangely unique place in modern culture. We seem to be inundated in a sea of images, many we’ve taken ourselves. Social media have emerged as the largest magnet for photos. Facebook alone, by 2012, hosted 140 billion photos, and in 2013, it is predicted that another 70 billion images will be uploaded by its members. Photo Weekly, after a bit of clever research including film manufacturing and sales statistics, estimated that 3.5 trillion photos have been taken since the invention of the camera in 1835. That is an incomprehensible number, but it is increasing exponentially since the advent of digital cameras, particularly phone cameras.
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Thank goodness we are no longer using film developing and printing for mainstream consumer photo technology. Entire forests of trees can rest a little easier, the rivers and streams no longer carry the enormous toxic burden of photo developing chemicals, and the majority of silver no longer needs to be diverted to film production. There is no question that digital photos are far more environmentally friendly. And perhaps the biggest benefit is that they are almost free to shoot and distribute to as many people as you would like. So, low cost, and the convenience of not having to carry around bulky camera equipment for snapshots have both contributed to the proliferation of photos.
that there are broader motivations for creating photographs than to simply say, “Look at me.� Photographs, perhaps more than anything, are the documentations of our lives. We want to share our experiences with our friends and family. We want them to see the circles that are otherwise closed to them. We may value their reactions and their approval. Photos provide a more visceral and emotional attachment than words often do. They often capture the atmosphere that we cannot find the words for. Photographs are the closest thing that we have to a living memory. The same may be argued for videos, but there is something a bit more engaging about photos. Their graphic quality flattened onto screen or paper reaches more deeply into our stored archetypes of ideals. We are compelled to project more deeply into that imagined space.
And yet, low cost and convenience by themselves do not explain the motivation behind the desire to create pictures. What is this near-obsessive drive that keeps the camera clicking? A simple answer might be just plain narcissism. Is it a misanthropic sense of self-importance? Well, a certain level of desire for attention and acknowledgement is not in itself an unhealthy thing. However, we do not need you to post what sandwich you had for lunch. Stepping a bit further back though, it is quickly evident
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Photos are consistently counted among our most valued possessions. Anytime someone loses their home to a fire, the first question is always, rightly, did everyone get out OK? And if so, the second question is invariably, were you able to save your family photos? We don’t ask about the silverware, the Italian leather sofa, or the flatscreen plasma TV. We all understand the irreplaceable value of our photos and the strength of their connection to our past.
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If you are lucky enough to have old family photos, take advantage of modern technology and scan them in, back them up on cloud storage or burn them to disc to send out to extended family. Pigments fade over time, paper becomes brittle, oxidizes and deteriorates. Digital storage and back up is critical. And in that same sense, the photos that you now create, are tomorrow’s treasured heirlooms. Future generations may hold far more value for the insight into our lives than we do for our own. Imagine being able to look five or ten generations back into your ancestry, and imagine what kind of fascination we may hold for what kind of sandwich they had for lunch. Imagine seeing all the mundane details of their living. For the first time in history, we have the opportunity to provide that insight to future generations. The cost of film photography was too prohibitive to allow for such casual documentation.
and upload it to their site. A book like that would be immediately of great value for generations. We are born in this historical time and we are almost obligated to take advantage of what emerges. But, aside from the future is our immersion in the present, and social media is as close as we have ever come to a collective documentation of our daily living. The mundane is not trite and insipid. Without the mundane, there is not much left. So I don’t mind the Facebook photos of someone’s new shoes, or sitting at a café, someone’s rental car in the parking lot of a beach, or the ubiquitous attempts at artsy shots, many of them nicely successful. All of them paint broad cultural insights in ways that really nothing else can. So keep those phone cameras snapping. Even food photos are part of life’s celebration. I personally will not stop until I have uploaded one billion photos onto my Facebook wall.
Few things are more life-defining than photographs. Some people are taking advantage of online self-publishing services like Lulu or Amazon’s Create Space and other similar companies. Hundreds of photos can easily be collected into a volume to be output as a paperback or hard cover book for a relatively low price. Just save your work in a PDF format
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vhcle / life
On Coffee and Tom Waits: The Joy of an Acquired Taste By Marc Ingber /
Issue 13, pp12-17
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13 years of my life, I couldn’t stand coffee. I thought it smelled good as a kid, so on occasion when I was feeling brave I would try a sip of my mom’s morning coffee, but each time I was reminded that the taste was far more bitter than the smell. For the first 25
Most kids don’t like coffee, so perhaps that’s not unusual. But even in college, while my friends nursed hangovers and/or studied with cappuccinos, lattes and the like at the local java haunts around town, I would stick to hot chocolates and vanilla steamers.
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But that all changed one fateful afternoon several years ago. After an early morning flight to Vegas, I found myself sitting in one of those casino buffets with a pitcher of that classic diner coffee sitting on the table in front of me. For whatever reason, watching my friend sip it silently in preparation for a long day and night ahead made me want to re-try coffee once again.
home on an espresso machine.
And for some reason, this time it stuck. I’m not even sure I liked it – but I didn’t hate it either. I was really tired, the coffee was hot and the supply was never-ending. It just felt right. So I decided to have some the next morning too, and I enjoyed it even more. In fact, I’ve drank it every morning since then, becoming a full-fledged slave to java – a common situation for millions of Americans. I’ve come a long way since that cheap diner coffee. It’s fair to say I’ve reached a low-grade level of coffee-snobbery that involves owning a conical burr grinder and buying singleorigin beans from a specialty dealer near my house, in addition to making cappuccinos at
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As I look back on this transformation from a coffee hater to someone who even knows what a conical burr grinder is, much less owns one, I often wonder about the implications of my journey. Is coffee, like many acquired tastes, something that just comes with age? Did my tastes literally change some time between age 24 and 26? Or was I just not giving it a proper chance in my younger days, and theoretically could have been a coffee snob in junior high had I applied myself? Coffee, strangely, is one of the things I think about when I listen to what has become another of recent obsession of mine – Tom Waits. It has no literal connection to him, but it’s similar in that my opinion on him has done just as much of a 180 in the last few months as my opinion on coffee did many years earlier. Tom Waits is not exactly the Eagles or Fleetwood Mac – if your primary goal in life
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is to avoid him, you don’t have to try very hard. The only time you’ll hear anything Waits-related on standard FM radio is if another, more conventional artist is covering one of his songs. But for a large contingent of your average garden-variety hipster music geek, and I am undoubtedly one of these, Waits is nothing less than a god. Not liking him is akin to not liking the Velvet Underground – it’s unspeakable. For whatever reason though, Waits’ appeal was lost on me for years and years. Well, in truth I probably do know the reason. It’s because he has a voice that could charitably be called “ridiculous” and perhaps accurately be called “terrible.” Or if you’re looking for a description with more nuance, critic Daniel Durchholz memorably described Waits’ voice as sounding “like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car.” On past attempts to understand the supposed genius of Tom Waits, I remember thinking
the instrumental part of his songs had some appeal, but could just never get past his voice. I wondered how anyone could get through one song, much less a whole album, of Waits’ voice. But that all changed earlier this year when, on a whim, I listened to his 1973 debut album, Closing Time. With an album name like that and a cover featuring Waits sullenly leaning on a piano in a dark room, I went into it figuring it would be a somewhat downbeat affair tangentially related to that time of the evening when the last drinks of the night are served. And I was correct – that’s exactly what it is. But I was still taken aback at how accurately he nailed the vibe of that bizarre time period in the wee hours of the morning when you’re as tired and loopy as you are buzzed and just about everything seems funnier or more bittersweet than it should be. The album sounds exactly what 3 in the morning feels like.
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I was even more taken aback at Waits’ voice on Closing Time, which sounds nothing like what it would in later years. While not exactly Dean Martin, he does have a much gentler warble that fits the late-night songs perfectly. When I wasn’t distracted by his voice, I realized how good the songs were and suddenly his exalted reputation made sense.
used to his voice. And after I got used to it, I realized I didn’t mind it. And after that, I realized I actually sort of liked it. And after that, I finally admitted to myself that I kind of, sort of, yes, loved it. As illogical as it may seem, it just fits perfectly with Waits’ many tales of the seedier side of life.
Closing Time suggests Waits could probably have gone on to become a more inebriated and rough-around-the edges version of Billy Joel or Elton John, but that’s not the path he ended up choosing. The album is both a literal and figurative starting point for Waits, as he would go on to make many more albums that are arguably much better and, without a doubt, far stranger. But not only have I loved every single one of these subsequent albums that I’ve heard, it’s never been in spite of his voice. Going into them a little more open-minded and patient, that infamous growl grew on me. After a couple go-rounds with it, I more or less got
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Unsurprisingly for a brilliant songwriter with a decidedly un-commercial voice, other artists’ covers of Tom Waits’ songs often have ended up more popular than the original versions. Whether it’s “Downtown Train”, made famous by Rod Stewart, “Way Down in a Hole”, which was used as the theme song for The Wire, the Eagles’ version of “Ol’ 55” or something else, there’s a chance you probably know and maybe even like several Tom Waits songs – whether you are aware of it or not. Much like how I felt when I finally came around to coffee, I often wonder how I spent so many years ignoring or consciously
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avoiding Tom Waits. If I like something this much that I once hated, what does that say for all the random things in life I sort of like? I guess sometimes the things you love the most are things you think you hate. Going through this process makes you discover something new about yourself. And this happens so rarely, it’s sometimes the best discovery of all.
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Issue 13, pp18 -31
/ Illustration by Thomas Adcock
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Short Stories --
By Jamie Thunder /
V hcle Book s, Issue 13, pp20 -23
In the sweltering heat that accompanies the British summer – it’s reached over 30C at times! – I’ve found myself reading a lot of short stories.
This could be because the drowsiness induced by the sun lends itself to shorter stories that require less attention. Or because I’d just finished several longer novels and needed something more immediate to relieve my reading fatigue. But either way, it got me wondering: why don’t we read more short stories?
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In a world we’re constantly told is geared towards instant gratification, it’s surprising that it’s still novels, rather than novellas, short stories, or flash fiction that dominate our bookshops and reading habits. The answer to this conundrum certainly has nothing to do with writers’ willingness to write short stories – a 500-page breezeblock might be a more obvious outcome of months of hard graft, but the short and shorter story still is held in the highest esteem.
form that lends itself to at least the possibility, the smallest glimpse of perfection. Nobody could sustain perfection over 400 pages, no matter how wide their range and clear their voice. But for 10, 50, or 150 pages? Perhaps.
Last year, Ian McEwan – whose first book, First Love, Last Rites was a collection of short stories – wrote in The New Yorker: “I believe the novella is the perfect form of prose fiction. It is the beautiful daughter of a rambling, bloated ill-shaven giant.” Indeed, look through the best writers of the last century and you’ll find few who didn’t begin with or ultimately prefer shorter stories: Vladimir Nabokov, Graham Greene, John Updike to name but three. And even those who don’t often recognise that the form is more demanding than the novel. Not, of course, that only short stories can be great. But there is something about the short
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The best short stories I’ve read recently – particularly those in Lorrie Moore’s Birds of America – create as believable a world as the most expansive novel, and shorn of the excess material of an 80,000-word title they’re more satisfying, tauter. Yet this only applies when done excellently. McEwan also writes of short stories: “We are more strongly aware of the curtain and the stage, of the author as illusionist. The smoke and mirrors, rabbits and hats are more selfconsciously applied than in the fulllength novel.” He doesn’t mean it as a criticism – but I do. Too many short stories, in the rush to reach the end, fall for a jarring gear change that yanks the reader uncomfortably. Often means a character we don’t fully empathise with yet dying suddenly, or a shift in perspective that, rather than achieving the intended effect of forcing the reader to re-evaluate their
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assumptions developed over the previous 30 pages, makes them feel taken for a mug. Or else they are too well-wrapped, too selfconsciously self-contained, a cloying cupcake in a bow-tied box. This doesn’t, however, answer our question – after all, plenty of terrible novels are published and eagerly bought. So is the problem with us? After all, when was the last time you read a short story? In the early 21st century the short story is not dead, but it lives a secretive life. It’s hidden away in the Books sections of magazines and newspapers, only occasionally surfacing in a full collection. Short stories act now as a calling card, like the flimsy shampoo samples found pasted on the glossy pages of magazines. “Look,” they cry, “If you like this, you’ll love my new novel!” The form deserves better than this, to be a wingman for the real moneymakers. But until we value short stories enough to pay for them – whether in collections or as individual downloads – that will be their lot. Maybe this comes down to book-lovers being an ornery lot, with short stories becoming collateral damage in the war against the
attention-deficit generation. And it’s hard to deny that there’s something almost pugilistically satisfying about finishing all 550 pages of Crime and Punishment, a feeling of achievement. Yet few readers are still holding out against Kindles on sentimental, nostalgic grounds, and it would be a shame if it was simply stubbornness that took us away from the delights that a short story can provide. Reading a short story brings a different enjoyment than a novel. In a short story you can hold the entire structure of the story in your hand, and appreciate the craft that’s gone into it sentence by sentence without exhausting yourself. Then there’s the privately momentous point when you spot the story’s title glinting from the page; in the enclosed space it’s like finding a tiny piece of treasure. There are still short story ‘specialists’ writing today: the likes of Lorrie Moore, Alice Munro, and more recently Wells Tower all write moving, funny, complete short stories that don’t feel constrained by their shorter word counts. So next time you find yourself at a loss for what to read next, try some short stories, and remember: it’s not how many words you use; it’s what you do with them that counts.
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1984 George Or well --
Reviewed by Emma Davies /
V hcle Book s, Issue 13, pp24 -27
The image from 1984 that lingers longest in the memory is not the ambiguous terror of Room 101. It’s not the all-seeing, all-knowing pdeuso-mythical figure of Big Brother. It’s not even the prospect of a world in which even thought is controlled. No, it’s the ending: a solitary man, sat in the corner of a disreputable cafe, soaked in substandard gin and broken into submissive obedience. That people are fallible and resistance against the regime proves futile is a theme that runs throughout much of Orwell’s work – but it’s here it finds perhaps its most haunting expression.
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That’s not to say, of course, that there isn’t plenty else that sticks in the mind. From the very outset, you’re plunged into a world from which hope has been actively banished. Everything is in a state of grimy disrepair, London split between the liberty-starved Party members and the squalid underclass of the proles. It’s an alien presentation of a familiar city, and it’s this jarring quality that unsettles you long before the horrors contained within the Ministry of Love’s imposing building are made explicitly apparent. It’s by degrees that said horrors are unveiled. Although it dawns on Winston in an awful moment of clarity that Room 101 contains “the worst thing in the world” – he also realises that he has, deep down, always
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known this. It’s a clever illustration of how entirely the ‘doublethink’ principle (simultaneously holding two contradictory ideas in your mind) has pervaded Oceania. Even those who think themselves above it are, in fact, not. Down-at-heel and prematurely ageing, Winston is no dashing hero. Instead, he’s an everyman – imperfect, often afraid and absolutely relatable. Like so many of us he’s not entirely sure what it is that he wants, but he knows it’s something more than what he’s currently being offered. Something more than O’Brien’s chilling depiction of the future as “a boot stamping on a human face – forever”. That you could transpose yourself atop his character makes his eventual fate all the more harrowing. He’s caught by the
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Thought Police; he caves under pressure and betrays his lover; he ends up ironed into submission by an oppressive, tyrannical state that wields absolute power simply for its own sake.
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There is no glory in this tale. Orwell’s unheroic hero is unceremoniously crushed, and you’re left in no doubt as to how a similar scenario would play out with any other protagonist. No happy ending; instead a defeated man, a bottle of clove gin, and a sense of grim inevitability. And Big Brother, always watching.
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Everything is Illuminated Jonathan Safran Foer --
Reviewed by Myles Lawrence-Briggs /
V hcle Book s, Issue 13, pp28 -31
Jonathan Safran Foer is a very talented writer. In Everything is Illuminated, he switches between three distinct writing styles: he ranges from realism, to epistolary, and finally to extreme post-modernist metafiction and fabulism. He knows what makes a good story, and writes layers of metaphor and double-meaning into his book. Too bad it wasn’t any good. After reading Everything is Illuminated I’m left feeling exhausted and confused; like I’ve just been a willing participant in my own carjacking and it’s just now donning on me as I watch my car drive into the sunset on a New Mexico desert highway.
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There are parts of this book I really like. Parts of it are about a young Jewish man, Jonathan, and his journey with his Ukrainian tour guide, Alex, to find the woman who saved his grandfather from the Nazis in World War Two. These chapters are light and funny while being anchored in the tragedy of the Holocaust. The characters are relatable and I found myself laughing out loud on more than one occasion. Other parts of the book are letters from Alex to Jonathan after Jonathan has returned to America to write about his experience and his Jewish ancestors. These letters show Alex’s growth and the change in their relationship as Alex increasingly disapproves of the tragic tale that Jonathan is writing. He argues that fiction should be better than reality, not worse. These chapters culminate with Alex’s coming of
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age and by the end will be both extremely gratifying and heartbreaking. Then there’s the tragic tale itself, written by Jonathan. These chapters are about Jonathan’s ancestors from the 1790s onward. They are in a completely different style, starting off in over the top post-modernism and eventually diving into utter nonsense. I guarantee you a majority of the people that put this book down without finishing it did so after reading one of these chapters. They’re awash in metaphor and double meaning and frame the beginning and end of the book with some masterful symmetry. They’re so clever in fact, that it feels like the author is smashing them into my face and screaming “Look at how clever I am!” You’re good at writing, Foer, we get it. But when the fantastical post-modernist voice gets so into what it’s doing that well over
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a page are filled with nothing but “We are writing…We are writing…” repeated over and over again, it smacks of self-indulgence. I think I even get the overall message, which is rare for me. By the end of the book Alex becomes the main character and we are left wondering exactly what writing as an art should accomplish, and how damaging to the Jewish identity it is for them to hang on, tooth and nail, to this traumatic memory of the Holocaust. But a full third of this book is exactly that: a self-indulgent reliving of this trauma. The other two thirds of Everything is Illuminated is a great read. But these tasty morsels are peppered with what I can only describe as literary masturbation. And no one wants that in their food. Or book. And the worst part is I can’t even tell if Foer did this on purpose to prove Alex’s point.
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Photo by Raoul Ortega / Issue 12, pp38- 43
VHCLE WOMAN
Julie craig
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I spent some time at the beginning of summer in Maui, and that beach style resonated with me for until the warm weather ended. I spent it in tiny denim shorts, printed tanks, worn-out Birkenstocks and a mess of a hairstyle. But now as the cooler weather approaches, I’m getting back to my usual style sense. Big coats and statement shoes are always a go-to. I think slightly baggy clothes look better than tight. And I will always wear anything once, including heels so high I probably looked like I had a different profession. But I never regret any of it. It’s more fun that way. My home is dominated with things I can use for photography. I’m always collecting kitchen odds and ends for props. I love a rustic, farmhouse look. While thrift shops are my usual go-to for kitchenware, sometimes a splurge or two on new things adds a nice twist.
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B A A / republic bike / GCT100 PLATO DUTZCH STRP-THRU I have an old mountain bike that was given to me for free, but I really wish I had this fixie. The light on the front is my favorite feature.
C / ZARA / PRINTED LACE CAMISOLE TOP Pretty and delicate. I always wear little shirts like this with everything. My everyday staple – so much better than a basic tee.
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D / AVENUE 32 / Liam Fahy These shoes are a bit absurd and that’s why I love them. They are a statement – and a fun one at that.
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B / ÉTOILE ISABEL MARANT / Ankara Collarless Jacket
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I have been obsessively looking at this jacket for weeks now. While it is insanely out of my price range, I lust after it. So fluffy and big!
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H / la rochere bee / Old Fashioned Tall Goblets A shop near my house has a bunch of these La Rochere glassware. Simple and understated, with their iconic bee on them all. An awesome old French style.
F / BEST MADE COMPANY / Seamless & Steadfast Enamel Steel Plates These plates are the best of all worlds for me. They remind me of camping, have that nautical essence, are enamel and are completely unique. Plus the shop they are from has the most amazing things. I want them all.
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E / JUST FEMALE / Temp Jacket in Grey Melange I love a big coat. You can wear a boring outfit, but when you throw on a great coat, you instantly look great. This one looks like a huge cocoon of wool. G / ONE TEASPOON / CRY TOUGH SLOUCH PANT The essential pants for me. Slouchy, comfy but still look so cool. One Teaspoon clothes always have that ‘beach girl in the city’ look. 037
The Woman Bouguereau Painted
Elise Wehle /
V hcle Issue 13, pp38 -57
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The Gardner
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The Gardner
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You use a lot of mixed media. Can you tell us a little about this? Just a couple of years ago I used to do a lot of painting, and I thought I would be a painter instead of a printmaker and collage artist. However, I quickly discovered that painting was very daunting for me. It was difficult to face the endless expanse of a blank canvas, and then when I did, I had a hard time figuring out how to stretch the boundaries of what I was creating. There was just the canvas with its four corners, and I could only add to it. It made me feel kind of stuck. I’m very grateful that there are so many talented painters who overcome these creative stumbling blocks, but unfortunately I am not one of them. Around this time I visited New York, and I fell madly in love with all of the paper stores I discovered. Paper became intensely interesting, and I loved that I could do anything I wanted with it – bend it, cut it, weave it, fold it, etc. I could add anything to it just like with painting, but now I could also take away from the paper itself, and I quickly latched onto paper cutting. I love mixed media and collage art because the boundaries are already set. I often start a collage with a limited set of photos, and working with those limited resources helps me be more creative. I find I am more creative when I have restrictions to fight against, and mixed media gives me just that.
The Dress She Wore
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Behind Scenes
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Midnight Astronomer
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How long does it take to complete an art piece? That really depends on the size of the artwork. I recently finished a project with two artist friends in which we had to start and finish an artwork every two days. I was able to stick with those time restrictions, but I only made smaller artworks. Usually I couldn’t go much bigger than 11 x 14 inches if I wanted to finish in time. Now when I make bigger work, it takes me days upon days to finish just one piece. Do you have any favorite pieces? I do! After I finished The Woman Bouguereau Painted, I put it up on my wall, took a good, long look at it and immediately fell in love. I think it’s because I have a thing for old portraits. I’m always curious about who the person is and what his or her life was like and if they really looked like their portrait at all. Maybe that last reason explains why I enjoyed disguising this woman in pattern and paper cuts so much. One of my most recent works has almost become a personal favorite. I finished Cloudscape just last week, and it was my first experiment with three dimensional work. First I cut out the pattern on the bottom layer like I usually do, but then I deviated from my normal routine and created a second layer with even more paper cuts to put on top. I
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used pins to hold up the top layer. Maybe I like it so much because so often my experiments don’t turn out how I want them to, but I honestly liked this one. What are some of your inspirations? I definitely find inspiration from city walls covered in old and new posters. I can almost see the history of the wall when I tear off one poster only to discover another one underneath. They’re like mini-diaries, records of how weather and time have changed them. I love when all the different layers of posters turns into one giant collage. I try to copy that look in a lot of my work. Of course, I’m inspired a lot by other artists. The work of paper artist Donna Ruff is what first triggered me to experiment with paper cutting. I also love Peter Gentenaar’s paper sculptures. Their influence isn’t as obvious in my own artwork, but the way he manipulates paper into different shapes and patterns definitely inspires me to push the boundaries of the medium. Favorite drink? I’m probably too old for this, but nothing does it for me like a chocolate milkshake from Red Robin. It’s the best!
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Spanish Moss
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Deer Crossing a River
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Woven Seascape
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Observation of a Flower
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Seaside
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Observation of a Leaf
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Cloudy Mountainscape
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Cloudy Mountainscape
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No Handiwork of Callimachus
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Gianmarco Magnani --
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Vhcle Issue 13, pp58-73
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Tell us a little about yourself. My name is Gianmarco Magnani, I’m an illustrator. I love books, but I’m the one who sees the text instead of reading it. I love everything about design, in every field. Since 2010, I have been working on a personal project called 100 Prints, and recently published a new project about a rock band called Sixty Watts. I love to be involved in design projects and art direction. Have you always been interested in illustration? I have been drawing since I was a child, so maybe in some way I have always been into
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illustration. But I have also been interested in traditional animation too. So maybe in the future I would like to spend some time studying it. Can you tell us about your project Sixty Watts? After studying graphic design at university I started working at some agencies. During those days I learned a lot of things developing projects for different clients, and also by working next to great people there. But I realized that the idea I had about design was totally different. I had many ideas about design, composition, identity and packaging, but I never found the client or the opportunity
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to develop a project based on my own ideas. When I was at university I thought design projects would be, for example, developing a graphic campaign for the Rolling Stones. But after many years working in the field I realized that things were different. I understood that maybe a project for the Rolling Stones would never be possible. It was 2009, a hard time in Europe and the agency I worked for had to close, and so I had to focus my attention on the next step. I have been very influenced, since I was a child, by all manga and comics that came from Japan during the ‘80s, so I always had a lot of ideas about designs like those mentioned
– combining texts, logotypes and icons based on a black inked illustration style. After many conversations with my wife about all these ideas without a place or a client I decided to work on a personal project about illustration, entitled 100 Prints (www.silencetv.com). I started this project in 2010 and I think it will be finished around 2016. The project is basically composed by 100 Prints, divided into 25 series, composed by 4 Prints. During late 2010, after many prints, I decided to try something in the music field, creating a series for a rock band. So I made those prints and because I didn’t want to use any existing band, I chose a fictitious name and called it Sixty Watts (www.sixty-watts.com).
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At that moment it was just a series about music, nothing else beyond that. A few weeks later after posting that series, I read on a French blog some comments about my work and those specific prints. The blog comments said something like “ … these are some posters for a rock band called Sixty Watts, but don’t try to search their music because they don’t exist ... “ When I read those words I got an interesting idea. I remembered when I was a child and the affect it caused when I saw album covers of bands from the ‘70s and ‘80s in record stores. Then I remembered the project that never came for the Rolling Stones, and then I thought: If I have all these ideas for a rock band and don’t have the band to work with, then I will invent my own rock band. And because it doesn’t exist it would be the only rock band that has everything except music. At the very beginning and several times during the process, I thought ‘how ridiculous is this idea?’ But then I thought about it as “different” and I’m sure that moment was very important for me and kept me going on. So I studied and worked for a year on this project. I bought various things about music from the US, Europe and Japan. I started studying all the products that I bought and also read about history, discography and curiosities from different bands. All that gave me more ideas
than the ones I had and more possibilities for design. When I looked at that album cover, and without listening to the music, my imagination started creating a complete story. And that if I want, it could be endless. What is your creating process like? I start almost all ideas on paper, taking a lot of references from books, magazines and also the internet. I first start thinking on a concept and then I start making sketches for the entire composition, combining icons, fonts, logotypes, headers and all those elements around a main character. I try to keep a square format. I always start each work using just black ink and I try to finish it that way. Sometimes it works and sometimes it needs an accent, so then I’ll try adding a simple color scheme to the composition. I love to draw with pencil and ink, but right now my work is mostly digital, so I’m focused on vector illustration using a laptop and also a Wacom. Favorite drink? Cold water.
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Issue 14 coming 12/2013
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