I was surprised to discover that this article by Laura Tretheway, and indeed this headline, refers to the Not Bad For London exhibition. The article is disappointing in its divisive tone and its lack of depth. I have a lot to say about it, especially since the article is partly about me, and attempts to address a topic that is close to my heart. I wrote this letter to the author, and to the editor of Broken Pencil.
Hello Laura,
I am writing in response to your article in this month's Broken Pencil. When I saw the headline, my mind started racing. The title of my visual arts master's thesis is Do-It-Yourself: Politics and Aesthetics in the Margins and the Mainstream. It focuses on zines, art multiples, the DIY ethic as being highly politicized (and in danger of being depoliticized within art criticism), and the phenomena of underground or "outsider" artists and their work becoming accepted by the mainstream. I make art, I make zines, and I make art books. Needless to say, I have spent a lot of time thinking about these topics critically. I was shocked to then see my name in the first line of the article, and to realize that my work and a recent exhibition that my art was part of are specifically what this headline is referring to.
I feel that the article actually misses much of the complexity of its topic, and oversimplifies things into a binary "us vs. them" situation, framing artists as encroaching upon the territory of zinesters unwantedly. In reality, the type of artists who participate in zine fairs are generally part of the same demographic of people who are unsatisfied with mass-market consumerism, and are simply a sub-category of zine-makers. Even though some of the zines might be apolitical in form (illustration, abstract art, doodles, etc.), they are still fundamentally political in terms of the ways they are being produced and distributed: handmade, produced locally and independently, a means of building community, creating our own culture rather than consuming the one we're fed by the mass media and entertainment industries, etc.
The categories of "zinester" and "artist" aren't mutually exclusive. I make art, I make limited-edition art books, and I make zines—sometimes art zines and sometimes zines with other content. Although my presence tabling at Canzine was mentioned in the article in the context of my art zines, it neglected to mention the other writing-based zines I had to offer. I had two issues of Queer Enough, a zine I edited about queers in different-gender relationships for $3. I also had copies of the fabulous Undoing Borders, which I was giving away for free and which is available online here. I also had copies of my thesis in a hand-bound book version. Because these take me hours to stitch together and are expensive to print, they are more expensive to buy as well. But for anyone who couldn't afford a hand-bound version, I offered a PDF file of it emailed for free.
Another aspect we might consider, is how the value of a piece of art is determined, and think about art-making as a culturally valuable form of labour. The headline on the cover is actually a bit misleading, since the zines my friends and I make are not selling for $400 a page. The photocopied zines are still in the $3 range (sometimes up to $9 because colour copies are expensive and colour art doesn't translate well in b+w). What was selling in the Not Bad For London show were original drawings and paintings, not zines. In the example you give of Peter, Jason, and Billy's Uncle Pork Chop zine, the drawings were $100 apiece. This is split between the three collaborating artists. And the sale price of an artwork is typically split 50/50 between the artist and the gallery. So each artist, in theory, would get $16.67 per drawing. If the drawings take two hours to make, the artist is making less than minimum wage. Additionally, an artist's labour is not only comprised of making art. It also includes countless hours applying for shows, grants, residencies, etc. It includes doing research, writing emails, coordinating events, having studio visits and meetings, doing promo, and more. All of that is essentially unpaid labour. So the price of original artwork goes up if you are a full-time artist and you factor all of that into the price of your work.
I really struggle with the idea that I wouldn't even be able to afford my own art. It's bizarre. But my cost of living, and my desire to be a full-time artist and to pay myself fairly for my work as an artist, mean that the prices on my original art are in the range of luxury art items that most people I know couldn't afford. This is part of the reason I make zines and art multiples like prints and buttons. Plus, I love books, especially handmade ones. I sometimes fold handmade prints into books, and sometimes these books are limited edition and in the $20 - $35 range. A lot goes into making them in terms of time and materials and technical skill - way more than goes into pressing a button on a photocopier. This is not to say that I think more of one form than the other, it just means that the resulting price is different.
Although my work is sometimes abstract and academic, it's also personal and political. Sometimes it's at a gallery, and sometimes it's at a zine fair. Sometimes it's an expensive unique piece, sometimes it's a relatively low-cost limited edition, and sometimes it's photocopied and priced at $2. It's true that art zines and art books don't interest everyone. But talking about "the growing divide" in the zine world between art zines and personal or political zines, and publishing an article based on this supposed divide, only serves to alienate people who don't fall neatly into some narrow definition of what a "real" zinester does or what kind of content their zines contain.
Sincerely,
Jamie Q
One more thought on the topic.. This issue of Broken Pencil is being promoted as exploring "the growing influence of the art world on zines." You might be interested to know that artists having been producing zines as early as the Dada years, long before the rise of punk zines in the 70's, and even before they were called zines. [Image shows the 3rd issue of Dada, Dec. 1918.]Peter, Marc, and Jason (three of the artists in the Not Bad for London exhibition) have been collaborating and making zines for two decades.
