Front Forty Recognized at London Book Festival

Graffitecture took top prize in "Photography/Art" category at The London Book Festival. Sonneteer and Short Stories Illustrated by Artists also received Honorable Mention in the same category. Congratulations and thanks to all of our talented contributors!

http://londonbookfestival.com/portal/

Green Dynamite now available!

Green Dynamite is both symbolism and activism. The idea of a slow-motion explosion of life beginning with a seed may be the antithesis to the current crises of climate change and war. The native seeds packaged in Green Dynamite tubes are local and native to the ecology around Chicago. These tubes are sold by students, stores, individuals around Chicagoland where they will help the people, plants, and animals within that same local area. What's more, the profit generated from sales will be used to help local ecology in other ways as decided by those who sell the product- so more explosions of life can take place!

Green Dynamite would not be possible without the efforts of Beyond Today and Riverbank Neighbors.

Visit http://www.front40press.com/greendynamite.php to get your Green Dynamite!

Front Forty Recognized by USABookNews.com

Yesterday in Los Angeles, USABookNews.com, the premiere online magazine and review website for mainstream and independent publishing houses, announced the winners and finalists of The National Best Books 2007 Awards. Winners and finalists traversed the publishing landscape: Simon & Schuster, Penguin-Putnam, HarperCollins, Random House, McGraw-Hill, Houghton Mifflin Co., John Wiley & Sons, and hundred of independent presses including FFP.

Front Forty Press' Short Stories Illustrated by Artists took top prize in the "Fiction & Literature: Short Story Fiction" category as well as finalist in the "General Art" Category.
Graffitecture: Chicago Graffiti Artists Attack Photographic Spaces and Sonneteer were also finalists in the "General Art" category. Congratulations and thanks to our contributors!


To see more, go to: www.usabooknews.com/bestbooksawards2007.html

Director Doug Fogelson talks to Bad At Sports

Bad At Sports Episode #113 features artist and curator, Tracy Marie Taylor, as well as Front Forty Press' Doug Fogelson. Doug spoke with Joanna and Teri about all things Front Forty. To hear about how we began, where we are going, and how you can get involved, go to: www.badatsports.com.
Or, you can directly download the interview in it's entirety at: http://cdn.libsyn.com/badatsports/Bad_at_Sports_Episode_113_Tracy_Taylor-Bilingual.mp3

Front Forty Press Reception @ Luminaire

Front Forty Press Reception: Luminaire Showroom, the third level
301 West Superior, Chicago
Friday, November 2nd
6-8 pm
RSVP: heathyr.dilts@luminaire.com or 312.664.9582

Chicago based independent art publisher Front Forty Press released four significant titles this year, Sonneteer, Graffitecture, Matt Volla's Unruly Drawings, and Short Stories Illustrated by Artists.

These books were created via a unique process that brings individuals together in 'blind collaboration', thus enabling diverse participation in an uninhibited way. There is a high degree of trust and freedom within the formally defined parameters for each project. All Front Forty Press' stunning artistic and sociological topics are always about the cultivation and communication of ideas.

Please join Luminaire in celebrating the release of 2007 titles from Front Forty Press at our bookstore (on the second floor). Many creators and contributors will be there to sign books which will be sold at a 10% discount at the reception. Front Forty Press will give a presentation about their current and future products during the reception.

Front Forty Awarded at Hollywood Book Festival

The 2007 Hollywood Book Festival recognized Front Forty Press during their July 29th ceremony... Graffitecture was awarded "Design of the Year"! Graffitecture was also given an Honorable Mention in the "Non-Fiction" category for the exceptional essays by Bridgette R. McCullough, John Jennings, Bridgette Buckley, and Tim Hartford. Big ups to everyone that worked so hard to make this book happen!

www.front40press.com/graffitecture.php
www.hollywoodbookfestival.com

Harry Allen interviews Doug

Hip Hop activist and journalist Harry Allen interviewed FFP director, Doug Fogelson, on Friday June 22nd. On this edition of "Non-Fiction", the show focused on graffiti. Doug was invited to discuss the concept and execution of"Graffitecture". Also on the show were the authors of "Burning New York", a book documenting graffiti in NYC and graffiti artist Miers
To listen to the interview, go to http://archive.wbai.org/

Front Forty at the Renegade Craft Fair!

Front Forty Press is proud to be a part of this year's Renegade Craft Fair Chicago.
The Renegade Craft Fair is a unique DIY event organized by Sue Blatt & Kathleen Habbley. This year will be different from previous years as the fair will be in cunjunction with Do-Division Street Fest. Visit www.renegadecraft.com for more information.

When: September 15th & 16th from noon - 10pm
Where: Division Street (btwn. Damen Ave & Wood St.... exact booth location TBA)

Printers' Ball 2007

Join Front Forty Press at The Printers' Ball!

The Printer's Ball is an annual celebration of print literature. For one month, a handful of Chicago's most dynamic reading series present evenings in collaboration with local print publications. The festival ends at the Printers' Ball all-ages party, where literary organizations of all kinds gather under one roof for a spree of the city's reading scene. Visit www.printersball.org for a complete list of participants.
Admission is free!

When: July 20, 2007 8pm
Where: Zhou B. Art Center (1029 West 35th Street)

San Francisco Release of Matt Volla's Unruly Drawings

Mollusk Surf Shop
4500 Irving St., San Francisco, CA

Opening Reception Fri July 27 2007 7-10 pm

Come celebrate the book release by Front 40 Press of Matt Volla's Unruly Drawings and the surfboard launch of 2 hand-painted surfboards music by the R&BFreeJazzGospelSupreme80

Earwaves is a body of work that explores the act of hearing by drawing comparisons between ocean waves, sound waves and the waves of fluid inside the human ear that occur during the action of "hearing." Hearing begins when vibrating air molecules from the environment bounce off the eardrum. This vibrates a few small bones which transmit the vibration into the cochlea. The cochlea is filled with salt water and the vibrations move through the water creating waves. The waves wash over hair cells that release charged molecules into the brain.

Earwaves is the first chapter in a narrative of drawings recently documented in a book published by Front 40 Press entitled Matt Volla's Unruly Drawings. In the book, pre-knot embryos coagulate in the dark depths of salty fluid. They surface through the crashing earwaves before swarming into the atmosphere in their evolution towards knots and beyond!

Matt Volla is an Oakland based artist and musician whose art practice involves two different directions. One pursuit is conceptual and absurdist and involves setting up intricate systems in an attempt to quantify everyday actions. The results are used to translate those actions into a new action. The other direction Volla takes in his work is a strict discipline of automatic drawing and is an intuitive balance to his more cerebral conceptual practices. The drawings are a playful submersion into the subconscious revealing a loose narrative of their 10 year evolution. Volla is now in the process of animating the drawings. Matt Volla has shown throughout America including PS1/MOMA in New York, Yerba Buena Center fot the Arts in San Francisco and Gallery 2 in Chicago.

The Printers Row Book Fair- Summer 2007.

Chicago Tribune Printers Row Book Fair
Saturday, June 9th and Sunday, June 10th, 2007

Front Forty Press will have a table for the 23rd annual Chicago Tribune Printers Row Book Fair. This is the Midwest's largest free outdoor literary event featuring 150 new, used and antiquarian booksellers and more than 100 captivating programs including author readings, panel discussions, cooking demonstrations and children's activities. For one weekend, the historic Printers Row neighborhood is transformed into a festival for booklovers of all ages and interests.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/extras/printersrow/

FFP to talk about Graffitecture at the Renaissance Society.

Katharina Grosse at The Renaissance Society

The Renaissance Society at The University of Chicago
Saturday, May 19th at 2:00 p.m.

Front Forty Press:
Doug Fogelson
Dan De Los Monteros
David Castillo

on Graffitecture: Chicago Graffiti Artists Attack Photographic Spaces

Describing their process as one of "blind collaboration," Front Forty Press recently invited a host of Chicago graffiti artists to work on top of photographs of architectural interiors and exteriors. The result is a very handsome, straightforward publication entitled Graffitecture: Chicago Graffiti Artists Attack Photographic Spaces. Featuring a range of styles and approaches, Graffitecture is at once a thoughtful, expressive and aggressive project that gives pause to the relationship between graffiti and architecture as it is mediated through photography. Please join us for a discussion with Front Forty as they discuss the development of this project. This event is FREE and will take place in Cobb Hall Room 307, directly below the gallery.


http://renaissancesociety.org/site/Exhibitions/Intro.149.0.0.0.0.html

Zines, Comics, and Other Hip Lit Fair at the MCA, Chicago.

David Castillo & Ryanne Baynham reppin the FFPThe Quimby's Table

Zines, Comics, and Other Hip Lit Fair at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
Co-presented with Quimby’s Bookstore.

Sunday, May 13, 2007 from noon-4:00 p.m.

This free event will feature artist vendors, readings, and art making workshops. The fair brings together leading artists to celebrate independent press in all forms, including zines, comics, graphic novels, artist books, and much more.

Front Forty Press will have our 'hip lit' and assorted sundries, with thanks to our best local source for all things lit and hip- Quimby's!

http://www.mcachicago.org/index.php

FFP at P.S.1/MoMA Fine Print: Alternative Media

Dan, Yuri, Matt & crew stepping up to P.S.1

Doug Fogelson addressing P.S.1

Interior view of P.S.1

Damien Duffy & John Jennings

Fine Print: Alternative Media at P.S.1 Presents:
Front Forty Press

Sunday, April 29 at 3:00 p.m.
P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center
22-25 Jackson Avenue at 46th Avenue
Long Island City, NY 11101

Presented and co-organized with innovative publications from New York and nationwide, Fine Print: Alternative Media at P.S.1 is a series of programs involving panel discussions, readings, lectures, music, performance, and play.

www.ps1.org

Graffitecture Opening and Book Release

Outside view of Hejfina

Opening night

The wall of Hejfina (pre-show)

The wall of Hejfina (post-show)

DJ's David Castillo & small MVP

Graffitecture- Chicago Graffiti Artists Attack Photographic Space
$40. (plus $6.95 shipping/handling)
Contact- orders@front40press.com

Friday Feb 23rd 5-9 PM
@
Hejfina
1529 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Chicago, IL 60622

The opening was a HUGE success last night! Lots of the artist/collaborators involved in the project came through and got their copy of the finished book. DJ's David Castillo and small MVP worked the 1's and 2's with a nice guest spot from the Human Beatbox Yuri Lane on the mic. Attendance was high (not bad for a Feb opening!!) and at one point the store even had to hold some people back for capacity reasons.

The opening, much like the Graffitecture project itself, had a wide range of ages and people from all walks of life. Front Forty Press and Hejfina kept the essential question going with a wall in the back that said, "What would YOU do here?" A hanging bucket of pens were provided and people responded over the course of the night. In the front gallery 4 enlarged photos of the space were drawn on by 4 Chicago graf artists- FACT, MERDOK, SKETCH, and MELON and then re-installed in the space where they were taken.

Everyone really enjoyed the book and we made some good sales to kick off the distribution effort. Check out these photos!
-D