The Society of Typographic Arts, a vital participant in the Chicago design community since 1927, has just held its annual Design Archive competition. Front 40's book, The Time After, designed by Hartford Design, is one of the 44 pieces selected from hundreds of entries. We are very excited to be included in this impressive archive of beautiful design work being produced here in Chicago. See the work here!
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Join us for an afternoon of music in the Signs of the Apocalypse/Rapture exhibition at Hyde Park Art Center.
Clarity
Twelve Modern
Zelienople
Mykel Boyd
will perform from 1-5 PM on Saturday, September 12th 2009.
Hyde Park Art Center is located at 2020 S. Cornell check the link for maps, etc.
WINk magazine is a unique photography publication that strives to showcase "the most striking, innovative and moving images" they can find. They recently featured the photography of Doug Fogelson on their blog. Read the review below or online.
Doug Fogelson refers to his recent work in the book The Time After as “soft activism.” By employing multiple exposures, he creates images that are illusory, contradictory and startling. His intention is to convey the complex human relationship to nature, underlining the reverence for the natural form. By layering images of individuals, clouds, sky, ocean, deserts and architecture, he explores the relationship of cyclical time, of people to their natural as well as artificial environment and, ultimately, the transience of human existence.
In an interview with Photo District News, Fogelson claims that his work is “about different time signatures…seasonal time, cosmic time and human time, and within each of the exposures, where they’re overlapped, you’ve got different time signatures as well.”
The innovative technique of in-camera overlapping was something that began to fascinate Fogelson early on as he explored non traditional processes. Inspired by the styles of individuals such as Harry Callahan and Barbara Crane, Fogelson began experimenting with a medium-format rangefinder camera equipped with a winder that is disconnected from the shutter, hence allowing him to control the aperture and shutter speed. Layering images in different locations, with different vantage points, creates a unique sense of motion and transience that gives his photography the “soft activism” that he intends.
Though his message is intrinsically linked with that of environmental concern, Fogelson’s work sets itself apart in that it doesn’t expose the devastating effects of mankind on the planet but rather sets the spotlight on the purity of nature. Particularly through the technique of double exposure, Fogelson hopes to make his audience “suspend disbelief [and see] that they’re not just seeing a flat thing, but looking at, remembering, or feeling the subject.” He hopes that by juxtaposing the urban with the natural as well as accompanying the images with the writings in The Time After he will be able to convey the “larger perspective” of human destruction.
Photo District News (PDN) recently interviewed F40 Director, Doug Fogelson, about his unique photographic process and his new book, The Time After. Read the interview and view the photo gallery on the website.
Human Nature: Doug Fogelson's Overlapping Exposure Process
“The planet must echo with our ghosts, and all the things we did and wanted still to do.”
—Eiren Caffall, from The Time After
Earlier this year photographer Doug Fogelson released The Time After, a book that considers humanity’s troubled relationship with the natural world through an exploration of lifecycles and time signatures, which he visualizes using overlapping exposures created in-camera. His process yields complex images in which the subjects—people, urban architecture, street scenes, plant life, clouds, deserts and oceans, photographed in different locations around the world—intermingle and interact.
Fogelson worked with Tim Hartford to edit and design the book in a way that adds another layer of reference to Fogelson’s temporal and environmental themes: The book begins with multiple-exposure views of the sky and clouds, then turns to the urban environment before moving into the natural world, finally ascending back into the night sky, suggesting the passage of time—from day to night, from the birth to potential death of civilization. Environmental writer Derrick Jensen, writer and musician Eiren Caffall, and art historian Bridgette R. McCullough Alexander contributed texts that further explore the themes of humanity’s relationship with nature.
PDN recently spoke with Fogelson about his unique photographic process and how it helped him create what he calls a piece of “soft activism.”
PDN: The book’s title and its content suggest a reference to the fleeting existence of humanity. Is that the intention?
Doug Fogelson: It is. It’s about different time signatures; you’ve got seasonal time, cosmic time and human time, and then within each of the exposures, where they’re overlapped, you’ve got different time signatures as well. When I do the overlapping process it may take ten minutes to shoot one image or it may take an hour, where I’m waiting for traffic lights to change. It could be an intercontinental flight where I’m taking pictures out the window waiting for some interesting clouds to come by. There are different time signatures in the shots themselves. But I try to be really careful in lining up the shot; though there may be an hour in the image it all seems to be the same instant.
...Read the rest of the interview here.
Signs of the Apocalypse/Rapture has just been selected as a Critic's Pick on Artforum.com. Read the review by Claudine Ise below or click here to see it on the website.
This expansive survey curated by Doug Fogelson of the Chicago-based independent publisher Front Forty Press convincingly argues that the apocalyptic impulse still looms large in the contemporary imagination. Complementing a handsomely designed hardbound volume published late last year, the exhibition of thirty-four local and international artists is eclectic in its approach, encompassing both the mythic and the kitsch aspects of doomsday thought along with its more subtle and idiosyncratic variations. Inevitably, perhaps, the show’s imagery tends to coalesce around crumbling urban wastelands, ecologically devastated landscapes, and combusting or exploding phenomena––a literalism deftly offset by the inclusion of hypnotic, Op-inflected abstract works that convey transcendent states of euphoria. There’s also a healthy sprinkling of eroticism, for what good is an apocalypse without a little end-time bliss?
Yet for every painting that employs mushroom clouds or an orgasmically cocked head, there’s something else that veers off in a less predictable direction. In David Opdyke’s drawing Undisclosed Location, 2007, eerily detached power nodes—air ducts inexplicably protruding from the ground like submarine periscopes—chart a winding path toward an empty horizon. Even works that inspire bemusement elsewhere fit right in: The sentimentalized aerial embrace of a nude couple in John Pranica’s Autumn, 2007, has probably never looked as convincing as it does here. Located at the back of the exhibition, a listening station that features experimental music pipes sound-based expressions of the show’s themes directly into the viewer’s head, where the most potent visions of apocalypse and rapture ultimately reside.
Image: Sebastiaan Bremer, Jump into the Fire, 2008.Chicago Art Review–a new art blog here in Chicago by Steve Kush Ruiz–writes up a very nice review of the Signs of the Apocalypse/Rapture exhition at Hyde Park Art Center. Read it here.
Signs of the Apocalypse/Rapture is now on exhibition at the Hyde Park Art Center. The show had a great opening–it was packed and several of the artists were able to attend. Here's some pictures from Sunday and a review of the show in Newcity. The exhibition runs through September 20.
Ludington Building
1104 South Wabash Avenue
5:00 PM - 11:00 PM
Admission to the Printers’ Ball is free and open to all ages.
Time Out Chicago Magazine talks with Doug Fogelson about his new book: The Time After. Read the interview by Jonathan Messinger.
Image: “Apocalyzer” (2007) by Ricky Allman; acrylic and ink on canvas
Please join us this weekend at the Midwest's largest literary event: the 25th annual Chicago Tribune Printers Row Lit Fest in historic Printers Row in Chicago (on South Dearborn Street, from Congress to Polk). This event is free and open to the public on Saturday and Sunday (June 6,7) from 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM. The outdoor festival offers the opportunity to hear authors speak and debate their works. It also features unique booksellers, poetry readings, exhibitors, kids activities, cooking demos, wine tastings, and much more. There will be 180 participating booksellers and 200 participating authors!
Front Forty Press will have a tent and will be selling all of our books at a special discount (our back catalog books will be available at a huge discount).
FFP Director, Doug Fogelson, will also be speaking at the "Chicago's Independent Publishing Pioneers" panel discussion on Saturday at 10:00 AM on the Center Stage. This event is presented by The Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and will be moderated by Danielle Chapman (Director of Publishing Industry Programs).
The Fest will be held rain or shine. For printable PDFs of Saturday and Sunday programming schedules click here.
"The Time After" gets written up by Beautiful/Decay. Read the review here: http://beautifuldecay.com/2009/05/28/book-review-the-time-after/#more-4817
Front Forty Director Doug Fogelson is scheduled to speak on the artist panel at this special event! Come join the discussion on current art movements and projects in the Chicagoland area.
Click image above for details or read below:
The Chicago Urban Art Society Presents
Muscle in the Hustle : Contemporary Approaches to Promoting Art
June 20, 2009
1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
1048 West 37th Street. 3rd Floor
Chicago IL 60609
info@chgourbanartsociety.com
(May 25, 2009 – Chicago, IL) – The Chicago Urban Art Society, Chicago’s emerging art maker collective, is proud to present “Muscle in the Hustle”, a 2 session panel discussion focusing on current art movements and projects in the Chicagoland area.
The first session will be an artist-led discussion on the successes / failures of promoting their art, and new and unorthodox approaches to the current market. The second session will be led by a panel of curators and gallery directors whose focus is emerging, contemporary, & local artists. They discuss their successes / failures in promoting their venue / vision, in artist selection, & original approaches to attracting audiences. Art makers and artists areas of interests include but not limited to DIY, street art, graffiti, mixed media, muralism, found object, performance, photography, public art, print-making, and literary arts.
Panel 1 (1 p.m. – 3 p.m.)
Panelists include: Ray ‘CRO’ Noland, Erik ‘RISK’ DeBat, Doug Fogelson, Rahmaan ‘STATIC’ Barnes, Maria Gaspar, Revise cmw, Dolan Geiman, and Tom Torluemke
Panel 2 (4 p.m. – 6 p.m.)
Panelists include: Anni Holm (Curator at Orleans Street Gallery), Anna Cerniglia (Independent Curator), Mike Nourse (Chicago Art Department), Jim Molnar and Kuna Na (mn gallery + studio), Lauren Pacheco (32nd&urban gallery/space), Lana Crooks (AOKAY Gallery), Kuaze (Volume One Magazine)
Moderators are: Angeline Gragasin of National Headquarters & Greg Hertzlieb of the Brauer Art Museum.
The Hole: Consumer Culture recently won the "Rising Star" Award at the 2009 Glyph Comics Awards! Click the link below to read more:
http://www.popcultureshock.com/2009-glyph-comics-award-winners/48374/
About the Glyph Comics Awards:
The Glyph Comics Awards recognize the best in comics made by, for, and about people of color from the preceding calendar year. While it is not exclusive to black creators, it does strive to honor those who have made the greatest contributions to the comics medium in terms of both critical and commercial impact. By doing so, the goal is to encourage more diverse and high quality work across the board and to inspire new creators to add their voices to the field.
The awards are named for the blog Glyphs: The Language of the Black Comics Community (http://glyphs.popcultureshock.com), started in 2005 by comics journalist Rich Watson as a means to provide news and commentary of comics with black themes, as well as tangential topics in the fields of black science-fiction/fantasy and animation. For more information about the GCAs, contact Watson at rich.watson@gmail.com.
Front Forty Press Director Doug Fogelson will discuss the process of creating F40's newest book, The Time After with the hosts of "The Show 'n Tell Show" at The Whistler (2421 N Milwaukee, Chicago) on Wednesday, May 20th at 7 PM. This segment is the "Book Design Special" and is in conjunction with the Pilcrow Lit Fest. Come out for drinks, design/publishing talk and camaraderie! Copies of The Time After will be for sale at this event.
*Click on the image above to see the flier close up*
F40's newest book, The Time After (Photography by Doug Fogelson, Design by Tim Hartford) recently received the Honorable Mention award at the 2009 Green Book Festival, which honors books that contribute to greater understanding, respect and positive action on the changing worldwide environment.
See the book here. And then buy it here!
John Jennings and Damian Duffy, authors of The Hole: Consumer Culture Vol. 1, have been keeping busy with speaking engagements around the country.
The Hole is going to be used in courses at both Forest Park Community College in St. Louis, MO and Haverford College in Haverford, PA. Jennings and Duffy recently did a talk at Forest Park and are invited to Haverford in the Fall for a comics symposium which will feature a book party for The Hole! The two have also been asked to submit a comic entry into an anthology of autobiographical comics from Univeristy of Wisconsin.
And... The Hole is up for two GLYPH awards. Wish our authors luck!
F40 Director Doug Fogelson talks about Front Forty Press and brand new book The Time After with Alicia Eler for fellow Chicago publisher Step Sister Press. Click here to read the interview.
Step Sister Press, LLC is an independent publishing company founded by artist Annie Heckman in 2007 to promote discourse on emerging interdisciplinary art, literature, and critical theory projects. Based in Chicago, the press coordinates projects and collaborations with artists and writers around the world. It is committed to progressive inquiry through printed material and online projects. Each book contains the work of at least one contemporary artist.
“Rapture: (noun) A feeling of intense pleasure or joy. It’s the word that the Chicago publisher, Doug Fogelson had in mind when he assembled Signs of the Apocalypse / Rapture (Front Forty Press; $65), a sometimes brooding and other times bright compendium of art on the twin themes. Local artists Cody Hudson, Carrie Schneider and Eduardo de Soignie are among those showcased; the accompanying soundtrack featuring Sonic Youth, among others.”
– Chicago Magazine, March 2009
“There’s a ton of fine work in Front Forty Press’s Signs of the Apocalypse / Rapture, a coffee-table collection of pieces on the title themes by 74 visual artists and solo musicians, ten bands, and a Web site. In the ‘Apocalypse’ section, painter Till Gerhard’s ‘Pink Apocalypse’ depicts seven apparently undead kids, knee-deep in water while pink light seems to rain down around them—a funny, classically composed conflation of gay utopia and zombie Armageddon. Emilio Perez’s ‘Born All Over’ shows swirling, goopy abstractions mingling and rushing together, with twisted faces almost but not quite taking shape in the muck. Over in ‘Rapture,’ Francesca Sundsten’s oil-on-canvas ‘Birdland’ is a serenely creepy mix of Magritte, Boccaccio, and Audubon—a nude, bird-headed woman in a natural landscape, surrounded by formally posed, rather dead-looking fowl.
The sonic material is on two CDs curated by David Castillo, Front Forty director Doug Fogelson, and Robert A.A. Lowe. It’s a little disappointing: an end-of-days compilation should include some bluegrass, gospel, and satanic death metal, dammit. Barring that, though, I was happy enough to listen to Om’s doomy trance sludge, Jana Hunter’s spooky, twee harmonic weirdness, and even Sonic Youth being Sonic Youth…”
– Chicago Reader, January 2009
Click on page image above to read the nice review by Alicia Eler for Chicago Artists' News.
Posting this a little late, but we were very excited to be written up in France!
Click on the image above to read the French review (in the January/March issue) or read the English translation below:
Millennium thesis, although often suspicious, carry a weight and an array of symbolic images recurring in the contemporary world, the idea was therefore judicious to collect the echo that they meet in the current creation. In the luxurious Signs of the Apocalypse/Rapture – a coffee table book in good and due form: 4 hefty pounds of, a cardboard cover lined in black linen of the most handsome appearance, two CD inside -, Front Forty Press, Chicagoan editor, has collected a series of musical and pictorial pieces relative to the coming of the Apocalypse and the anticipated return of Christ on earth (The Rapture, cherished notion of Christian fundamentalists). A tautology that the English artist Christopher Bucklow examines under a historical and metaphysical angle, likening the fall of the Roman Empire to today’s world. Several interviews concerning the end of the world visions (from heliophysic to theology) against which humanity has been confronting itself, adds to the discussion. But it is mostly the plates that commend attention. It isn’t so much, in this compilation, a matter of evaluating the pertinence of these pro-historic speculations as a mean to extract their metaphoric and graphic translation in contemporary creativity. This perilous curatorial exercise calls to an imaginary anchored in the collective subconscious, which privileges pieces with a most illustrative character, without sparing the typical names – a lot of unknown names – reaching often the over-limits of depiction and kitsch – and some beautiful discoveries (Ericka Somogyi, Sebastian Bremer) mixing with essential artists such as Bill Viola or Ed Ruscha. On the music side, the two CD unite the cream of the crop of the Avant-Garde rock-noise (Sunn O), Sonic Youth, Om, Death Unit, Lichens, Antony Pateras & Robin Fox…), without unfortunately revealing unknown pieces. The end of the world being foretold for 2012, you therefore still have 4 years to enjoy this beautiful object-book, while remaining somewhat vain. If there was to remain only one musical piece to crystallize these visions of Armageddon, aside the absolute perennial Apocalypse according St John by Pierre Henry, the album Soundtrack for the blind by Swans would impose itself. It is that seminal record testimony to the cultish American group taken by Michael Gira, against which the “plastician” Pierre Belouin, invited by the Rhinoceros Editions to supervise the 10th edition of Livraison, their beautiful contemporary art revue. Belouin’s work has always found an echo in the underground counter-culture and its “rizhomes” (Burroughs, Gysin, Coil, Throbbing Gristle), insofar as to take the shape of the Optical Sound label. This volume declines 29 propositions by artists and friends, sharing their interpretation of the record. A contrario of Signs of the Apocalypse, literal and frigid, this compilation is subject to open interpretations, creating junctions between personalities as diverse as Claude Leveque, Simon Fisher-Turner, Rebecca Bournigault, Black Sifichi, Serge Comte, Rainier Lericolais, Arnaud Maguet… A successful extraction of music in the plastic arts, between graphic proposition, snapshots and conceptual art. Julien Becourt.
Here’s a great review of the Hole by Georges-Claude Guilbert published online for GRAAT––a peer-reviewed journal of Anglophone Studies.
“Rarely has a graphic novel been more worthy of the label. This book is an ambitious piece of work, which tackles an inordinate amount of issues. Gender, sexuality, economics, class, race especially, it is all there for the reader to enjoy and leisurely process. Food for thought if ever there was any…”
Click on the link below to read the whole review on GRAAT’s website: www.graat.fr/review4_Duffy.htm
This past December Front Forty welcomed our friends (and amazing artists) John Hook and Andrea Peterson into our studio to set up a “salon” for a few days. With our doors open to the public the showcase of ceramic and paper artworks made at their compound in Indiana began, and so did the parties. An artists’ reception brought in a warm crowd with familiar faces as well as new friends. Attendees watched live demonstrations of the artists’ processes and walked away with various one-of-a-kinds works made with skill and love.
See their art here: hookpotterypaper.com
Country Club Chicago graciously offered F40 a night at their gallery to gather around the Signs book again in January. Locals and contributing artists chilled out in the white room, peering at Front Forty titles, drinking beer and discussing. It was great to see a few more of the contributing artists and talk; this is very much the goal–conversation about art, ideas, and life.
Another great turnout with good vibrations all around! Thanks to all who have taken interest and shown support–especially Mark McGinnis of CCC.
F40 threw two great events for the release of the latest book Signs of the Apocalypse/Rapture this Fall/Winter. Our official release party at Sonotheque had a most satisfying turnout. Chicago’s premier lounge of sound provided the perfect, intimate setting as we listened to live music and tracks from the book’s CDs, looked at projections of imagery (from the book), intermingled and had a few.
Our eyes and ears were delighted and challenged as we watched artist Michael Boyd craft a live set complete with ringing from a contact mic’d Tibetan singing bowl. Followed by the sincere riffing and percussion compliments of our great local band Zelienople who lifted us well into a hazy state of bliss. And DJ David Castillo summed it up all with a prime selection of doom and rapture tracks from history. A great evening was had by all!
Go to this link to see some sweet pictures of Mykel Boyd's performace, taken by Mandy J. Matz: http://www.flickr.com/photos/
Read the (November 2008 issue) review by Pedro Cabezuelo and Paul Corupe below:
The Hole is an ambitious graphic novel that attempts to dispel the popular perceptions of the Voodoo religion while satirizing capitalism, consumerism, racial tensions, black (and white) stereotypes, superheroes and mass media. The plot revolves around Carla Bonte, a middle-aged woman who has created a multimedia empire based on the concept of “hyper voodoo.” However, it appears that Carla is just a pawn of Papa Legba, a multi-faceted Voodoo spirit and trickster who has his own agenda. Though that is a rather gross simplification of a complex story filled with many characters and situations that neatly come together. From the first page, it’s obvious that The Hole is a labour of love for Damian Duffy and John Jennings, and that they are trying to create something of value, not just disposable entertainment. To their credit, they mostly succeed. What could have been an indecipherable mess is surprisingly easy to follow, thought-provoking an imbued with a strong sense of humour that makes the material fun to read. However, those unfamiliar with Voodoo (like most North Americans, I suspect), may have a hard time getting their heads around the characters and concepts. Duffy and Jennings try their best to initiate readers–using essays, notes and a glossary–but most of the material remains complex and hard to understand. A brief history of the religion and Papa Legba in comic form would have helped immensely.
