MARTIN HUGO: NOT GUILTY?

On August 31st at Skylab Gallery, Martin Hugo will be displaying his collection of O.J. Simpson-themed T-shirts that were made and sold before and during Simpson's criminal trial for the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.

Hugo has been searching these T-shirts out over the past few years, shirts that were originally sold on the street by unlicensed merchants, which have now become collectible commodities that often demand high prices on resale sites like eBay. The collection captures an array of aesthetically intriguing "naive" graphic design choices while serving as an inlet to the larger political and social narratives of 1990s America - an era that is currently mythologized as a time of peace and prosperity, which, in reality, was a time typified by bitter, fractious domestic politics. From Simpson's trial to the Unabomber, Oklahoma City to Waco, the Michigan militia to the Rodney King riots, the Amadou Diallo shooting to David Duke, 1990s America was a cauldron of social paranoia and racial hatred. Hugo's T-shirt collection perfectly articulates the role of the Simpson trial as an avatar for America's deep racial divisions and prompts insoluble questions about the nature of commerce and justice in the United States of America.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a print publication, which includes an essay by Dylan Taylor-Lehman entitled "Translating the Untranslatable, Expressing the Inexpressible."

CJ the DJ will be playing music during the opening.

Other News:

* ROY G BIV Gallery's Emerging Artist Series posts its 2012 Yearbook zine online. EAS's DIY Fest takes place at ROY on August 28th at 6:00 p.m.
* Columbus "Alive" covers John Malta's CCAD welcome week presentation.
* OSU Urban Outfitters Arts Space releases details on its upcoming Mark Beyer exhibit, Mark Beyer: With/Without Text, comprised of local art enthusiast Tom Wagner's extensive Beyer collection.
* Ricky Crano and Andrew Culp interview Claire Fontaine at Radical Philosophy.
* Vice.com's Nick Gazin reviews Universal Slime, a zine edited by John Malta that includes a few pieces I made.
* Real Pain: Future Dead Friends Tour 2012 comes to Skylab Gallery on September 27th, featuring Megan Boyle, Sam Pink, Jordan Castro, Mallory Whitten, Scott McCalahan, and many more readers.
* Video of Shaver performing "Mental Convict" in Pittsburgh, PA.
* Video of Vivian Xiaoshi Qin's piece "Joy" at ROY G BIV Gallery.

Party Pics

Assuming Size Reading

                                                        Charmant.




On November  27th, Jordan Castro, Ryan J., Richard Wehrenberg Jr. and I held a reading at Kafe Kerouac for the official release of our joint poetry chapbook, Assuming Size.

You can listen to the reading above by clicking through the tracks on the player. The tracks are out of order and run 1. Introduction 2. James Payne 3. Jordan Castro and Mallory Whitten 4. Question and Answer 5. Richard Wehrenberg Jr. 6. Ryan J.

Or download: Introduction, Ryan J., Richard Wehrenberg Jr., James Payne, Jordan Castro and Mallory Whitten, Question and Answer session.

Assuming Size was reviewed by multifariously creative person Dan Tarnowski at On Lives.

Assuming Size is on the Well Read Wife.

Also, Ryan and Richard's poetry reading in Oberlin, Ohio, was reviewed favorably by Alice Beecher at Fearless and Loathing.

In other news, as should be expected, Weedsteeler.com is on the frontline of government censorship.

See pictures Mallory Whitten took during the reading after 'the jump.'

Party Pics

MARCH CSBYS MONTHLY

March's issue is pretty great. John Also Bennett contributed an actually fascinating piece about ambient city-made noises and his work recording them for the Bureau for Open Culture. Mickey, of the buzz band New Creases, has a LOL period story*, Josh Hoey tackles the Texas School Board, Bret looks at our decrepit, decaying local press, Sara Drake has a dancey comic, and Martin says "fuck a whip unless its a metro card." I contributed a story which you can also see here.

The monthly has been a surprisingly divisive project on our little message board. View the thread in which I make an array of boring arguments in support of the monthly and other people make arguments, occasionally pretty acidic ones, against it.

* If you too have a "shocking, gross, horrible, hilarious or awesome period story" you should send it to mickeymocnik@gmail.com for a zine she is making.

Two New Columbus Zines.

Two new zines are out in Columbus - "Black Cloud" and "Candygram." Full blogger disclosure: I am indirectly involved with both. Bret's "The Black Cloud #3" is a community affair that has a pretty classic Brian Deller story, a State of the Neighborhood address from present and future politico Miles Curtiss and contributions from Nick Crane and Meg O'Malley. Ana from Painkiller provides a sweet illustration reproduced below. There is also a reprint of my "When the Students Are Away..." poster.

More on Candygram, buttons, a bad story and something about editions after "the Jump."