Yesterday I met up with a few friends to catch up. The boiling sweat-inducing weather called for migration to an air-conditioned building and what better place than the AMC theatre to catch the new Bansky movie Exit Through the Gift Shop.
For a documentary that wasn’t on Bansky himself, I thought it was really entertaining and just as intriguing as the man of mystery. What was so cool about today that made it utterly complete was that while walking along Spadina ave. noneother than Ness spotted a “BANKSY!!” I recognized the area as the entrance near a sketchy playground I used to visit at night with my high school buddies. Although this can’t override the good times, it definitely enhances the concrete I’ve seen a few people stumble by.
Rumour has it that Bansky left a few of his pieces scattered around Toronto and some were already being covered up (had the proprietors not known what they had done?!).
Of course none of us had our cameras with us so we fumbled to grab our phones to snap a quick pic. This is what we saw:
Fetishes are wild and wacky things. I originally started exploring this dark corner of the bedroom with my Roleplay Zine. This time though, I decided to take it to the next level; instead of a cute, plump character, the protagonist was transformed to a more humanized, relatable young woman.
“Get Off!” (Roleplay Zine #2) is a further exploration of the absurdity of roleplaying. How having multiple identities have found their way into our sex lives. How sexual attraction is limitless: trees, diapers, animals, food, and even unsightly hair. Essentially anything that’ll raise the eyebrows of the average Joe (unless Joe’s into some kinky stuff himself).
I know when I started the project that I wanted to create something that was intimate and interactive. Something discreet and voyeuristic you could hide underneath your mattress, or wedge between an unassuming shelf of books. Essentially a play-off of the porno mag but with less vulgar and upping the class.
A visit the Paper Place, the printers, grabbed some needle and thread and …Tada! All the pieces assembled in a handmade book. The jacket is unmarked (which I may change later on) with the illustrated cover on the inside. Currently it’s a short erotic art book including all 5 pieces.
Now here’s the fun part. You can actually undress the models. Let me demonstrate:
I wanted to make the costumes detachable to showcase the character as a stand alone, ordinary girl sans charade. Now how about the rest in their naked glory? You’re going to have to get your hands on a book to enjoy a piece of that.
I’ll be making more of these for Canzine 2010. If you’re interested in a copy, please contact me either by email or comment! I’m at the early stages of production so having an estimate number of copies to make would be great. I haven’t decided yet if I’ll add more pages/zany fetishes, but I’ll be sure to update a decision some time this summer.
What I can tell you is that there’ll be a limited run of hardcover editions (all handmade of course) with a potential softcover alternative.
Happy staring.
P.S. This was done as part of a super fun last project for Gary Taxali’s illustration class. Here’s a shout out for the support. It made my semester!
It’s a pretty dreary day today. My nose feels kind of drippy, and I haven’t done much but stare past the blinds by my window. I think I may take a walk.
For some reason I always seem to choose my studio classes to be bright and early at 8:30 in the morning. Without some caffeine, my drawings tend to be sluggish and completely unsatisfying. I have a love-hate relationship with charcoal so I generally go with pencil work when I can get away with it.
Here are a few more polished drawings done during studio time (by the way it was a pain and a half to try to document something that’s atleast 18×24).
And some weekly assignments:
Facial proportion study
Finalized portrait study
Finalized clothed figure study
I’ll be continuing life drawing this summer with the playful models of Dr. Sketchy’s and some open classes at OCAD. Oh and a convenient “volunteer” model, wink.
