Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Monkey's Paw

Its been awhile since my last update, I've just been working away on my upcoming show, working away on the comic and doing some other miscellaneous pieces... This friday at my favourite bookstore in the city, The Monkey's Paw, I'll be showing some of those miscellaneous pieces... A bunch of us designed shelf labels for the store, nothing too insane, but they were a lot of fun to make and I'm looking forward to the reception... Come by, look at some reaaaaally small drawings, browse through the stock of old, rare, and bizarre books...

Below is the press release and scans of what I drew...

Also, another update is coming soon, it will have some more drawings, new comic stuff, photos of piles of firewood that I chopped at my parent's cabin... Also, I just decided that I'm moving to New York in September for four months to work on the center piece of my upcoming show... I'll be there all autumn, if anyone wants to meet up or see the studio or whatever, email me cause I imagine I'll be a bit on the lonely side while I'm there...

Ok, here is the press release, I hope everything that I wrote makes sense, I just woke up a few minutes ago and my brain is still in idle...

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13 NOTABLE ARTISTS CREATE WORDLESS SIGNAGE FOR PECULIAR BOOKSHOP
July 23 - August 10
Reception: Friday, July 25, 5-9 p.m.

Next week, Toronto's most idiosyncratic secondhand bookshop hosts an unprecedented site-specific group art show: the Monkey's Paw Section Label Project.

Responding visually to the cultural content of an entire bookstore, 13 Toronto artists have created (very small) section labels for all 52 subject categories throughout the Monkey's Paw. Their work will be mounted on our shelves and on view from July 23 to August 10. A public reception will be held at the shop on Friday, July 25, from 5 to 9 p.m.
THE ARTISTS
All participants are regular visitors to the Monkey's Paw, and bring to the project first-hand knowledge of the shop's aesthetic and cultural bent. In style, they range from literalist illustrators to austere conceptualists; but all share a demonstrated fondness for whimsy, pathos, and subversion. They are:
Stephen Appleby-Barr
Katie Bethune-Leamen
Diane Borsato
Shary Boyle
Nicole Collins
Nicholas Di Genova
Kristan Horton
Michael Maranda
Olia Mishchenko
Jenn Murphy
Lauchie Reid
Derek Sullivan
Jacob Whibley
THE PROJECT
The Monkey's Paw differs from other bookshops in a number of ways, not least in its imaginative organization and complete lack of signage. Although the books on the shelves are carefully arranged by subject, the shelves themselves are not usually labelled. Nothing interrupts the organic flow of one section into the next, so browsing becomes an act of exploration and discovery: "bookshop as narrative."

The Section Label Project sets out to interpret, or re-interpret, that narrative. These thoughtful works add new dimensions of significance and mystery, and deepen the complexity of the relationship among books, browsers, and environment. They look damned cool, too.

All 52 section labels are available for purchase at a uniform price of $150 apiece. In addition, the Monkey's Paw is publishing a full-colour Section Label Project catalogue in the form of a limited-edition poster/shelf map. Both the original artwork and the catalogue will be offered for sale beginning Wednesday, July 23. We hope you can join us for this uncommon event

We remain,

The Monkey's Paw
1229 Dundas St. West
Toronto

416.531.2123

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Ok, here are the tags...sorry the scan is so bad, but it does get bigger if you click it...