MutiNY Dispatch: 2

Can You Send a Fist Through the Mail?

[x] MAY Flyer: 

[x] Intro: 

Yo! We’ve sped by Jan—Feb—Mar, and April and are now looking down the barrel for the rest of the year. This newsletter hasn't been forgotten, but I wanted to find an appropriate writing voice to convey the speed of work without sounding like I'm selling you something instead of inviting you into a process. But these are only things that can be addressed in the doing of a thing.

[x] Process:

This month's poster is inspired by Gay Talese’s now legendary Frank Sinatra Has a Cold. Around the start of JAN, my partner and I were on a little outing with our dog and came upon a Gay Talese poster leaning on the side of a tree; after a whole morning discussion about Talese where my lovely partner imparted her wisdom about who Talese was and why the now reclaimed poster would be so sick in our home, I read Frank Sinatra Has a Cold and loved it deeply. I won't go into a breakdown, but here are much better explanations; simply put, it is a complex celebrity profile for Esquire that doesn't shy away from Sinatra's mercurial nature. I was struck by many bizarre one-liners, ol’ blue eyes would say, but this one where Sinatra, whose anger has just been cooled by the potential of a CBS news segment on him being more investigative and hard-hitting than the usual puff piece without his permission. And it results in being nothing more than the usual adulation is asked if he wants to call CBS to clear the air. All he says about the situation is, “Can you send a fist through the mail?” Check out the whole article here. 

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Admittedly, the MOLDY BITS zine with the American Legion gift book was launched through a somewhat dinky pre-order system, but there will be a much more formal system in the future. Two more zine releases are planned for the year, but there's room for smaller batch books to be made spontaneously. 

The end of May will bring many new works that resemble the most recent MutiNY L.L. BEAN boat and tote bag. Some in-progress photography can be found below. The biggest inspiration for works like this and much of what will come out next is the pursuit of weaving the past and the future together by making contemporary totems with vintage textiles and objects. I'm interested in creating works that might have been.

 [x] New tee design:

The last new tee design was a digital collage using vintage photography from Porsche and NASA. In the last couple of years, I have been a big fan of using negative space in collages and have always wanted this design as a tee. A new design will be released at the start of May. Below is a preview. The painting is a public domain artwork called Automobility from the Library of Congress public domain section. There have been no changes to the original artwork, but the tee designation will be THRILLSEEKERS. 

[x] RECs : 

Reading:

Three Fingers by Rich Koslowski, found in the internet archives, is a provoking spit in the eye at Disney; alternative histories always intrigue, and this is designed to read like both a horror novel and a very depressing documentary. A+. 

Corita Kent: Ordinary Things Will Be Signs for Us by Ault, Fulford, and Weitzman is a collection of photographs by artist and former nun Corita Kent from throughout her life and her time with the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Los Angeles. She had a mighty and inquisitive eye, and so much of it has already bled into my approach. It was found on sale, no less. Here.

Watching:

Banned from Broadcast: Saiko! The Large Family 

I caught this one from a random tweet, a mockustyle horror documentary. It is the only part of a larger series of film and TV specials that has been made or translated into English. The Banned from Broadcast specials and films are built on the idea that these are unfinished or unairable works because something malicious happened, and these tapes (episodes) were “found” in local TV archives, now aired for the first time. It's a series where the viewer has to find the story within the story presented, and there are overt clues to glean the actual narrative. It's great at forcing viewers to reexamine how they watch or consume media and stories that can be made so dense that a casual first watch may not be enough. The rest of the series hasn't been translated. However, @scaredsheep on YouTube has broken down the first six episodes, including the first part of this films story for English viewers. I can't recommend this one enough.  Below is the film description. But the film can be watched here.

Canadian filmmaker Veronica Addison, who makes documentaries on family issues around the world, closely follows a very large family in Japan. Although they appear cheerful on the surface, the family has many problems.

Playing in the studio: 

William Sheller’s Lux Aeterna - Introit

 Introit might sound familiar if you're a Deltron 3030 fan. Listen here.

Macroblank - Plastic Fables

 from a couple of years ago, but has been something excellent to work to. Listen here. 

Thanks for stopping by. See you in June!  

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[x] If you're interested in producing content for this project, please feel free to reach out; I'm more than happy to pad someone's resume with some would-be bonafides. [x]