As a class, we were asked to find a copy of Hi-Fructose, an art based magazine which my tutor has recently found interest in, and review it, seeing whether it would be a potential source of information, inspiration and so on within the future. I did look for a copy within WHSmith and the Travelling Man in Newcastle but was not able to find it in either, I did look online but I had found that the shipping of the magazine would cost more than the actual piece.

So, I thought instead of Hi-Fructose, I would go back to WHSmith and purchase the newest copy of Juxtapoz, another art based magazine which my tutor has in the past spoken highly of. I have reviewed another issue in the past, and I did not really think too highly of it, but I feel that was more based on the artists involved, as they weren’t necessarily my cup of tea, but I did find artists called Icy and Sot in an advertisement for their exhibition, and I have since followed them on social media from reading the magazine, as they would create pieces with deeper meanings, connecting to worldly issues, either with politics, the economy or the environment.

So, from this good discovery, I decided to give Juxtapoz another chance, and the copy that I had picked up was, in fact, a 25 years celebratory issue and had come with a booklet called ‘Vans Vision Walks Volume #2’ which the company had made in collaboration with the brand Vans and consists of a lot of urban styled photography taken by multiple artists.

When reading through the magazine, I actually found an interview with Icy and Sot, called ‘Censorship and the Streets’ and is found in a category called ‘On the Outside’ in the contents page if you want to purchase the issue and read more about the artists for yourself.

If you would like to read my previous review of Juxtapoz: issue 202 back in 2017, click here.

So, what is the magazine?

Juxtapoz is an art based magazine which has run for 25 years now, (since 1994), and includes interviews with hundreds of artists over the year, of different backgrounds and multiple styles, some of which I shall be discussing within this blog post. The magazine also includes advertisements for many clothing companies, breweries, hairdressers and so on, but they will also include advertisements for art exhibitions, which is how I had initially discovered Icy and Sot. I do however believe all of these advertisements are American based, which makes sense because so is the company, but its a bit annoying when you would be interested in going to the exhibition but it turns out it is in Denver or Arizona or so on.

As the magazine has a variety of artwork it includes, such as street art, sculptural work, photography, paintings or illustrations, etc, the magazine can appeal to a wide audience of artists or art enthusiasts.  The magazine has the ability to inspire people, bring new artists to light, or highlight older more well-known artists with a fresh perspective. So overall, it is a way to keep up to date with current styles and trends within the industry, but in more areas than one, looking at contemporary art as a whole, as opposed to just specifically looking into illustration, street art, fine art and so on.

 

What does it contain?

It’s featured artists in this specific issue are Andy Warhol, one of the key icons and artists of the pop art movement within the ’60s. Kaws, whose work I have come to notice more regularly within pop culture, especially with his identifiable character, who I believe I had seen set up at a birthday party for Travis Scott, arranged by his girlfriend Kylie Jenner. There is also a featured artist named Swoon, who works with mixed media, creating huge installations, stop-motion animations and so on, and there is an artist named Jason Revok, who I believe is a street artist and I would say that he primarily works with patterns and a lot of colour. Another few notable mentions are James Jarvis, Louise Bonnet, Haroshi and Muzae Sesay.

 

The artists

There was not a lot of work that I had found appealed to me, or would inspire my work in the future. That is not to say that the work within the magazine was not good, some of it can be amazing to the right audience and reader, but personally, for me, it was not my cup of tea.

Mando Marie

Like how I discovered the artists Icy and Sot, I had also discovered another artist through the advertised exhibitions within the Juxtapoz magazine, this one being of the work by Mando Marie.

I believe she is a street artist, working with a lot of stencils and a flat and minimal colour palette, but what had drawn me to her work was the style, as her figures have a vintage illustration style to them, possibly 50’s as they remind me of the illustrations within Enid Blyton’s book of the magic faraway tree, by Dorothy M. Wheeler.  As I had read this book when I was younger, there is a sense of familiarity with Marie’s style which I do enjoy.

I do like the simplicity of the designs and do wish that I was able to see the work first hand, as I do believe I would make the effort to go if it were more local, but as it was in Canada, I do think the travel would be a little of a stretch. If I were to take inspiration from this artist, it would be within her technique, as I would like to create larger scaled work someday, ones that I have not worked on digitally, so I believe using stencils would be the way forward, but I would need to gain more experience with spray paint, as I have not used the medium before and would like to create clean designs.

If you would like to see more from this artist, her Instagram is @seeyouthroughit (as shown below) and she also has a Tumblr site at www.seeyouthroughit.com.

Swoon

Swoon is one of the featured artists within the magazine, and she is described to be a therapeutic artist, referring to her work “as a balm” (Farr, 2019) as to heal the audience or recipients of her art.

She is a mixed media artist, working with materials from paper to large scale linoleum block printing, with room installations to street art. What had drawn me to her work was the piece called ‘The Canyon’ which was a huge room installation piece of a woman which seemed to be rising out of the ground through waves, and her dress seemed to be made from the imagery of sea creatures. There is a sense of collage to her work and I enjoy how the character is in greyscale, almost having a hand-drawn effect to her, but how the flat pastel colours of the fluid elements or animals included compliment the grey tones and make the design look very soft and appealing to the eye. I also feel the colour palettes make her work more feminine, but the papercut style complements the tones well.

Like with the previous artist, I would like to work at a larger scale with my work in the future, but looking at Swoons work, she does encourage me to try new mediums. I relate to this artist with her content as I do enjoy drawing women myself, so it is nice to see where else and what more I could do with that type of imagery.

If you would like to know more about this artist, her Instagram is @swoonhq, (as shown below) and she also has a website at www.heliotropefoundation.org, which is a non-profit organisation that the artist runs along with a team, to help communities that have been affected by natural disasters.

Overall Opinion

Although I was able to discover these two amazing artists, I still do not hold a high opinion of Juxtapoz, at least for myself and my own preferences of artwork. I do feel this magazine could be a good source of inspiration and current knowledge of the industry for some people, especially if you are more interested in more modern/contemporary work, but as of yet, I have not found an issue of Juxtapoz that I was really excited about or would highly recommend. That’s not to say that there isn’t one out there that could fit my interests more, but with the two that I have read, issue’s number 202 and 208, neither really feel up my alley, so I do not feel encouraged as to purchase them again.

 

Bibliography 

Bogojev, S. (2019). Icy and Sot – Censorship on the Streets. Juxtapoz, (208), pp.66 – 68.

Farr, K. (2019). Swoon – The Catalyst. Juxtapoz, (208), pp.86 – 93.

Farr, K. (2019). Swoon – The Catalyst. Juxtapoz, (208), p.87.

Heliotrope foundation. (2016). [online] Available at: http://www.heliotropefoundation.org/ [Accessed 21 Feb. 2019].

Russell, M. (2017). Juxtapoz Review 18th November 2017,. [Blog] Melissa Russell’s Blog. Available at: https://melissagrussell.blogspot.com/2017/11/juxtapoz-review-18th-november-2017.html [Accessed 21 Feb. 2019].

List of Figures.

Figure 1 – Juxtapoz. (2019) Winter 2019, (208).

Figure 2 – Bogojev, S. (2019). Icy and Sot – Censorship on the Streets. Juxtapoz, (208), pp.66 – 67.

Figure 3 – Marie, M. (2018). Instagram. [image] Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/BrIsUPLluFS/ [Accessed 21 Feb. 2019].

Figure 4 – Farr, K. (2019). Swoon – The Catalyst. Juxtapoz, (208), pp.86 – 87.

Figure 5 – Station 16 (2019). Mando Marie. Juxtapoz, (208), p.55.

Figure 6 – Swoon (2018). Instagram. [image] Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/BmL9QQTDDr6/ [Accessed 21 Feb. 2019].