Issue #04 – We made to number 4.
The fourth issue of Square2 Magazine intends to take you on a different journey from our previous issues. We’re always interested in pursuing varied perceptions of what can be considered “art”, and here we will celebrate the alternative, underground and indie arts scenes where illustration, comics and graphics meet fine art.
The Generalist, the work of Jeremy Vandermeij, by Becky Lane
His enthusiasm and level of engagement is what probably found him saddled with the responsibility of informally initiating our freshman class to design school with a welcome speech, during which he so vividly described the ups and downs of the experience that I had to leave and call my mother. “You will find yourself sobbing uncontrollably in the bathroom. You won’t even know how you got there…”
21st Century Friction: Explaining Letterpress in the Future Tense, by Vincent Perez
Despite how it looks, I’m not nostalgic. I have to insist on this point because of the scrap metal heap of evidence to the contrary: I’m a letterpress printer, and so, a de facto collector of industrial obsolescence. My prized piece is a Vandercook proofing press, an early 1960s model that might have been used to hand crank proofs of newspapers before they went to production-printing on larger machines. But the historical resonance of this doesn’t move me like you’d think.
Marigold Santos, by Marigold Santos
My interest lies in transformation. Fleeting childhood memories and my family’s immigration to Canada are an autobiographical point of departure. History as experiences, fragmented in memory and re-told to become personal myth are negotiated through the act of drawing.
Character of The Day, by Niall Eccles
Originally conceived of as a way to warm up at the beginning of the work day, ‘character of the day’ quickly became a very personal way to celebrate my love for drawing, particularly for character design. ‘CoTD’ is an internet-based art project, as my goal is to post a newly-designed character on my blog every day.
Tina Nguyen, by Chrissy Poitras
With a love for painting, Nguyen entices the viewer through her expressive painting style and unique use of colour. “Zombifyed”, a portrait of Nguyen’s brother, exemplifies her unique visual language and bold interpretation of portraiture.
Like Milk & Blood, the artwork of Amanda Nedham & Tristram Lansdowne, article by Trish Boon
For the exhibition at Toronto’s Le Gallery, director Wil Kucey paired two of his most technically gifted artists, Amanda Nedham and Tristram Lansdowne. Kucey believes that the individual awareness of each other’s technical prowess pushed the young artists to deliver what he thinks to be “the strongest show ever” at his gallery. Indeed, the immaculate representational skills immediately strike the viewer. After the viewer has had a bit of time to digest the artists’ sensational abilities , the subtlety of Kucey’s layered curation begins to settle with the onlooker and the concept of human immanence surfaces.
PS I Love You, interview by Kyle Topping with photography by Vanessa Heins
Kingston duo PS I Love You features lead guitar and vocalist Paul Saulnier and drummer Benjamin Nelson. These two young indie rockers are seeing a quick rise in popularity touring through the US with Diamond Rings and playing at this year’s South by South West (SXSW). Having just released their debut album, Meet Me At The Muster Station, highlighting the intense vocals of Saulnier, I interviewed the two band mates to get a better idea of their past, present and what’s ahead in their future.
Hanna Hur, interview by Chrissy Poitras
The drawings and photographs of artist Hanna Hur conjure feelings of sorrow, anxiety and confusion. The viewer is lured in by meticulous rendered portraits and prisms, which reflect notions of escapism and anguish over Hur’s continuous struggle with self-identity and departure from Christian faith.
The Hippy Mafia, by Bryan Bondy with Antonio Michael Downing
The Hippy Mafia is the sound of the 21st century. Other bands will claim the same, but many others offer mere exercises in genre, the recasting of retro; what’s recognizable, crammed into the here and now; mimicry masquerading as innovation.
