The art world through a magazine

I have just spent my lunch hour in the campus café, perusing my recently arrived copy of Aperture magazine. I had to break down and subscribe to apply for a portfolio review (which I also paid a fee to be considered for), and normally, I am 100% morally opposed to paying a fee to have my work seen. However. It is Aperture magazine.

I haven't read all the articles completely, and I haven't digested all the images fully, but it is really a stunning magazine. [I hear you-- "This is common knowledge, Kristen. You kind of missed the boat to blog about this." I don't care, I am using my First Amendment right to be redundant.]

The magazine size, printing quality, paper stock are the technical beauties that make the magazine worth looking at. Believe it or not, this is very important to me! I will not print my images on 'plain paper', or have them made by Walmart One-Hour photo (you get what you pay for), so it is delightful to see magazine reproductions that make the work as beautiful as I suspect it is in real life. It is a magazine that makes me smile to crack its binding open.

The cover itself is graphically wonderful-- everything an art magazine should be. Art Forum International also does a lovely job with layout, but they do not use such nice paper. [In their defense, they come out more often too.] What I am looking for specifically is an aesthetic approach that actually compliments the artwork, rather than trying to exploit every inch with some extra feature that might entice you to open it (if the cover model jammed into the tight space between text isn't enough). Aperture doesn't even put the date on the cover. Title, art, no other text. There isn't even a barcode.

All of that is superficial. Content is king, I know, but if I feel dirty even touching the thing, I am less likely to read the articles. These articles I can read with pride, and are written so I am likely to finish them completely. Each article is complimented by several pages of full color images, again with no extra junk to distract from them. There is a fascinating article on a Hitchcock film and the associated film stills. Two of my art heros are in there (Joel Sternfeld and Duane Michals-- with new work I haven't seen yet, and such a nice way to see it). There are articles on classical photography, photojournalism, contemporary art, and virtual art (via Second Life). A new artist I loved (new to me) was Claudia Angelmaier. She re-photographs books. Her image of my favorite Dürer painting pretty much had me sold (sorry, can't find her piece online).

I have used my lunch hour and have to go back to work, but the articles are awesome... check them out. I think I will be using the Hitchcock movie article by David Campany in my beginning class. It isn't on the website yet, but it is very interesting.