Tuesday 8 December 2009

Happy Xmas from Damp Flat Books


This is my 2009 Xmas Email Card, the photos were taken at a Christmas Market in London last week, where a rather credit-crunch santa was scaring children and the signpost was strangely revealing about the Christmas experience...

Tuesday 1 December 2009

Book Arts Newsletter - Issue 54



Every month-six weeks, The Book Arts Newsletter is published at the CFPR, edited by Sarah Bodman. This Blog is featured in issue no.54
It can be downloaded as a PDF from here (along with all the back issues):
 http://www.bookarts.uwe.ac.uk/newspdfs/54.pdf

Sunday 29 November 2009

International Postal Art Project 2010

This is my postcard image for the International Postal Art Project, Bristol 2010.
Each participant was sent a set of three perforated blank postcards, each artist creates one card and then posts the bundle on to the next artist. The project is curated by Helen Allsebrook and is due to be exhibited in Bristol, UK next year.
My image is an illustration of Sarah Palin's rather idiotic quote about why everyone should eat meat.



Thursday 5 November 2009

Future Fantasteek! Issue No.2 Now on Issuu

I've just uploaded Future Fantasteek! No.2 to Issuu.com, so now you can flick through the whole of this zine online.




Thursday 29 October 2009

Book Arts Newsletter - Issue 53

Every month-six weeks, The Book Arts Newsletter is published at the CFPR, edited by Sarah Bodman. Battered is featured in issue no.53 on page 19.
It can be downloaded as a PDF from here (along with all the back issues):
http://www.bookarts.uwe.ac.uk/newspdfs/53.pdf



Saturday 10 October 2009

New Book - Battered

Battered 95mm x 215mm wih 22 printed, folded pages, edition of 20



This book has a dual message; on one hand it’s a celebration of British chips but on the other it’s a lament to the declining cod. The book is called Battered to reflect these two sides, both the cooking and the over-fishing. The Atlantic cod is a fish in crisis, stocks have suffered heavily from overfishing on both sides of the Atlantic. All stocks are classified as being overfished or at risk of being harvested unsustainably. The sequence of pages details a packet chips being eaten, next to an image of slowly disappearing fish. The reverse pages show photographs taken over a number of years in the U.K., Gibraltar and Spain of chip shop ‘A’ boards - celebrating our culture of fish n’ chips. The book is covered in PVC table cloth material, bound in the style of a Japanese account book with folded pages. It is packaged in a chip shop bag that’s been printed with an original 2-colour lino cut, it also comes with its own wooden chip fork and ‘miracle fish’.


To flick through this book visit my website here:
http://www.dampflat.com/DAMPFLAT/books/battered/index.htm

This book will be exhibited at the 2nd Sheffield Artist's Book Prize Exhibition October 8th - October 31st, 2009. Held to coincide with the Off the Shelf Festival which takes place annually in Sheffield. 32-40 Bank Street, Sheffield, S1 2DS

Copies of
Battered have just been purchased by:

Thursday 1 October 2009

Damp Flat Books now available in the Minnesota Center for Book Arts

Damp Flat Books now has a stockist in the USA - MCBA Minnesota Center for Book Arts Opening times: Tuesdays: 10 am to 9 pm; Wednesdays through Saturdays: 10 am to 5 pm; Sundays: noon to 4 pm. Minnesota Center for Book Arts is located in the Open Book Building in downtown Minneapolis, 1011 Washington Ave S, Suite 100, Minneapolis, MN 55415, USA.
The MCBA are now stocking, Mortal Coil, Anxious Homes, Running a Secret Society, Headroom and Future Fantasteek No.7.
There's a special event on October 13th called An Evening of Fine Wine and Fine Books in our studios showcasing new Book Art in The Shop. This event was a huge success the last few years and attracted artists, collectors, and new faces who wanted to find out more about artists books.

Wednesday 5 August 2009

The Southern Cross University Acquisitive Artsits’ Book Award

Damp in Ditchwater has been selected for the SCU exhibition.
The Southern Cross University Acquisitive Artsits’ Book Award is coordinated by the SCU nextart Gallery, 89 Magellan Street, Lismore, NSW, Australia. Now in it’s 5th year this annual award provides Southern Cross University with an opportunity to continue to develop an artists’ book collection of national significance and in so doing also contribute to the development and awareness of artists’ books as an art form. Exhibition opening & announcement of acquisitions August 11 - exhibition continues to September 22.

Saturday 1 August 2009

Closure 2009 - Exhibition

The Gallery, The University of Northampton, 15th August–19th September 2009 at artworks-MK, Milton Keynes, UK.





We're Sorry_ has been submitted for this travelling artists' book exhibition from the We Love Your Books Collective. After the exhibiton, We're Sorry_ will join the WLYB permanent archive.


Wednesday 1 July 2009

Future Fantasteek! Issue No.7

Issue No.7 July 2009
...Fiddling Your Expenses Issue



Softback Zine printed in colour on cream and peach tinted papers, staple bound. A5 size containing 16 printed pages. Bright yellow card cover with 2 rhinestones. Issue Seven: Brighton 2009, edition size of fifty.

The Damp Research Facilities have been terribly busy shredding their expenses claims for the last ten years. I mean who’d have thought the public would have gotten knocky about perfectly okay claims for moat-cleaning and second homes, when they’ve all busy thieving handfuls of biros from work.So what if a few deserving Damp Staff want a new telly? Who wouldn’t begrudge them some small comforts? What else? Well Damp Research has proved conclusively that money is vital for happiness and in the spirit of you can never be too happy...keep fiddling the claim forms

Future Fantasteek! Issues: 1 and 7 have just been made available on Issuu.com these issues can be flicked through and bookmarked.
Future Fantasteek! No.1 -
http://issuu.com/futurefantasteek/docs/ff1
Future Fantasteek! No.7 -
http://issuu.com/futurefantasteek/docs/ff7



All issues of Future Fantasteek! can be viewed at: www.dampflat.com


Sunday 10 May 2009

Where Have All The Rich People Gone? - Exhibition

Where Have All The Rich People Gone - Kiss The Crisis
Exhibition in Copenhagen, my 'Million Squid Note' from Future Fantasteek! Issue 6 will feature in this group show about the current economic crisis. To see the show in progress visit Banko's group page here:


http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=104247356368#/event.php?eid=190768945345

Banko / VM -bjerget
Ørestad Boulevard 55
Copenhagen, Denmark

Private view is on 15 May 2009 between 17:00 - 20:00








Saturday 2 May 2009

Place, Identity and Memory – Exhibition

Place, Identity and Memory – books made by artists
Opens 23 May to 28 June 2009, Gracefield Arts Centre, Dumfries, Scotland.
Then the exhibition tours libraries and other venues across Dumfries and Galloway, ending at Stranraer Museum, 55 George Street, Stranraer, DG9 7JP, Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland between the 26th September – 31st October 2009, to coincide with the annual Literary Festival at nearby Wigtown, Scotland’s Book Town. This is a travelling exhibition by IRIS. The aim of IRIS is to develop Dumfries and Galloway as a recognised centre for book arts in Scotland and internationally. Headroom and Damp in Ditchwater both feature in the exhibition and catalogue








More Future Fantasteek! available on Issuu.com

Future Fantasteek! Issues: 3: 4 and 6 are now available on Issuu.com these issues can be flicked through and bookmarked. The file sizes means that images can be enlarged easily. If you like this system of viewing my zines, please leave a comment in Issuu. 


To see my zines visit issuu.com and search for Future Fantasteek!
I will add more back issues later:

Future Fantasteek! No.3 - 
http://issuu.com/futurefantasteek/docs/ff3




Future Fantasteek! No.4 - 
http://issuu.com/futurefantasteek/docs/ff4




Future Fantasteek! No.6 - 
http://issuu.com/futurefantasteek/docs/fantasteek6



Tuesday 21 April 2009

He bought me a soda and he tried to molest me in a parking lot, Vol.2.

Ding Dong! was specially created for this collective zine about song lyrics that get stuck in your head. This song, from The Wizard of Oz 1939 film, remained immovable during October, for no real reason I can think of. There's something about the song that is rather hysterical (not in a funny sense, more urgent), and in my imagination it was being shouted, rather than tunefully sung. Since I couldn't remeber any other lines from the song, these few went round and round and round and round and round...




Friday 10 April 2009

Limited Edition Prints Now Available

I've designed a new section of my website selling limited edition prints, available in A4 now and A3 in the future. Printed on heavyweight 220gsm acid-free paper. All prints are embossed with the Damp Flat Books monogram and numbered and signed in pencil. 


To visit this section click here...
http://www.dampflat.com/DAMPFLAT/print/print.htm



Sunday 1 March 2009

Future Fantasteek! Issue No.6

Future Fantasteek! ISSUE SIX : MARCH 2009
...Quantitative Easing Issue


Softback Zine printed in colour on white, green and yellow paper.
includes a free Million Squid Note that can obviously be photocopied as required - in line with good-'ol quantitative easing. Staple bound zine. A5 size containing 16 printed pages. Soft silver cover with sparkling green arrow. Issue Six: Brighton 2009, edition size of fifty.

The Damp Research Facilities haven't been inventing many new life-saving gadgets this season, since they've been flat-out printing money.

It's fantstic!
want a new BIG FLAT telly?
Just photocopy the million-sqid note included with this issue and buy what ever you'd like...
with enough change left for a packet of Spangles.


Saturday 10 January 2009

Zine Fest - The Women's Library

Saturday, January 24 2009, 12:00pm - 4:00pm
The Women's Library 
London Metropolitan University
25 Old Castle Street, London, E1 7NT


"...Ever wanted to make your own magazine or comic? Zine Fest is a hands-on day celebrating women’s involvement in self- publishing.Bringing together innovative publishers, artists, illustrators and crafters, this event shares easy techniques for making zines and visuals and advice on publishing projects from those in the know."


Future Fantasteek! will be on display and then joining the Women's Library Archive.


Compilation: Three Exhibitions on Books

One section of this show is the travelling exhibition, Shelter Artist's Book Exhibition
January 28th - March 31st 2009
Holy Cross, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery, One College Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01610-2395, USA

Headroom and Anxious Homes are both in this exhibition.







Tuesday 2 December 2008

Southdown College - Guest Speaker

I gave a guest lecture for A' Level students about 'Lovely Zines, the Zineopolis Collection and why not just go and make one'. Showing examples from the Zineopolis collection including issues of Future Fantasteek! I started the Zineopolis collection and now curate it as well as doing the website.http://www.zineopolis.blogspot.co.uk/p/f.html

Monday 1 December 2008

The Ministry of Books - Exhibition

Guest exhibiter on behalf of The Ministry of Books - December 2008 - January 2009
Quay Arts, Newport, Isle of Wight, UK
. Reboot was chosen to travel with this guest show.



Monday 3 November 2008

Visual Diaries - Sketchbook Project

Visual Diaries - The Space Gallery, University of Portsmouth 3rd-14th November 2008
Invited artist as part of a rotating sketchbook project.

http://www.dampflat.com/DAMPFLAT/news/visdiary/visdairy.htm






To see more about the Visual Libraries project visit:

Wednesday 15 October 2008

Cheltenham Illustration Awards - Guest Speaker

The title of my talk was - The Zineopolis Zine Collection and Future Fantasteek

"A one day Symposium that explores autonomous career pathways for Illustration graduates and professionals. We have a distinguished line-up of speakers, who are all keen to discuss the proposal that illustrators will only find creative satisfaction through self-expression and creating work that is meaningful to them, and not dependent on short-lived trends or dictates of the graphic design industry. The Symposium will take place at Pittville Studios, University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham on Wednesday the 15 October 2008, and will coincide with the presentation ceremony of the second Cheltenham Illustration Awards." Flyer copy

Wednesday 1 October 2008

Future Fantasteek! Issue No.5






ISSUE FIVE : OCTOBER 2008
...Credit Crunch Issue

Softback Zine printed in greyscale on yellow paper, with colour center pages, includes a tipped-in dubious banknote and rubber stampped flies. staple bound. A5 size containing 16 printed pages. Bright pink card cover with yellow dots. 

Issue Five: Brighton 2008, edition size of fifty.

The credit crunch issue looks at liars, not using your brain and spotting fakes. There's free money from the bank of Future Fantasteek included as a worthless free gift. The Damp Research Facilities answer these questions: Why are people so nasty to each other ? Is greed really the future? How many of us have eaten from the Tree of Stupidity ? Can genetically enhanced monkeys with clipboards replace office staff? And could octopus DNA enable you to work longer hours? More pointless questions to ponder in a disappointing world...



To see the whole zine follow this link
http://www.dampflat.com/DAMPFLAT/books/zines/future5/index.htm


Thursday 11 September 2008

Damp Flat Website gets Archived by the British Library

 The UK Web Archive is a corpus of websites selected by leading UK institutions for their historical, social and cultural significance in the UK, for the benefit of researchers. Snapshots of each title, known as instances, are taken at suitable intervals. The archive is free to view and has already collected over 4,000 selected websites since it was set up in mid-2005. Websites are either selected by subject specialists within the participating institutions or have been successfully nominated for archiving. 
The partners are; The British Library:The National Library of Wales: JISC: Wellcome Library:National Archives 

Damp Flat Books has been selected and is now being recorded regularly, view various snapshots here: 

http://www.webarchive.org.uk/ukwa/target/9404540

Friday 11 July 2008

B* *K - Exhibition

B* *K an exhibition of book-inspired artworks at the London Print Studio gallery
425 Harrow Road, London, W10 4RE, United Kingdom
Exhibition 11th July - 27th September 2008
Private view 10th July, 6.30 - 8.30 pm

Included in this exhibition is: 
Future Fantasteek - The Sick-o issue, No.4 Feb 2008





Thursday 8 May 2008

AHRC Artists’ Books Seminar - Guest Speaker

1 - 8th May 2008 The seminar was called: How are artists using and investigating new media for publishing?
School of Creative Arts, Department of Art and Design,
University of the West of England Bristol, UK

I will be giving a presentation on the 8th May called: Using the internet for showing and marketing artists' books. To see the slides that accompany the talk click here...




Friday 2 May 2008

Re:2008 Touring Artists' Books Exhibition




Exhibition curated by the we love your books collaboration between Melanie Bush, Senior Lecturer in Graphic Design, The University of Northampton, UK and Emma Powell, Senior Lecturer in Graphic Design, De Montfort University (Leicester), UK.

All books were based on re word(s). For example: release, remote, reject,reassemble etc. 


Wonderful books were submitted from book artists and students from all over the world
including: Finland, The Ukraine, Russia, Spain, Australia, Italy, Canada, Hong Hong, Hungary,
Germany, Portugal, Sweden and USA.
  • 12th – 29th May 2008, The Gallery, The University of Northampton, Northampton, NN2 6JD, UK.
  • 14th July–14th August, Artworks MK, Milton Keynes, UK 
  • 5th-14th November 2008, University of Portsmouth , CCi Space, Eldon Building, Portsmouth, UK




Reboot is on show. As part of the Portsmouth show there ar also another 3 exhibitions:

Visual Dairies - This was a sketchbook project with staff and students.

Zineopolis - I curate the zine collection at the University and selected zines are being shown,
Future Fantasteek! Issue No. 5 is being premiered at this venue.

The Ministry of Books - The University of Portsmouth has recently started an artists' books collection curated by Dr Maureen O'Neill. You can visit the site here...

Thursday 10 April 2008

Shelter Artists' Books Exhibition

New book - Head Room & Anxious Homes have both been accepted for exhibition due to open in late April - May 2008. This book will be available to view on my website soon. It's featured on the exhibition publicity, see left (it's second from top, the pink skyscraper).








The exhibition is now touring America:

April 10 - 22, 2008
Wedeman Gallery, Yamawaki Art and Cultural Center, Lasell College, Newton, MA

May 9 - June 19, 2008
Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, Silver Spring, MD

July 9 - August 15, 2008
Fleet Library, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI

Oct 6 – 31, 2008
Montserrat College of Art’s 301 Gallery, 301 Cabot Street, Beverly, MA

April 8 - May 3, 2009
Wells College, Aurora, NY

January - February 2009
Holy Cross College Art Gallery, Worcester, MA

Tuesday 11 March 2008

New Book - Headroom

The book is a visual response to the drive to fit more and more people into an ever diminishing space. The U.K is under pressure to find more housing and every patch of land, including gardens,are being built upon. New housing is tightly packed with little concern for the environment or the needs of the new residents. Whilst reading Roget's Thesaurus, I noticed the thematic listing of words was taking on a poetic significance, I used the word lists in the order they appeared in the Thesaurus to convey a sense of melancholy amongst the crowds. The book is printed on accounting paper to show financial pressures, the drawings are a mixture of my photographs of buildings and drawings of imaginary future towers, unintentionally imprisoning their tenants. The text is rubber stamped. 
290mm x 110mm. 14 pages with ending with edition number, signature and maker's emboss. 
To view this book visit my website at: http://www.dampflat.com/DAMPFLAT/books/headroom/index.htm

Now touring the U.S. as part of the
Shelter Artist's Book Exhibition.
  • April 10 - 22, 2008 - Wedeman Gallery, Yamawaki Art and Cultural Center, Lasell College, Newton, MA, USA
  • May 9 - June 19, 2008 - Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, Silver Spring, MD, USA
  • July 9 - August 15, 2008 - Fleet Library, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, USA
  • Oct 6 – 31, 2008 - Montserrat College of Art’s 301 Gallery, 301 Cabot Street, Beverly, MA, USA
  • April 8 - May 3, 2009 - Wells College, Aurora, NY, USA
  • January - February 2009 - Holy Cross College Art Gallery, Worcester, MA, USA



Saturday 1 March 2008

New Book - Reboot

Reboot - Limited Edition of 10, Brighton 2008




400mm x 170mm, a double spiral-bound pair of books each of 20 pages
The cover is clear acrylic closed with magnetic catches
Hand-cut rubberstamp icons are added to final printed pages
Several real capacitors and fuses are threaded into two of the pages






This is a book about computers. Do they really hate us? Why are computers so indignant when you want to open files, rewarding your impetuousness with spinning balls and hourglass icons. This is a book about technological brokenness. We rely more and more on technology and computers, ignoring the fact that there seems to be a mechanical revolt gradually gathering pace all around us - soon the only tasks left for us will be hand-drawing the Out of Order signs to hang on the machines. Over a period of time, I’ve been recording technology failures photographically as well as drawing the language of brokenness, cryptic messages such as, disc error and are you sure you want to shut-down?
I've combined my photographs and drawings into this pair of books, added to this hand-cut rubber stamps of familiar computer icons - hourglass, watch, cursor arrow and older legacy icons such as the floppy disk. Scanned legacy peripherals such as scsi leads and old network cables tangle across the pages, to remind us just how fast technology is moving.
The books work as a pair and should be opened and read simultaneously.



To View this book in more detail visit:
http://www.dampflat.com/DAMPFLAT/books/reboot/index.htm

This book was created for the Re:2008 Exhibition held by the We Love Your Books Collective
The exhibition will start at:
Artworks MK, Milton Keynes, UK from 14th July–14th Aug. 2008
The Gallery, Herefordshire College of Art – Summer 2008
The Space Gallery, University of Portsmouth from 3rd-14th Nov. 2008
Quay Arts, Newport, Isle of Wight, UK. Dec. 2008

Reboot is also held in:

Modern British Collections, The British Library, London, UK
The Ministry of Books, University of portsmouth, UK



    Friday 22 February 2008

    Zineopolis Exhibition

    Zineopolis Exhibition - 22nd February - 14th March 2008
    The University Library, University of Portsmouth, UK


    New zine collection a the University called Zineopolis will be showcasing its collection - Including all the 
    Future Fantasteeks! 
    www.zineopolis.co.uk