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May 07, 2007
All Work and No Naps
Yesterday was about production. Having received a clean bill of health from editor Matt Westbrook, it was time to print, cut, staple, score, and bind Volume 7. We decided to make 300 copies this time around, 170 for this month's subscriber mailing, 30 or so for the various stores that are selling our stuff, and another hundred for the hordes of fledgling Idiots'Books enthusiasts we will meet at the MoCCA fest in June.
As you can imagine, making 300 copies takes some doing. So both of us had to work really hard all day.
No one perhaps worked harder than the printer.
Unless it was Robbi.
Or Iggy.
In truth, Robbi did most of the bookmaking yesterday while I worked on other projects, such as the press release for our upcoming reading in DC. You various DC people on our mailing list will soon get a postcard invitation, but let it be known that we will be reading from our work on Saturday, June 2, at 5:00pm at H&F Fine Arts, a new gallery in the Gateway Arts District (3311 Rhode Island Avenue). Get it on your calendars.
Here's the full release. Read it only if you're actually interested:
H&F Fine Arts
Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr of Idiots'Books
June 2, 2007
Book signing: 4:00-6:00pm
Reading: 5:00pm
At 5:00pm on Saturday, June, 2, writer Matthew Swanson and illustrator Robbi Behr will be reading from their collaborative books (including their most recent title, Dawn of the Fats) while presenting a projected slide show of Behr's illustrations. The two will be on hand from 4:00-6:00pm to sign and answer questions about their various titles, all eleven of which will be for sale. Also on permanent display at H&F is a 7' x 13' mural by Behr featuring a panel from her and Swanson's book, For the Love of God.
Swanson and Behr are the creative force behind Idiots'Books, a small press in Chestertown, MD that produces satirical illustrated commentaries on the human condition. The playful romp of Swanson's strange, yet captivating writing is complimented by Behr's visceral (sometimes grotesque) and concept-driven illustration. Usually funny, often irreverent, the books challenge conventional understanding of the relationship between word and image. Rather than merely "illustrating" Swanson's text, Behr's images present an alternate narrative, one that often ironizes or expands--or sometimes directly challenges--the stated intention of the words. The result is an unreliable text and a reading experience in which the traditional authority of words is called into question.
Swanson and Behr's books range across subjects from god to adolescence, French colonialism to self-image, and funnel cakes to traffic theory. Their works are not comics or graphic novels, but are best described as illustrated books for adults, (though the two have also made few books for children). Their work has been called "a carnival of the imagination," and has been described as "benevolent satire, fueled by equal parts anger and disgust--but tempered by a pity and humor that embraces the foibles, the weakness, and the sheer idiocy of the human drama." Their work may be seen at www.idiotsbooks.com
Both Swanson and Behr are 1997 graduates of Williams College; Behr earned her MFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2004. Swanson is a freelance writer and Behr an illustrator, fine art printmaker, and adjunct professor of art at Washington College. They live in a barn in Chestertown, Maryland.
H&F Fine Arts is at 3311 Rhode Island Avenue in Mt. Rainier, MD. Call 301-887-0080 or email Cheryl@hffinearts.com for more information, or check out the H&F Fine Arts Web site: www.hffinearts.com
Posted by bogenamp at May 7, 2007 11:26 AM