Musea Art Review #41 10/04
TomHendricks474
Title: "All Skewed Up: musings on coldhandsdeadheart
and selections from #1-14"
What is it? Anthology of zine drawings from the art zine
"coldhandsdead heart"
Technical Quality: Above average. Black and white
drawings are clear and detailed - same with the written text.
Innovative Quality: Above average. Nice looking package
has dramatic cover with assorted illustrations, and an attractive
and handy 5 and1/2" tall by 8 and1/2" wide shape. Also note
lots of variety in lettering in titles and text.
Review:
North Chili, New York Illustrator/zinester
Mike Twohig has here assembled some of
the best work from the first 14 issues of his
art zine "coldhandsdeadheart" (CHDH).
It covers his work for two and one
half years beginning in 1999. In the intro
he says he did much of his work at his 'drawing studio'
Java Cafe. Each page has 2 drawings and/or commentary.
In the notes he talks about zines, his background with
a degree in illustration, the evolution of CHDH,
his drawing style and influences, etc.
"Overall, I'm interested in creating thought provoking
original imagery. Something that one would not expect
to see in mainstream society. I've gotten a lot of influence
from subcultures based on interests like music (hardcore/
punk/metal/indie rock), art (low brow, graffitti, avant garde),
and skateboarding... movements that have tried to be
different..."
The art work is mixed. It ranges from not-too good
graffitti scribbles to very detailed political art
and poster design. The subject matter is almost
exclusively portraits of real people -
musicians, people in his life, and some political
personalities. Though for me, some of his best work
is in those few drawings of street scenes,
or wild animals!
His worst work looks like so-so drawn
gruesome teenage angst , similar to
the caricatures on t-shirts or skateboards;
his best work looks like political art that is as dramatic
and dark as Kathe Kollwitz, with a frenetic style
like Egon Schiele - all in a heavy jagged black line with
rough shading.
This collection shows an artist improving more than
accomplished. Yet the later work and his
strongest work is a mix of words and drawing
that would well suit black and white political
illustrations or well designed posters.
I would think that his best efforts would be highly
praised by any publisher looking for dark
and dramatic illustrations that build on an
often ironical line of text. Also it would work well
for any music zine that wanted illustrations
of musicians playing. And note, that of the
82 pages here the best drawings were often the
cover drawings of each of the 14 issues.
Contact Info: Mike Twohig
m_tw...@hotmail.com
www.angelfire.com/ill/miketwohig
Overall Grade: 3.4 out of 10.0
Grading system: 9-10 Highest grade - Life's work of
a master (ex. Collected plays of Shakespeare, collected
symphonies of Beethoven) 8-9 Single best work of a
celebrated master's career. 7-8. Best work of an era or
genre or decade. 6-7 Best work of the year. 5-6 Very
good. 4-5 More good than bad. 3-4 Average amount
of good = amount of bad. 2-3 Mostly bad with some
redeeming parts. 1-2 Nothing redeemable. 0-1 So bad
it is offensively bad and outrages the reviewere for
taking up that time in his life - just awful.
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conceivable field IF you follow the rules posted on
alt.zines or see our website or e-mail me.
Tom Hendricks tomhend...@cs.com
http://musea.digitalchainsaw.com
Tom Hendricks, Musea zine ed.
http://musea.digitalchainsaw.com"
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