Let's go! Disco!

DISCO DISCO DISCO! The Star & Shadow cinema/arts venue returns after its summer break with disco party on 2nd September, raising funds for the venue. I'll be amongst the DJs spinning vintage funk & disco! Come along in your most sparkly gear and help support this amazing venue. Tickets a mere five quid! https://starandshadow.org.uk/programme/event/electric-disco,7065/

Check out the full amazing programme here: https://starandshadow.org.uk/

Swim for the surface

Paper Jam battled on valiantly in largely online form from 2020 through to 2022 but gradually got itself back to something resembling its former self during 2022. This culminated in the publication in spring 2023 of The Sea ...And That, our first anthology since 2019's prophetic You Need A Holiday ...And That.

The process of slowly getting our mojo back enough to put out a (really good) anthology involved first putting out a little A6 promotional anthology/zine in autumn 2022, Under The Restless Sea.

Here's the strip I did for that:

Yeah, it's been a funny old few years.

My story in the main anthology is, I suppose a continuation of these themes, but a bit sillier on the surface. Here's how it starts:

The anthology does have a lot of melancholic stuff in (comics, personal expression, catharsis, etc etc) but it's still incredibly varied and fun and really good to see in existence. It features plenty of old hands from Paper Jam of yore, but also plenty of new faces. There was a great launch party, sales are going well (it's available online here), and plans are being made for the next anthology.

It's nice to be, at least to some extent, back on dry land.

Spam spam spam zines and spam

 Last year, along with all the other dreadfulness, the Baltic contemporary art gallery in Gateshead weren't able to hold their annual Small Press Artists Market (S.P.A.M.), so they put out an open call for work reflecting on the themes of the year for a zine instead. 

The resultant work, S.P.A.M. Spreads #1, was going to be released in their shop - buuuut lockdown meant no galleries open over the winter. This hasn't stopped them getting this lovely work out there though - just send them an email and they'll send you a copy! Incredible! Details here: https://baltic.art/spam-spreads-2021 - be quick though, who knows how long stocks will last.

My page, 'Anything Worth Saying', is a typically self-regarding piece about how rubbish everything is, but how uninteresting that is to say, and maybe how that's like a vicious circle; and also: how much Hitman I've been playing instead of doing anything productive.

Hopefully there'll be a S.P.A.M. Spreads #2 sometime during 2021 (and hopefully it'll be a better year for art (and everything)).