Moniker Press

03.04.2017

UPCOMING EVENT:

for the trees: book launch and exhibition
drawings by Sarah Davidson
publication by Erica Wilk / Moniker Press
with writing by Brynn McNab

opening: April 13, 7-10
reading at 8
copies of ‘for the trees’ for purchase
gallery hours: April 14 & 15, 12-5

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‘for the trees’ is a collaborative book experiment based on a series of drawings by Sarah Davidson. The publication was developed with Erica Wilk, who uses her publishing studio Moniker Press as a platform for artistic collaboration. The book includes a text by Brynn McNab, written in response to the art. Copies of ‘for the trees’ will be available for purchase, and the original works will be on display.

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Preservation is a word oft associated with environmental activism. However, its implementation is a distinctly “cultural” phenomenon, not a natural one. Namely, it is one of human beings, and their technologies. Preservation brings along with it a whole host of other activities. The verb implies an external process to occur in order to accomplish its goal. You have pickling, salting, fermenting, cataloguing, copying, categorizing, languaging, embalming. In reality, ruin itself is a much needed process in the activity of sustainment of diverse life. The transfer of heat from one system (biological, ecological, and, I would argue, visual, and ontological) is integral and the multiplicities of systems allows for a birth of organization in the transfer of this heat. Origin of Species by Darwin, and Kelvin’s laws of thermodynamics were published in the same decade. They both came on the tail end of the industrial revolution. Both theories were argued as paradoxical, and heretical, by the church. Both conceptually resist the possibility of a creative or intelligent design in the world. However, once you consider the closed system of thermodynamics as being one which encompasses you, the earth, the universe, this transfer of heat and its loss in the process – the movement of such energy – can still create a beautiful and complex diversity of ruin.

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SARAH DAVIDSON’s practice investigates the appeal of the weak, delicate, and otherwise diminutive, by placing it in playful parallel to other ostensibly unrelated ideas. An ongoing interest in the fragment as symbol reflects an interest in medium as gendered and maps as they exist in lived time. Past fragmentary explorations have aligned historical craft—particularly the stitching of quilts—with depictions of landscape as background.

BRYNN MCNAB is a writer, facilitator, and curator who specializes in event-based and social practices, publishing, and co-authorship. Her most recent projects include Co-Writing Criticism (Vancouver, Montreal and Paris), a co-authorship workshop, and An Exact Vertigo (Vancouver), an iterative contemporary dance series. She managed Unit/Pitt Projects (Vancouver) from 2013-2015, and revived and became editor-in-chief of ISSUE Magazine (Vancouver) during that time. Her poetry, essays, and short stories have been published across Canada and internationally. She attended Nova Scotia College of Art and Design for filmmaking and photography, and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Emily Carr University in Critical and Cultural Practices. Brynn McNab currently sits as Secretary of the Or Gallery (Vancouver) Board of Directors.

15.11.16

Honoured to have collaborated with Viorica Hrincu and Melissa Soleski on Moniker Press’ newly released publication; fol.cl. In this collaborative poetry chapbook about entanglement, writer Viorica Hrincu and illustrator Melissa Soleski combine poetry and drawings to explore themes of hair, loss and the reorientation of oneself in relation to standards of feminine beauty.

Poetry — Viorica Hrincu
Illustrations — Melissa Soleski
Layout — Erica Wilk & Melissa Soleski

Edition of 150
Risograph printed and Published by Moniker Press
Vancouver, BC — 2016

at this point,
even a cough
gently encourages
my hair to aggregate
into clumps.
I’m sure it’s never
been this easy to
gather individuals towards
a common goal.
On the floor,
shower walls
-classic spectators
of people
who are falling
apart.

—  Excerpt from the poem air.h by Viorica Hrincu.

fol.cl — Book Launch & Reading
Friday, November 25th, 2016
2-236 E Pender
7 to 10pm

“Join the Vancouver Art Book Fair at our Monthly Open Studio: fol.cl, a book launch and reading for Moniker Press’ newly released risograph publication by the same name.”

“As women, we’re told that it’s only acceptable to have hair on our heads, and literally nowhere else on our bodies.”
— Viorica Hrincu

Poet and scientist Viorica Hrincu is bald. She was diagnosed with alopecia a less than a year ago. Alopecia only affects hair growth and is neither painful nor life-threatening. The poems in fol.cl draw from Viorica’s experience, uncovering a sense of empowerment through loss. Combined with the delicate illustrations of Melissa Soleski, the publication not only deals with societal views on beauty, but also explores the inner and even biological connection between hair and identity.

Poetry reading will begin at 8pm. Copies of fol.cl will be available at the event for $20.

10.28.16

NEW IN THE SHOP:  Puddle Popper pt 2 is a collaborative publication by Vancouver based artists, Juli Majer, Melanie Thibodeau, Sarah Davidson and Sonja Ratkay. As a collective they explore ‘play’ as an overlapping theme. ‘Puddle Popper pt. 2′ is a result of the artists’ collaborative drawings and collages. These collaborative drawings were also translated into a sculptural installation for the Vancouver Art Book Fair 2016.

The package includes a double sided two-colour risograph poster on cream coloured cardstock (folded so that it can create a stage) as well as four 6″x9″ risograph prints on grey and pink cardstock (that can be framed or cut out into figures.)

Edition of 100
Printed and Published by Moniker Press
Vancouver, BC – 2016

Juli Majer is interested in fractured storytelling / symbolism, and studies translations of movements, emotion and fantasy within her work.

Queer artist Melanie Thibodeau explores the strangeness of having/living in a body; ongoing themes in their work deal with nostalgia and loss, comfort/discomfort, BDSM and politics surrounding gender, sexuality and feminism.

Sarah Davidson investigates fragments as symbols, medium as gendered and delicacy as strategy.

Interdisciplinary artist, poet and researcher Sonja Ratkay primarily explores topics of intuition, mood, states of being and environmental triggers that lead to psychological transformation.

Photo from the Puddle Popper installation at the Vancouver Art Book Fair.

A continuation of their first show, the collaboration began on paper, with all of the artists sitting together and drawing the zine Puddle Popper (available through DDOOGG). The book is like a conversation, and the same mix and match strategy is reflected in how the artists’ sculptures were installed in the gallery, with works combined in surprising ways.

For Puddle Popper Part 2, the artists have started again with a zine, printed in collaboration with Moniker Press. The zine is an activity book of sorts, and was also used for planning the installation.