"Bubble Gum Air (2)," - Seamus R. Williams

I have more zines by Seamus than any other artist in my collection, it's not even close. He was one of the first "Western Mass" noise guys that I met when I moved into Cold Spring Hollow, and every time he would make the drive from Worcester to Belchertown to play a show or just come to hang out he'd bring some new zine or tape or boxset. His work was immediately electrifying to me, and our little collaborations where I tried to ape or converse with his style only made me appreciate his unique and cohesive visual and sonic language all the more. He's also a dear friend I miss, who I'll always be so grateful to for bringing me on to perform on Music Under the Moon on WCUW and New Years Noise Brunch, for putting my work out on his label Ayurvedic Tapes, and for being a frequent flyer at Noise Party <3

The visual language of these zines is xerox collage dialed down (or well, a fax machine in this case) - abstracted glyphs and isolated words floating in a field of white copy paper. Found bits of scrap, hand applique of product or shipping labels, bits of handwritten or handcoloring details, debris scattered on the copier bed, great fields of roller-mark errors. A semiotic wasteland that makes your mind grip onto anything that makes sense, like recognizing the logos from a grocery store coupon sheet or some manufacturers QC mark from a product box. It's collage built from the most abject materials - bits of trash on the street and in your mailbox.

Good art impresses, great art makes you look at the world differently. Engaging with this shit for too long has messed me up long term. Developing a sensitivity to this way of looking for raw material has caused me to scan the ground anytime I go out for some gleaming, interesting piece of detritus. I see bits of nothing or some half scrawled shitty graffiti and think I should stuff it in an envelope and mail it to Worcester. There is no work that better captures the feeling for me of wandering around your town under grey skies, broke and a little strung out, eyes fixed on the sidewalk.R

!!Read!! ----> Bubble Gum Air - 2

Astute readers may note! I have been v. bad at weekly updates! Summer's here and somehow, I have even less free time! Going forward if I can't summon the will to surmise an entire zine I hope to begin featuring more small content -> postcards and stickers and notes and bits of artwork :)

xoxo