2014 New York Art Book Fair
I have a mild problem with art books. I don’t spend a ton of money on the shit most people do. I wear the same pair of pants until they fall apart and most of my clothes I get for free anyway. I have fun and travel and get paid to do it. I don’t really drink or do drugs, I prefer fried chicken to fine dining and I haven’t moved in 8 years so my rent is surprisingly affordable. But, I have a real problem with art books.
I know whenever the Printed Matter New York Art Book Fair comes around I’m in trouble. I knew going in I was gonna spend too much money on too many books and zines so I tried to keep my budget under $250. It worked pretty well on my first day there on Friday but by the time I left Saturday I had gone over by at least $100. Fortunately, the Village Voice to asked me to photograph zine covers for them so while I didn’t exactly break even I still did okay and got a ton of amazing books and zines.
The two days at the fair were a lot of fun and I feel like I got a lot done. Aside from spending money and taking photos I met and reconnected with a bunch of publishers and hopefully I found some people I can work with in the future. Plus when my new book comes out I found a few people who seem like they will help me sell it.
As far as my book haul goes, Dead Beat Club took a bunch of my money for the second year in a row and I got a couple of insane zines from Pogo Books and traded a copy of my Route 66 book for a third zine. I got Sean Maung’s two newest zines and my friend Chelsea’s first zine. She put it out with Paper Work NYC and I hope I can do something with those guys one day. They are doing awesome stuff. Speaking of people doing awesome stuff I picked up an issue of Hamburger Eyes with a bunch of my photos in it. I didn’t even know they had been published. My favorite book at the fair was probably Harrison Freeman’s book “Food Boobs” which was a hit on my Instagram.
I got so much shit I can’t list it all, but thanks to everyone I met and all the artists I was glad I could support. Print is not dead. Keep making amazing shit and I will keep buying it!
And I hope you guys buy my amazing shit too… the Kickstarter for my new book should launch Monday or Tuesday! Be on the look out!
