Victorian Artworkers Union Publication

Circa 1979-80
Three colour screen print on glossy coated paper
A3 folded, Front and back cover
Collection National Gallery of Australia

In the period from the late 1970s through to the early 1980s I had become interested in art that existed outside the commercial gallery system and one brief foray into community art was the production of the Victorian Artworkers Union magazine.

The magazine consisted of reports from each of the committee members and because such material is generally visually dull I decided to employ a 'zine style using a range of printing techniques. Because it was made by and for artists it seemed logical that it should be made in a visually playful style; it was an approach which attracted some critics.

The avant-garde American band Devo had just released a record titled, Are we not Men and I quoted their album art for the publication's front cover, albeit using images from a cheesy police indentikit sketch. The back cover, which is plastered with numbers much like the paint-by-numbers canvases designed for would-be artists, shows a blank space for the answer posed on the front.

The background of the graphics