 |
| Art by Sergio Gerasi |
This article is taken from the landmark takeover of Big Issue by graffiti writer 10Foot. It can be bought from street vendors across the UK or online through the Big Issue Shop.
Alan Moore: [...] What made this ramshackle institution such a pleasure was that Arts Lab had no hierarchies, no leaders. They were basically a bunch of friends who met up weekly to discuss art projects that the whole group were invited to contribute to, perhaps a magazine, perhaps poetry readings in a pub backroom, perhaps something ambitious and theatrical.On the same page you can read more details about the project:
There were no limits save physical or financial possibility, and, without supervision, we could be as intellectual and political or rude and vulgar as we wanted.
[...] In 2015, during a day-long seminar on counterculture and why we now need it more than ever, attendees who wanted to take the ideas we’d been discussing forward were invited to leave contact details and, some weeks thereafter, got together at a local cafe to eventually emerge as the Northampton Arts Lab’s second incarnation, a bit like with Time Lords.
[...] We’ve staged elaborate theatrical productions, published fancy magazines and hardback books and at the moment are producing a commemorative tribute to Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt’s deck of creative art-prompts, Oblique Strategies. [...]
2025 marks the 50-year anniversary of the first publication of Oblique Strategies cards by Peter Schmidt and Brian Eno. Each card contains a statement which can be used to inspire a creative response to your situation. Northampton Arts Lab decided to mark this anniversary by creating a limited-edition tribute act deck, made up of over 120 different “Ambagious Tactics”. This new deck is edited by Alistair Fruish with specially commissioned contributions from well over 100 different people. Some of these creatives are connected to Eno and Schmidt, and some are folk who regularly used Oblique Strategies, others are members of Arts Labs around the country, and some people were asked for the hell of it. Any money made by this project will be distributed to support worthwhile endeavours.
If you’re interested in reserving a copy, email us.
Brian K. Vaughan: [...] Well, how’s your dystopian 2025 been so far?
Los Angeles obviously endured some horrific wildfires, and though my family and I are completely fine, we’re devastated for our friends who lost everything. [...]
We voluntarily evacuated not long after the ash started raining down, and I left behind just about all of my worldly possessions, so when the flames started approaching our neighborhood, my dear friend/collaborator Jeff Yorkes (and his wife and kids!) raced over to our abandoned place to rescue as much of my obnoxious original comic art collection as they could pry off the walls, including this eerily appropriate recent acquisition: a hand-drawn birthday card by Watchmen co-creator Dave Gibbons [...]
 |
| Art by Russ Braun |
The Soul episode 2. I really like the rounded shape of the "strip" images... and the psychedelic feel. We have a Lovecraft reference in the title. And we have also recurring things, like Adeline on the background of "The Discovery of the Archetypal World" illustration seen in a previous section of the book...
John Coulthart: I was also left to my own devices with the Soul illustrations so I decided to vary the presentation slightly for each episode. Since the second one involves a psychedelic ritual I started out with black-and-white line drawings which colour creeps into before exploding in the ritual sequence. I'm not sure where Alan got the title "Discovery of the Archetypal World" from, I think it may be a misattribution since the drawing originally appeared in one of Camille Flammarion's books about astronomy as an illustration showing how the medieval world regarded the cosmos. It does work as an occult illustration, however, so I don't think the misattribution is a problem.
 |
| Art by Michel Fiffe |
 |
| Art by Chris Samnee |
 |
| Art by Mike McKone |
 |
| Art by Jason Latour |
 |
| Art by Jason Latour |
