Another great Expozine weekend is in the books, and as tiring, stressful and hectic as it was, I’m pretty sad it’s over and we’re going to have to wait a whole year for the next opportunity to see so many amazing independent creators and creations.
As a member of the illustrious board, headed by the indefatiguable Louis Rastelli (with big shoutouts to Billy Mavreas, Genevieve Boyer, Pascal-Angelo Fioramore, Michelle Lacombe and Graham Hall) I spent Friday setting up hundreds of tables and chairs while hoping that issue XI of Four Minutes to Midnight would be printed and bound in time by my printers Kata Soho (kids, remember, don’t leave printing to the last minute!). Everything worked out in the end, and I was able to enjoy the opening event at Sala with some good friends and great performances by Sherwin Tija (reading from his collection of Pseudo-Haikus and new zine, “The Little Cancer that could”) and Super Fossil Power. There was a nice turnout, but unfortunately, as was to be expected, a lot of zinesters I was hoping to meet were MIA as they frantically finished their wares.
It’s my favourite time of the year! Expozine 2010 is right around the corner (THIS weekend!) and I’m beyond excited to get to see so many of my friends again and all the work they’ve been up to in a sweaty church basement jam-packed with geeky zinesters. And equally excited to discover new art for my walls, new zines for my mind, and new people to collaborate with. I’ve met some of my best friends through this event, and it’s one of the main reasons I’m still in Montreal, with its amazing community of independent artists. It’s going to be a fabulous weekend!
Monday November 01st 2010, 2:25 pm
Filed under: portfolio
In collaboration with the fine folks at Bluesponge (in particular developer extraordinaire Patrick Paul-Hus), I recently completed the visual identity and web design of ShopDilara.com, an elegant online web store for fashion afficianadas.
Featuring a sophisticated typographic palette and a clean, uncluttered design, the site balances equal parts sass with class!
by Greg Hall 1946-2009
(to whom FA Nettelbeck has dedicated our next issue)
In most of these pages
the only thing left even vaguely gold
continues as a careful harmony
my fingers and the searchings of my heart
describing the unheard answers
a man who answers
questions like yours…
Much has vanished—
The clamor and the poison,
the usefulness of further transfusions,
the possibility of self-defined grace…
Still, a certain connection
to those who were injured
falling from horses
and to those who were compelled to sing
because the world was suddenly taken over
by robbers and thieves—
And because the ocean
answered every question
left unsolved by the wind and the night.
Although in page after page
my losses grew
something else also grew—
Now I can feel
what I was trying to say
and from these failures
something green and unbroken
is rising and running towards the shore—
Inside these shards of feeling
lost nations and lost wars
that which was deathless inside you
was addressed by what was deathless in me
and for those who can’t believe in death
I recommend you go find
some American poet
who can be
ironic
about
Love
Being a big fan of Invincible’s music, I was honoured to be asked to design the poster for the event and enlisted my good friend Kirsten McCrea to help with the ornamentation, resulting in my first ever 100% hand-drawn poster! (or at least since I finished design school aeons ago…)
I’ll also be a panelist during the BDS conference itself, participating in the artist’s roundtable workshop between 4 and 6 PM on Saturday. I’ll be speaking about Imaging Apartheid and my work for the Palestinian cause from a personal perspective, the role of cultural workers in social justice struggles generally, and Palestine specifically. So please register for the conference or come by for the individual workshops—it promises to be an educational and inspiring weekend.
Kevin Yuen Kit Lo is a Montreal-based freelance art director and graphic designer. He has previously worked at the agencies Sid Lee, Bluesponge and Cossette, and currently teaches in the Design and Computation Arts department at Concordia University. He runs an independent design and communications consulting practice under the name of LOKi design, specialising in work within the cultural sphere. He publishes the zine Four Minutes to Midnight, exploring the intersections of typography, poetics and politics.
As a community organiser and activist, Kevin is engaged on many levels with various non-profit organisations in Montreal and beyond. He is a founding member of Howl! Arts Collective, a member of the Artivistic Collective, a board member for Archive Montreal, a contributing editor at Art threat, and a long-standing jury member for Memefest. 2356 publishing is also involved in organising and documenting events in Montreal that bridge the gap between art and activism.
He holds an MA in Typo/Graphic Design from the London College of Printing and a Graduate Certificate Degree and BFA in Design Art from Concordia University.
As part of Pop Montreal John is putting on a For the Sake of the Songs tribute show to the prolific composer and performer Van Dyke Parks this Sunday at le Cagibi.
As always, all proceeds go to the Mile End mission.
Wednesday September 22nd 2010, 12:46 pm
Filed under: news,portfolio
I was very happy to have my gaza poster included as part of the Power to the Poster Exhibition in Omaha, Nebraska. The printing looks beautiful and I’m honoured to be included amongst such an important collection. Thanks Justin!
In a related note, please visit the Imaging Apartheid website and submit your work! The deadline is fast approaching!
