And Pens presents NOBODINO a solo exhibition by Atelier Bingo
Opens Saturday, April 6 from 6 – 8 pm on display through May 1
Atelier Bingo bring colors like amulets, crossing the Atlantic and unfurling like a group, with their collage and engraved coats of arms, occult candlesticks and cabalistic names. From Brittany to California, the poetry of these creations, as mysterious as they are obvious, is joyfully discovered, transcending form and waving among the hills of Los Angeles,reading like a secret signpost for coyotes wandering between the freeways of the infinite city. From one rocky coast to another, where the land flows into the sea, no one knows how shapes are born.
From their home studio, an old café hidden at the end of a cul-de-sac on Brittany’s north coast (France), Atelier Bingo glues mediums together, collects scraps and reassembles them. The result is a colorful abstraction full of meaning, each one’s own, beyond the rules of composition and layout, all without a manual. It tickles the accidental to bring out a beauty that is accessible and open. The form is conditioned by the tool, the scissors, the hand that tears, as much as the pencil or the clay. Textures are worked like ingredients that Adèle and Maxime mix with brilliantly hued colors, the work is then adorned with surreal titles born of the poetry of everyday life. From collage ceramics and engraving, it’s from the material that the piece emerges, shaped by the complementary skills of the two artists. Atelier Bingo’s creations exist in an instinctive space that they occupy without apology.
AND PENS presents, Return of Secret Origins of the Crass Symbol by David King Opening reception Friday August 11, 2023 from 7:30-9:30 PM with musical performance by Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe
“In 1977, David King designed this logo for his friend’s zine cover and later that same friend’s band in Essex, England. This book playfully explores this iconic symbol and the mind of the man that created it.”
In the mid 2000s there was a brief controversy over the ownership and origins of the Crass symbol when a London fashion brand used it as part of a clothing line and then unsuccessfully tried to copyright it. David King (1948 – 2019) knew that over the years the symbol he designed had come to stand not only for the band Crass, but also for anarchy, peace, freedom, autonomy, DIY ethics, a rejection of church and state, a rejection of the system and, for some, a way of life. It was a symbol that could never be owned by anyone. It was designed to be easily reproduced, as evidenced by its proliferation on clothing, walls, badges, jewelry, human skin, the bottom of empty swimming pools, and almost any other surface that would take ink or spray paint.
When faced with the suggestion of someone copyrighting or claiming ownership of his design, King decided to “free the symbol” with humor and color—qualities not always associated with anarcho-punk. His Secret Origins book and related projects expanded the notion of what the symbol could contain—including, but not limited to, wedges of cheese, extended serpents, the Batman logo, tea and coffee pots, smiley faces, the CND logo and more. Today reinterpretations and homages have appeared incorporating killer whales, rainbows and air dancers, to name a few. We know King would have loved these variations, and through them his idea continues to live on.
Return of Secret Origins of the Crass Symbol is an exhibition of King’s process. Alongside the hand-lettered ink drawing for the original book’s cover, there are five scalpel-cut stencils thick with layers of spray paint. These stencils were used not only by King, but also by visitors to 2011’s Spray Day at San Francisco’s Goteblüd gallery, where anyone could apply the designs to clothing, skateboards, toilet seats and anything else they could carry in. Many were later photographed for the book David King Stencils, published by Gingko Press in 2019. These stencils are the literal origins for many reproductions of the Crass symbol, and they offer a simple diagram for how it all began.
David Anthony King (1948 – 2019) was a British born American artist, graphic designer, and musician. He is best known for designing the Crass symbol in 1977. As part of the New York No Wave scene in the late 1970s he played in the bands Arsenal and the Gynaecologists, and later moved to San Francisco where he formed Sleeping Dogs and Brain Rust. He created design work for Danceteria, the Peppermint Lounge, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Details magazine, and many others. In the 2000s he revisited and expanded his design for the Crass symbol through numerous exhibitions as well as producing dozens of self published books of photography and art.
We’ve got some good things in store for this year’s LA Art Book Fair. Like what, you ask? …Well we’ll be releasing a two-color riso zine by Brooklyn based artist James Ulmer called “Grid Paintings” and a 4-color glossy book of Mark DeLong‘s salvaged produce box collages entitled “Stars Above, Snakes Below.” Both publications will be produced in editions of only 150 copies, so stay posted for more info as they’re bound to go quick.
Just in time for the holidays, & Pens has teamed up with Quiet Life
to launch a new small press book nook in their brand new Highland Park
flagship store. Stop by to check out the latest curated selection of
independent art and culture publications now on display. They’re open Wednesday thru Sunday 11am – 5pm. QUIET LIFE, 5627 North Figueroa Street Los Angeles, CA 90042
A long march, a journey in perpetual motion. Following the path of colour, Julio Le Parc now designs his variations on silk. In the heart of the Hermès workshops, the artist returns to his early influences and presents his work “Variations autour de La Longue Marche”: sixty unique silk scarves created for Hermès Éditeur.
Nat Russell talks about making fake flyers on PBS! I think we have about 13 copies left of the Public Notice fake flyer zine we did with Nat a few years back. Nat’s the best.
Paranoid Tiers is a collaborative effort between the two artists. Urich would draw a picture and mail it to McPartland to add random text to the page. He added random placements of words, comical social commentary, and other times a dark and emotional outpourings and paired them with Urich’s take on traditional tattoo art. As a whole, the zine takes on a narrative of two human lives lived and a documents a conversation between friends. It’s truly fantastic. The publication contains 67 exchanges of words and imagery that were passed back and forth between the two.
Zines have been printed in an edition 150 copies and will be available at the opening and online (and also at our spots in LA and Needles & Pens in SF).
Today at the & Pens LA Art Book Fair table we’ll be hosting two book signings: 3:00-4:00 P.M. Arrington de Dionyso will be signing copies of the latest & Pens publication Trance Dancers of the Open Flower, a three-color riso/digital zine filled with the mystical sexualized imagery of the Olympia Washington based artist, musician, mystic, linguist, and designer. Somewhat provocative and somewhat eerie, like a slightly more twisted Henry Darger the nymphs, fairies, and anthropomorphic forest creatures of Dionyso’s world frolic freely amongst the pages of this zine. Founder of groups Old Time Relijun and Malakat Dansinga, he has released over three dozen albums and numerous self-released art books. The sumi ink drawings repurposed and collaged for this publication were originally created for the spring/summer 2015 men’s collection for French fashion label Saint Laurent.
5:00-6:00 P.M. David King will be signing copies of the & Pens Press title Secret Origins of the Crass Symbol. David King made this iconic symbol for class mate Penny Rimbaud at a London art school in the 1970s. …And now it’s one of the most recognized emblems of the punk movement. Come get a signed copy of this book while it’s still available.
We’ll be tabling at the LA Art Book at the end of this month and releasing two new zines for the occasion: First one by Olympia Washington based musician/visual artist Arrington de Dionyso and another by the LA based artist duo Sumi Ink Club. We’re stoked! See you there.
