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Esopus 13 Now On Newsstands

September 18, 2009

After printing its last issue entirely in black and white, Esopus returns to color with a bang in Esopus 13. The issue’s cover features a stunning artwork (right) from 22-year-old Alex Masket, a severely autistic—and prodigiously talented-artist whose work, built out of everything from duct tape to Lego blocks, is also the subject of a portfolio piece (including a 8"x40" removable foldout). The issue’s artists’ projects engage the chromatic scale in similarly effective ways—Jeff Gibson's “Encyclopedia Pareidolia” juxtaposes his saturated photocollages with pages of flora and fauna from 20th-century encyclopedias, and Mickey Smith contributes a new suite of striking images (including a 20"x30" removable poster) from her “Collocations” series, which depicts bound periodicals photographed in situ by the artist. Finally, multimedia artist Oliver Herring and painter Peter Krashes—studio mates and longtime partners—create a visually arresting “conversation” between the critically acclaimed artworks each has created over the past 24 years.

Esopus 13 closes with Stéphane Gerson’s fascinating article on the ever-shifting perceptions of Nostradamus, and features nearly 40 representations—from 16th-century engravings to supermarket tabloid covers—of the French astrologer. Nostradamus also serves as inspiration for the issue’s compilation CD: Each of the 11 musicians, including Frightened Rabbit, Phil Kline, Natureboy, Laura Gibson, and Lia Ices, chose one of his four-line prophecies to use as inspiration for a brand-new song.

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