bio auto graphic #31: Hand Book

bio auto graphic #31: Hand Book

Michael C. Nicholson / ensixteen editions

Right hand - A5, 28 pages, full colour throughout.
Left Hand - A5, 12 pages, full colour throughout.

£12 for both volumes + p&p

The latest issue of Bio Auto Graphic takes a further step into expanding Michael's intriguing examination of the relationship between content and format. From the five volume set that covered the five senses, to the last issue which suddenly burst into Technicolor. This double set of issues explores hands - how they express personality and, perhaps more crucially, how we consider our second most expressive body part. 

To do so Michael "reached out to fellow travellers whose hands are a key to their creativity or livelihood". Each interview is filtered down into Michael's poetic prose, and illustrated by a full page colour portrait of that person's hand. Devoid of the other contexts we naturally try and attach personality to, we're left to consider how the wrinkles and scars reflect those lives and livelihoods. I feel extremely honoured that one of those hands are mine. 

Collectively, these portraits form an emotive set of snapshots into a variety of lives, personal histories, and cultural backgrounds, linked through a shared desire to connect to the world with more than a wave hello. 

It's a beautifully executed, well produced, and quietly profound work. Get your copies while you can - the first edition sold out within a couple of weeks. I've been told there are a few copies remaining of the second printing.



For more information visit the Ensixteen blog: ensixteeneditions.blogspot.com

Or email Michael directly: ladnicholson(at)yahoo(dot)co(dot)uk


*** You can listen to Michael being interviewed by Robert Elms on BBC London - zines, small publishing, and the sweeping changes across London. From about 37 minutes in https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p07rkn7b) ***

Review by Nathan Penlington - you can find my reviews of previous issues of bio auto graphic here. 

bio auto graphic #13: common senses

bio auto graphic #13: common senses

Michael C. Nicholson / ensixteen editions

A5 black & white booklets, cardboard covers, in five volumes - with printed belly band.    

12 pages per volume.

£15 for the set of five. 

In 2007 Michael was invited to Smith College, Massachusetts, to make work that reflected and considered the traditions, people, and place, that make up the institution. This five part set of bio auto graphic grew out of that visit.

While each part takes one of the five bodily senses as its focus, each part also explores 'sense' in a broader context: a sense of learning; a sense of identity; a sense of Smith; a sense of place; and a sense of self. 

Like previous issues, this set of bio auto graphic is poetic, profound, and visually arresting. Readers of other issues of bio auto graphic will already be familiar with Michael's distinctive illustrative style - his approach to line and space, the way he layers time and imagination, and allows the subject matter to be considered from unusual vantage points. 

Drawings from Michael's sketchbook adorn the inside covers - and offer a glimpse into Michael's ability to capture fragments from life, his thought process, and his approach to drafting what will become the final layouts used in this collection. I always find unfinished work fascinating, so it's an additional pleasure to be allowed that peek backstage, and thoroughly annoying to see how casually talented Michael is.  

In addition to Michael's own writing the text of common senses includes parts of interviews with students and tutors of Smith College, as well as quotes from literary and artistic figures. All of which help build a complex, multi-faceted, interrogation of topics.

There are only a limited number of common senses sets available, so all I can say is use your common sense, and get yourself a set before they sell out.

For more information visit the Ensixteen blog: ensixteeneditions.blogspot.com

Or email Michael directly: ladnicholson(at)yahoo(dot)co(dot)uk



Review by Nathan Penlington - you can find my reviews of previous issues of bio auto graphic here. 

3mm Bleed by Fredrik Rysjedal

3mm Bleed by Fredrik Rysjedal 

2017

32 pages, cardboard cover, 3 colour Riso printed. 

$12

3mm Bleed - a graphic design drama is a self-referential, drily witty comic. The story follows an award winning graphic designer who is horrified to find their work for various companies' disposable coffee cups, plastic bags, and bottles, littering the environment. 

Is the designer part of the problem? or can they salvage their conscience? It's the perfect gift for the self-doubting graphic designer in your life. 

3mm Bleed breaks the constraints of standard layouts, and is in itself a set of aesthetically pleasing graphic designs. It's also been produced by Riso print which adds immensely to its look and feel.

If you'd like one it's best to move quickly as the print run is limited to only 50 copies. 

Available to buy in the US from Quimby's: quimbys.com/store/8327

Or visit Fredrik's site for more info, and other work: fredrikrysjedal.no/3mm-bleed

Review by Nathan Penlington 

bio auto graphic #30: Chameleon Skin Coat

bio auto graphic #30: Chameleon Skin Coat

Michael C. Nicholson / ensixteen editions

A5, 32 pages, full colour throughout

£6 + p&p

Chameleon Skin Coat is a glorious Technicolor departure for the bio auto graphic series. It's an issue that reflects on the drives and darkness of creating, the chaos and coincidences that make up our daily lives, and the search for meaning in the post truth world. 

Michael's distinctive approach to line and space abounds, and the addition of colour pushes this issue in interesting new ways by creating arresting graphic spreads. Walking the line between the intensely personal and the global is incredibly difficult to achieve, and bio auto graphic succeeds in doing so in both a poetic and profound manner, while maintaining humour and wit.   

A graphic Michael states:

It appears I have to do this thing, if only to check I'm still here.

But in doing so creates something that helps us confirm, in these absurd and brutal times, a sense of humanity and humility is still alive too. 

There are a very limited number of copies left, so I'd get in quick. 



To get your hands on a copy visit the Ensixteen blog: ensixteeneditions.blogspot.com

Or email Michael directly: ladnicholson(at)yahoo(dot)co(dot)uk



Review by Nathan Penlington - You can find reviews of previous issues of bio auto graphic here. 

Wasted Land 2

Wasted Land 2

by Adam Void

21cm x 27cm, zine fold into 7cm x 10.5cm mini zine. 

$/£: trades encouraged

A mini-zine by prolific artist and zine maker Adam Void, creator of the great Nirvana Rules zine reviewed a few posts back.

Wasted Land 2 is a collage of found images, additional drawing, and handwritten text. It's absurdist in the tradition of dada, and it's DIY culture in the tradition of punk. It's the kind of thing you want to leave in bars and bookshops to be discovered - no wait, it's the kind of thing you want to find in bars and bookshops.
If you want a copy contact Adam at adam_void (at) yahoo (dot) com - trades are encouraged. If you ask nicely he might also send you some other goodies. 

As I said in my review of Nirvana Rules Adam's been making zines since 2003. Check out his past publications page: adamvoid.com/index.php?/ongoing/publications - now THAT is a zine maker.



Review by Nathan Penlington

Notebookdrawings - Vol 2

Notebookdrawings - Vol 2
by Mette Norrie

2017 

A5, 38 pages, colour print.

50DKK (Danish Krone) or approx £5.80

Buy Vol 1 & Vol 2 for 85DKK (approx £10)

Following on from Notebookdrawings Vol 1 is a brand new volume of text and illustration from Danish artist Mette Norrie. For those new to her work it follows a minimalist format - each page is notebook style lined paper, over which have been drawn illustrations in pen and pencil, and captioned at the top in English. 

Some are witty play-on-words, others play-on-images - The Reviewer's Diary, Diary of a Social Media Manager - the illustrations are also sprinkled with literary references - T.S. Eliot's Calendar, Tender Buttons. 

But the pages that really strike a chord are those of a more melancholy, tender, quieter tone with titles like Failed Ideas, Forgotten Magicians, Lonely Gloves Club.  

Cumulatively Notebookdrawings form a kind of visual poetry that takes you outside the world as you see it. And like poetry they benefit from the time and space needed to experience in a physical form. 


The illustrations have been selected from Mette's blog - nbdrawings.tumblr.com. So, take a look, and then support her work by buying a copy of the zine. 

In her shop you can find copies of other zines too, alongside individual prints: norrieart.tictail.com/product/notebookdrawings-vol-2


www.MetteNorrie.com




Review by Nathan Penlington

Notebookdrawings - Vol 1

Notebookdrawings - Vol 1
by Mette Norrie

2016 

A5, 26 pages. 

50DKK (Danish Krone) or approx £5.80

Notebookdrawings is a charming zine by Danish artist Mette Norrie. It follows a simple, minimalist, format - each page is notebook style lined paper, over which have been drawn illustrations in pen and pencil captioned at the top in English. 

There is a wistful melancholy to many of the illustrations, but each page breathes freely with visual and verbal humour, together they form an enchanting take on the world. 

The illustrations have been selected from Mette's blog - nbdrawings.tumblr.com. So, take a look, and then support her work by buying a copy of the zine. 

In her shop you can find copies of other zines too, alongside individual prints: norrieart.tictail.com/product/notebookdrawings

www.MetteNorrie.com



Review by Nathan Penlington

The Gaysi Zine - Issue 5

The Gaysi Zine - Issue 5

156 pages. 28 x 22cm. Full colour. 

INR 400 + INR 50 (Delivery charge within India -  see below for international rates)

The theme for the latest issue of The Gaysi Zine is desire in its tangle of emotion, instinct, passion and confusion, in its myriad of voices, perspectives and realities. As the editors outline in their introduction, storytelling is the key to insight, and 

"the zine in many ways is an attempt at providing a common platform for all these different realities, not just to give them a way to the world and hence become something shared, but also to come together to paint a bigger picture of where we are as a queer conscience".

The zine achieves that and more. The content is clearly lovingly curated, beautifully designed, with a truly international range of contributors. It is by turns provocative, evocative, and erotic.

The contents range from documentary comic strips, short stories, poetry, guides to help you achieve multiple orgasms and improve your scissoring technique, to personal memoir. 

To quote the editors once again: 

"Desire is our weapon against an automated existence". 

Don't deny your desire to get your hands on The Gaysi Zine. Order a copy now. 


Check out Gaysi zine online here: gaysifamily.com/tag/gaysizine

To order visit: instamojo.com/GaysiFamily/the-gaysi-zine-issue-5-156-pages-mrp-400-del


**For International Delivery: please write to gaysifamily@gmail.com with the subject lines ‘Booking The Gaysi Zine – mention the number of copies’, and the Gaysi family will take it forward from there.**


Review by Nathan Penlington. My reviews of previous issues are here. 

Bio Auto Graphic #29 - C

Bio Auto Graphic #29: 'C'
Michael C. Nicholson / ensixteen editions

November 2016. A5, 20 pages, including cardboard cover. 

£4


Bio Auto Graphic #29 is a stream of consciousness constrained by the letter C. Through an accumulation of TV and film references, names of celebrities and friends, phrases and word association, the text forms a catalogue of a particular sensibility and a personal history. 

The words and names also reveal the political time and place of the zine's creation:

Cox,  J. (R.I.P)

Meanwhile surrounding a drawing of a Trump-a-like:

'Confederacy of dunces, A' -  Campaign - Charade - Circus - Capsize - Capitalism....- Culpability - Creep -...- Coward - Clown

Compared to previous issues C is word heavy. Where the companion issues A and B are visual meditations that use the letter as a jumping off point, this issue has more in common with experimental literature and artist books - think oulipo and Walter Abish -  than with narrative driven graphic work. Despite the volume of C words Michael still uses the page to explore the graphic elements of both language and design, space and movement.  

C proves that even after twenty-nine issues Bio Auto Graphic still has the ability to surprise and intrigue. If you are new to this zine the ABC series is a great place to begin, you'll be rewarded with something special.  

To get your copy visit the Ensixteen blog: ensixteeneditions.blogspot.com

Or email Michael directly: ladnicholson(at)yahoo(dot)co(dot)uk

Review by Nathan Penlington - You can find reviews of previous issues of Bio Auto Grapahic here. 

Bio Auto Graphic - issue zero

Bio Auto Graphic Issue zero.

Michael c Nicolson / Ensixteen Editions 2004

A5 - 12 pages

£4




Zero - not a nothing - but a reset, a circular return. I joined this series late on (previous issues of Bio Auto Graphic are reviewed here) but it has quickly become one of my favourite zines: more art than comic, more poetry than diary -  a visual and literary reflection on the author's journey through the ups and downs of existence. The result is a comic zine that is at once funny, humble, and poignant. 

Issue zero introduces Michael, outside the frame, contemplating the challenges of the autobiographic comic, before quickly becoming the narrator of dreams and memories, encouraging us to embrace the stories of everyday life. Those stories, like those that make up Bio Auto Graphic, come in fragments, untied beginnings and ends, a lost middle here and there.

Perhaps less funny than later issues, this first (non?) issue sets up the emotional threads that run throughout the series, tying knots that bind personal and universal events with tenderness, charm and an easy seeming fluidity.

As I've said before, jump in to this series anywhere - you won't regret it.

Although this issue was made in 2005, copies are still available via the Ensixteen blog - check out the more current issues while you are there. ensixteeneditions.blogspot.com

Or email Michael directly to order: ladnicholson(at)yahoo(dot)co(dot)uk

Review by Nathan Penlington

Bio Auto Graphic - scar issue (issue one )

Bio Auto Graphic - scar issue (issue one ) 
Michael C Nicholson / ensixteen editions, 2005. 

A5, 12 pages, including flesh coloured cardboard cover.

£4


First impressions count, but they are as much about what the viewer brings to the encounter as the viewed, we also bring the almost invisible - scars: 

"out of context they're abstract...morbidly compelling notes of experience on our very skin".

I have a few scars - some from unexceptional knocks and cuts, others from one-sided fights with fists and pavements. One runs almost vertically from just under my nose to the the top of my lip. It is an almost invisible small white line, but the scar refuses to grow hair. That permanent absence means I have never grown facial hair, as that ordinarily invisible line leaves a hugely visible gouge in any attempted moustache.

Bio Auto Graphic traces a similar path through permanent scars of experience of friends, acquaintances and ex-lovers. A history of marks left on the zine's author, a set of mini-narratives that are unafraid to lay bare moments that are by turns moving and funny. This is a celebration of the marks that make us human.  

Although this issue was made in 2005, copies are still available via the Ensixteen blog - check out the more current issues while you are there. ensixteeneditions.blogspot.com

Or email Michael directly to order: ladnicholson(at)yahoo(dot)co(dot)uk

Previous issues of Bio Auto Graphic are reviewed here. 

Review by Nathan Penlington

Bio Auto Graphic - edition twenty eight.

Bio Auto Graphic #28: 'B'
Michael C. Nicholson / ensixteen editions

March 2016. 

A5, 20 pages, including cardboard cover. 

£4

The latest edition of bio auto graphic once again explores the space and line between the poetics of the everyday and the graphic form.

'Beyond the endless background cascade of questions I ask myself, what's the first one the world asks me?

Password?'

Begins the mediation on 'B', a reflection on being, the shifting angles of memory reformed by a stick in the sand, and by ink on paper. This is a zine that keeps surprising and inspiring, - jump into the series with this latest issue or wade out into the back issues. You won't regret it.

To get your copy visit the Ensixteen blog: ensixteeneditions.blogspot.com

Or email Michael directly: ladnicholson(at)yahoo(dot)co(dot)uk

(Along with this issue Michael also sent me issues zero and one. Both are still available, so reviews will follow. Reviews of other editions here)

Review by Nathan Penlington. 

The Gaysi Zine – Issue 4

The Gaysi Zine – Issue 4

122 pages. 23cm x 17cm.

INR 350 + INR 30 (Delivery Charge within India). International rates, see below. 


Being gay in India is to be routinely punished by physical assault and verbal threats. In such a culture it can be dangerous, both physically and emotionally, to be open about sexuality. 
Which is what makes publishing Gaysi hugely brave and incredibly culturally important. 

The latest issue of Gaysi Zine is India's first graphic anthology of gay narratives. Contributors come from a variety of cultural backgrounds and artistic disciplines, there has been no discrimination over age, sexuality or ethnicity. The result is a beautiful thing. 

The production is amazing, - it feels, looks, and even smells great (I admit I do have a thing for ink though). The design really binds the varied styles and tones together, making it hold together as a collective work. 

The texts cover subjects such as how it is to be treated being a single woman in the face of a society that refuses to accept independence; the perils of seduction; loneliness, loss, and longing. They range from emotional diary like entries, through poetic visual narratives, to witty observational comic strips. 

The style of the artwork is absorbing, fluid and strong. Each page is visual journey that pulls you in. The collaborative pairings of writers and artists really works. 

I can't recommend you get a copy of Gaysi Issue 4 enough. Buy it, get your friends to buy it. Spread the word. Gaysi Zine has the right approach to sexuality in India, it is their attitude that should be the norm not the exception. 

For ordering information visit: https://www.instamojo.com/GaysiFamily/the-gaysi-zine-queer-graphic-anthology-122-p

Check out Gaysi on the web here: Gaysifamily.com


** For International Delivery: please write to gaysifamily@gmail.com with the subject line ‘Booking The Gaysi Zine – mention the number of copies’, and the Gaysi family will take it forward from there **


Review by Nathan Penlington. My review of Gaysi Issue 3 is here. 

Bio Auto Graphic: edition 27 - A is for...

Bio Auto Graphic: edition 27 - A is for...

Michael C Nicholson /  ensixteen editions 

A5, cardboard cover, 16 pages.

£4

Michael C. Nicolson continues his journey through the personal and universal in a graphic conversation of space and form.  

Edition 27, more minimalist than previous issues, lets the visual and textual images hang in space - the blankness confirming the poetry of both. A simple outline of an empty sock faces handwritten words:

“…The foot…A maligned creature, glimpsed in summer as toes, hungry for light, hang from that chariot of inelegance, the sandal”.

Each page guides you through a series of reminisces and thought associations, ending with a gut punch of an exchange between Michael and his elderly dad.

‘Bio Auto Graphic’ is always more the sum of its parts, this issue particularly illustrates the power of simplicity.

To get your copy visit the Ensixteen blog: ensixteeneditions.blogspot.com

Or email Michael directly: ladnicholson(at)yahoo(dot)co(dot)uk

*** SMALL PUBLISHERS FAIR - Michael will be at London's annual event for independent publishers 6 & 7th November 2015, Conway Hall, London. smallpublishersfair.co.uk - FREE entry - drop in and say hello ***

****

Earlier this year Michael wrote a post for International Zine Library Day about what makes a zine, and the difficulty and importance of libraries adding zines to their collections. It makes an interesting read - click here.

This relates to Jack's Seven Year Rant post from the 1st November about the state of the zine world - how the word has been co-opted by the web, and raises the question about how zines stake their territory. 

 *****

Previous issues of Bio Auto Graphic are reviewed here. 

Review by Nathan Penlington