Who I Think I Am

Varoom, Issue 4

Compendium no. 5: An interactive book to the online periodical www.thisisamagazine.com

Who I Think I Am is the latest creation by Italian-based Andy Simionato and Karen Ann Donnachie. They met 18 years ago at a performance of the Marriage of Figaro, ‘talked at the after-party and decided to live and work together for ever’. They consider themselves to be ‘inventors or visual-scientists’ utilising the world wide web and creating and directing an array of works for the editorial, art and applied-art worlds.

Who I Think I Am is a book, but more than that, it is an interactive container of fine imagery, which offers an alternative way of seeing. The content is assembled from their monthly online publication www.thisisamagazine.com now in its twentieth edition it updates its strong design fan base on the latest artwork, from photography to text and image works. The form and online matter has become increasingly complex covering a PowerPoint issue, animated-gif collections and peepshows. This creative information is then transported into a captivating book, or compendium, allowing the tactile nature of the work to be experienced.

This book is their fifth, and plays host to work by more than 80 hand-selected creatives. The work is integrated; images are arranged in collections – defined by artists or themes. Eight pages of Simionato’s own graphic designs, printed over embossed parallel lines precede a series of naïve ink sketches on almost transparent paper. The arrangement of the artworks is reverential and their message is magnified when repeated as part of a series.

Following the success of their super sized fourth compendium Everything Will Be OK, (reviewed in Varoom 01) this new volume contains over 200 pages of contemporary artworks, all of which have been ‘stitch-bound into a hard-cover and covered with a giant laminated D.I.Y paper sculpture as a dust-jacket’ created by Rene Schmidt. The tactile quality of the book is noticeably important to Simionato and Donnachie. They experiment with the weight, finish and size of the pages, some concertina outwards, while others have been folded, chopped, incised and notched. Curved cut out holes direct the narrative, from one theme to the next, revealing pages that have been horizontally sliced into sections encouraging interaction in the turning and folding of pages. There are no explanations (the only text offered is an index of artists/titles/themes) instead the compendium is rich in imagery, from fine drawings and crayon sketches to collage and photography with an amplitude of colours from monotone pages of heather, black and sky blue to futuristic neon prints.

The content is stimulating and hosts an array of contributors from celebrated artists to contemporary talent. Parisian artist Mehdi Hercberg, (otherwise known as Shoboshobo)) contributes a series of oddball drawings. His rough use of felt-tip and crayon create abstract doodles and comical hybrid characters, which have a mischievous charm. Hercberg constructs his own curious world of symmetrical monsters annotated with arrows stating ‘this is you’ they transmit an underlying frustration. The immediacy of his unpredictable hand rendered line is in a similar terrain to the work of David Shrigley, who offers a twisted take on conventional objects and activities. In this case Shrigley’s crude stop sign creates artful amusement out of a minimalist message. The same applies to Porous Walker (aka Jimmy Dimarcellis) whose sexual text and image drawings radiate a subtle humour. The time he spent working in film with Francis Ford Coppola, has transferred a narrative quality into his drawings that suggest the story continues on the page. Tucked into the covers of these 1444 limited edition books are additional artworks including a sinister mask by Hercberg, and a ‘how do artists live?’ survey.

On the final page Simionato and Donnachie state ‘thank you for reading’. It is in fact us who should be thanking them for creating such an optical delight. They have raised the standard for illustrators worldwide with an outstanding response to the disheartened feelings hovering over so much of the illustration world. This creative twosome have proved what can be achieved with a talented eye, a collection of multi-media artwork and a lot of dedication. There are no limits.

Published by Donnachie/Simionato
www.thisisamagazine.com