NEU @ MZIN: HARMONY KORINE — THE COLLECTED FANZINES / COLLABORATIONS WITH MARK GONZALES (DRAG CITY)

This 350-page volume collects and faithfully reproduces all the original content from Harmony Korine's 'zines (some of which were collaborations with Mark Gonzales) released between 1992 and 1999, namely 'My Friend', 'Adulthood', 'Adulthood 2', 'Oh Death Where Is Thy Sting', 'Foster Homes And Gardens', 'Humor', 'Pocahontas Monthly' and 'Hümer'. Expect run-down, lo-fi, photocopy-based artwork, hand-written musings and and all kinds of snigger-inducing claptrap. The original 'texts' are now (as you'd imagine) highly collectible, but this book presents an ideal opportunity to gain some sort of insight into the thought processes of the creative force behind classic US indie fodder like Gummo, Kids, Julien Donkey Boy and uh, David Blaine: Above The Below. Here's what the man himself has to say about this mighty tome: "Going back through the years...it's so hard to remember, I was always tripping and falling over myself. These 'zines were written over the last fifteen years, mostly in dark rooms and the basements of old people. With names like Adulthood, Foster Homes and Gardens, Pocahontas Monthly, Hümer, and others, they were sold in limited editions out of the Alleged Gallery and Andrea Rosen Gallery. Some were sold on street corners and given away to the tramp sects that were so prominent during that time period. Scraps of paper and half thoughts in the guise of art objects, you see. Not many people actually got a chance to have these but the ones who are still amongst the living have greatly benefited. I know one lady in Panama who has the complete set, her family has stopped referring to her as a gimp, now they call her Sue. They were never meant to be collectible -- just low-concept laugh-inducing juxtapositions of words and images, images and images, lists, monologues, cartoons, free verse, jokes, half-thoughts, fake/real interviews, innuendo and Matt Dillon's phone number. If you sold them on eBay for a bunch of money, I want my cut. Or if you bought them then please spare a percentage to the dyke army and the flame militia, it's a good charity and its ribbon buttons are invisible. Some of them read like letters from prison. I know these were popular in some prisons but I'm not sure why." - Harmony Korine, 2008.