Eye Magazine

Expat Mister Edwards, still of the parish of Sydney, Australia, has been exploring the term ‘Pop’ via a series of zines, writes Liz Farrelly. So far Pop Gun, Pop Corn, Pop Sox and Pop Tarts (below) have hit the top shelf.

But why is he doing this?

‘I started making zines as a vehicle for the mono images and bits of found type I’d collected over the years,’ he says. ‘As a discipline, it gets me working faster and less preciously. Print it and on to the next one!’

These small (A5) but perfectly formed (two- to three-colour) offerings also hit a nostalgic note for Edwards. ‘They’re like the little photocopied books I made at college (at Saint Martin’s School of Art, now Central Saint Martins). Technology has got better, but I try and lose the perfection, so each copy is slightly different.’

During the process of making – Edwards prints, folds and trims them himself – he’s also noticed, ‘the influence of Pop art and Dada … taking found images out of context and juxtaposing them to create new meaning’.

Above: Pop Corn.

There’s more Pop in the pipeline; look out for Pop Stars / Music / Art / Shop / Up.

Also Soda / Cherry / Vox / Body / Lolly and Mondo Pop.

Not to be restricted, even by the most prolific tag, Edwards (always prone to whim) supplemented the series with Give us Bikes not Blondes (below), a piece of found type that he used as a title.

The series was recently on sale at Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art zine fair, and the titles are also available at his website www.misteredwards.tv.

See also Mr Edwards’ Crap Book on the Eye blog, and look at the complete series in reverse alphabetical order.

Above: spread from Pop Sox.
Below: spread from Pop Tarts.

Below: spread from Pop Corn.

Eye is the world’s most beautiful and collectable graphic design journal, published quarterly for professional designers, students and anyone interested in critical, informed writing about graphic design and visual culture. It’s available from all good design bookshops and online at the Eye shop, where you can buy subscriptions and single issues. Eye 82 is still available, and you can browse a visual sampler at Eye before you buy on Issuu.