Wednesday 11 May 2011

Yuck 'n Yum - Mercy Guest Blog 11.05.11




All this week Yuck 'n Yum are writing a guest blog over at the Liverpool-based art and design site Mercy. Today's post features our cover artist Ross Hamilton Frew, and you can see the post here or below:

Thoughts of a cover artist
I suppose I haven't had to think too hard about my role as the Yuck 'n Yum cover artist. Not properly anyway, not until right about now. I have for the past 18 months been submitting work regardless, and Yuck 'n Yum have seemed to like what I do. It's just that now I'm guaranteed a place – front and centre.
So what does it mean to be the cover artist? Apart from the obvious production of the cover image there is an added sense of responsibility. I am the face of the zine, and the difference between you picking up a copy or not. There are also the perks of course. My work is exposed to a far greater audience than it would be otherwise, with the chances being that if you haven't heard of Yuck 'n Yum then you probably haven't heard of me. Maybe you'll take the time to to have a look at my work and maybe you won't, but if you do it'll be thanks to Yuck 'n Yum (and mercyonline of course).
However, the Yuck 'n Yum perks are not only reserved for the cover artist. All contributors have the chance to see their work exposed through a variety of mediums. The zine is where it starts, but once you're on the contributors list Yuck 'n Yum look after you. If you are selected for the zine you might well be selected for one of the many events Yuck 'n Yum curate. It could be online, where they have previously selected a collection of work for the artist social networking site CENTRALSTATION, or it could be via bluetooth, where they have previously produced a mixtape of sound art for Arika's Kill Your Timid Notions festival. Whatever it is they do next, you could be selected to participate, and all they ask for is a black and white jpeg four times a year. Not much eh?
So what do I think it is to be the cover artist?
It is to be part of Yuck 'n Yum, it is to feel supported and it is to be proud.

Ross Hamilton Frew is the Yuck 'n Yum cover artist for 2011.

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