Le Document — Issue Eight
Well here we are again, the 15th of the month and a new issue of Le Document has arrived. I’m very pleased with this issue as there was much chat and excitement in the Le Document office as we crafted all the articles.
But firstly, during the heatwave last week, I got to thinking about the busy month we’ve had. Harry and I spent a day in Hackney at a recording studio called Famous Times run by Sean Read. I’m not going to say any more on the subject yet but just wanted to say it was a great day and I’m sure you will hear more about it very soon.
The second item I was going to talk about was the ongoing working from home status that I, along with many others up and down the country, are still engaged in. Adding insult to injury we are all aware of how many people are now facing redundancy and as a nation we’re entering what will probably be the deepest recession on record. Tough times lie ahead but Le Document will keep publishing come what may. Whenever I’m feeling like the world has been turned upside down, I think about this line from the novel Catch-22 …
There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he were sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to, but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle. (p. 56, ch. 5)
Basically, there are only two positions, and both point to the idea that you have to keep going, there really is no alternative. If you feel like you’re going a bit crazy because of the situation, you’re not crazy because you are aware of your thinking; therefore you have to keep going. If you have gone a bit crazy, it doesn’t really matter because you’re probably just going to keep going and not worry about anything any more. End result, you keep going! C’est la vie as Duchamp would have probably mumbled.
Ok, moving on we have an exclusive in this month’s Le Document. We have a Q&A from Kevin Rowland no less! Harry made the connection via the recording studio mentioned earlier. It’s well worth a read and I dropped a few video links in there to make the article even richer. Go straight there now!
If you are still with me I just want to say that all articles in Le Document are just as equal, though some perhaps more equal than others. That said, I want to thank Mark Stewart and Peter Harris for making us aware of their collaboration BombArt.
Peter Suchin is Artist of the Month and we are pleased to be able to bring eight images together to reflect on the last 20 years of his practice.
Our poetry editor, Rochelle Roberts, has written a very powerful essay on Origin myth by Nina Mingya Powles.
We also have a fantastic Q & A from singer/songwriter Emily Capell as well as a stunning drawing from Sarah Woodfine.
On a lighter note we have the popular articles which we know you all love; Badge of the Month, Pet of the Month, Star sign from Jo Mama and a blast from the past Profile on Tiffany.
Our one new article this month is really an advertorial, part advert, part editorial. But the exception to the rule is that it’s a focus on Harry Pye’s portrait painting. We even built him a new website which I think he is rather proud of www.pyeportraits.com go have a look before he gets too many commissions and refuses to answer my phone calls!
That’s Le Document — Issue Eight, drop us a line if you have something interesting to report or add a comment at the end of an article if you want to share something with the community, we’re all ears and as they say in the trade: Our door is always open, in fact it’s so open it’s virtually off the hinges, in a metaphorical kind of way. Don’t be shy!
And if you haven’t done so already, do subscribe to receive our monthly email newsletter.
Until next month, stay safe
Chris & Harry
Cover image Screw by Chris Tosic
web: www.christosic.com
instagram: @chris_tosic
