Shop Feature: Zines

Photo Credit: Aurora Noctua; Drawing Volumes, Jonathan McFadden
​Jonathan McFadden is an artist who has traveled to many places and has experienced a variety of cultures. For the past few years, he has begun creating zines from his digital sketchbooks. In an interview with the Lexington Art League, he talked specifically about his zines, that are available through the League’s Gift Shop: “I’ve been making zines for three years now, and it started out with a residency in New York City, where I made the Losing and Failing zine. Since then, these zines have been an extension of my art practice. Since I work primarily digitally, I don’t have a physical sketchbook that I work in, so the zines are essentially the physical representation of my digital sketchbooks. I’ve been working with different risograph (printing) publishers while traveling for exhibitions and residencies. So most recently, Drawings Volume 1. was published by Druk Salon in Zurich when I was in Switzerland for a residency in Basel over the summer. Drawings Volume 2. was published with There There Now, in Columbia, Missouri, and I’m working on Drawings Volume 3. now, and that will be published with Corners in Seoul, Korea. The zines have become this means of bringing imagery to life, that isn’t necessarily going to make its way into print or installation, rather they allow for a physical object to be created that otherwise would not be”—Jonathan McFadden, 2020. 
Jonathan’s work with his zines seems to be a an extension of what he talks about with his print and installation work. In his artist statement, he states that: “My print and installation work interacts with, interprets, and processes fragments of personal narratives of the people we have loose associations with while finding ourselves as voyeurs in these personal moments. While these digital images appear in our social feeds temporarily, they have a permanence and history that exists beyond the brief moment we view them on our devices” (McFadden).

Links:
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Jonathan McFadden: 

Website: https://www.jonathanmcfadden.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathanmcfadden/

Gallery hours for the Lexington Art League are:
Tuesday - Friday [12-6pm] and Saturday - Sunday [1-4pm]

​Author: Aurora Noctua
Aurora Noctua is a local artist and intern of the Lexington Art League. She is currently enrolled at the University of Kentucky pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Digital Media and Design. 
Website: https://steamfly54.wixsite.com/noctua