Icon Magazine

Vision/Philosophy:
Icon is a unique art publication. It will study contemporary art in a way that can be appreciated by both the most experienced art critic and the simple art enthusiast. It will recognize traditional art forms like painting and sculpture, but will also examine where the arts intersect with other parts of our lives like politics and business. It will mix a blurb-style front of the book with features, photographic essays and reviews. It will champion the fine and performing arts. Finally, it will be available in different editions for each major U.S. city, starting with Chicago.

Audience:
Icon advocates the idea that art is not just for the stuffy, old critic or collector. It is a luxury publication made with young, wealthy urbanites in mind. The writing style of the “State of the Arts” section will play most effectively to a hipster in their 30s, while the reviews and features will be more universally enjoyed (particularly by art patrons). It is our goal to have Icon become a weekend planning tool. A young couple will head to Starbucks on a Saturday morning to get their soy lattes, grab a free copy of Icon, and use it to plan outings to galleries and performances over the next few weekends.

Circulation:
Icon will be a quarterly publication (four issues per year). Issues will be printed according to the seasons. The Fall issue will hit newsstands in mid-August, the Winter issue in mid-November, the Spring issue in mid-February, and the summer issue in mid-May. We will start by printing between 35,000 and 50,000 copies per issue (per city) with the hope to expand to around 75,000 copies per issue (per city) once we get off and running.

Distribution Scheme:
Initially, Icon will contract with various galleries and coffees shops to be distributed in those locations for free (similar to the way Chicago Social is distributed for free in Starbucks). We will also sell in major bookstores (Barnes and Noble and Borders). We will only distribute for free until we create buzz around our name and get our feet off the ground. Once Icon has a presence we will expand to more bookstores (smaller independents) and sell in galleries for the cover price of $5.99.

Editions:
My intention as publisher and editor-in-chief is to make local “editions” of Icon. We will start here in Chicago focusing our location specific sections (Calendars, Politics, Artists, Shows, some Reviews) on the Chicago art scene. While much of our content will be Chicago specific, much of it will also apply nationally (some Reviews, Interview, Features, Fashion, Business). I plan to make the major articles nationally applicable (on world renowned artists or exhibits). The smaller sections, however, will highlight local artists and events. Once our Chicago edition has taken off we will expand to other cities through a network of field editors and satellite offices. The field editors will be experts on their respective art scenes, and can report on local events, artists and exhibitions in their area. Our nationally based content can stay consistent throughout each edition. Cities to which I hope to expand within the next five years include New York, San Francisco, Houston and Los Angeles.

Format:
Departments: State of the Arts, Reviews, Features, Interview

State of the Arts:
The “State of the Arts” section is essentially our front of the book. It will be broken down into seven sections: Calendars, Now, Fashion, Politics, Artists, Shows, and Business.

Calendars: There will be five different calendars in each edition of Icon. The first will be the “Best of Chicago” calendar that will feature the “must-sees” for this issue. These things don’t necessarily have to be related to art, but they are events that every Chicagoan should experience. The remaining four calendars are for Art Openings, Exhibition Schedules, Performance Schedules, and “Around Town” (art fairs, art benefits, etc.).

Now: This is the “Top 10” section that will be written by Greil Marcus each issue. It will be his survey of the top ten hottest and most important things in art, architecture, music and culture.

Fashion: This section is for the fashion forward who are interested in expanding their wardrobe to reflect their appreciation of art. In this issue we will feature four artists who have turned their attention towards fashion. The first is Richard Prince, who designed a handbag collection for Louis Vuitton based on his Nurse Paintings. Next, Damien Hirst paired with Levi Strauss & Co. to create a line of 501 jeans featuring his trademark rhinestone skulls. Artist Pamela Ferrari transfers her paper paintings onto clothing and then sells them in her boutiques in Colorado and Connecticut. Finally, artist Ananda Khalsa creates miniature paintings that fit into rings, necklaces and bracelets. This section will be written in blurb-style, each blurb accompanied by a large, dropout photograph of the product.

Politics: Because we are in the midst of a presidential race, in this issue we will highlight arts along the campaign trail. We will focus on both the national (presidential) and local (gubernatorial, etc.) level. What are the candidates saying about funding for the arts? Have they spoken publicly on funding for art education in public schools, etc?

Artists: These will be short profiles (around one page each) of between five and 10 local artists that have shows currently running or set to open during the shelf life of the issue. For our first issue these will be Chicago-based artists, as we expand, they will be local to whichever edition of Icon they are featured in.

Shows: These are short profiles (half a page each) of approximately 10 to 15 shows that are set to open during the shelf life of the issue. These are NOT reviews. Rather, they are a “keep your eye open for these upcoming shows.” They expand on the calendars section by giving readers a little insight into the exhibit and letting them know what to expect.

Business: This section explores the business side of the art world. What are art collectors after these days? What just sold, to whom, and for how much? If you want to get into the business of art collecting, where should you get started? What types of work are going to take off next?

Reviews:
There will be about 10 reviews in each issue. Three will be of national shows and 7 will be of local shows. The reviews will span various mediums, focusing mostly on galleries, film, performing arts and social arts (public pieces).

Features:
There will be three features per issue, each will be approximately 10 pages in length and be accompanied by a photo essay. In this issue Lucy R. Lippard will examine the performative aspect of Romanian artist Dan Perjovschi’s line drawings. She will also discuss the political commentary created by his work and the connection his drawings have to street art. The text will be accompanied by a photo essay shot by David Drebin.

Interview:
The “Interview” section is our back of the book. It is a Q&A with the curator of a major contemporary arts museum on what is going on in the art world. We will ask questions like: What are some trends you see in the art world today? In your experience what types of works are viewers most responsive to? As a curator, do you find it most important to keep the critics or the public happy? What kind of art will we see in five years? How about ten years? Outside the gallery, how do you experience art?

Contributors (First Issue):
Greil Marcus (“Now”): Pop culture junkie Greil Marcus will offer his insights into the top ten most intriguing things this season in art, architecture, music and culture.

David Drebin (“Features”): Drebin is a New York based photographer who contributes to fashion, art and pop culture publications. This issue, he will shoot a photo essay to accompany our feature story on Dan Perjovschi. The narratives he creates portray the performative aspect of Perjovschi’s work in way that simple text cannot.

Jessica Cochran (“Artists”): A graduate of the master’s program for art history, theory and criticism at the Art Institute of Chicago, Cochran is the director of the O’Connor Gallery at Dominican University. She is well acquainted with the Chicago art scene, so her largest task will be choosing only five to ten artists to profile for this issue.

James Godman (“Politics”): For this issue, photographer James Godman used a high profile setting (the Democratic National Convention at the Pepsi Center in Denver, CO) to set the mood for his photo shoot of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. As an abstract painter himself, he appreciates the vivid color that he can get from real film, and often favors his old fashioned Minolta over his brand new digital.

Lucy R. Lippard (“Features”): Lippard is the author of more than 20 books and the co-founder of several artist-based organizations, including the Heresies Collective, Political Art Documentation/Distribution and Printed Matter, New York. In this issue she will examine the work of Dan Perjovschi and discuss his performance-based technique used to create politically charged artworks.

Nancy Holt (“Reviews”): Based in Galisteo, New Mexico, Holt has been known for pioneering site-specific public sculptures, installations, films and videos with her late husband Robert Smithson. Columbia University’s Wallach Art Gallery will mount a traveling exhibition of Holt’s films, videos and related works in 2009. In this issue, Holt reviews two film-based works: one here in Chicago, the other, soon to open in New York.

Design Scheme:
The design scheme is going to be clean and simple. We will take cues from Chicago Social and Artforum, and stay as far away as possible from the chaotic pages of Art in America. Icon will be an ultra glossy, oversized book. It will be about 175 pages long, depending on the issue. I plan to make it visually interesting with large graphics and simple text. Large portions of body text will be laid out in columns for readability. The advertising will be upscale—a mixture of mostly fashion and gallery advertisements. There is an approximate 1 to 1 content to ad ratio for our first issue.


Editor’s Note:

Hello, and welcome to our premiere issue of Icon! I am very excited to announce that we have finally gotten off the ground here, in one of America’s most exciting art scenes, Chicago.

Icon is an art magazine truly unlike any other. Our goal is to make contemporary art enjoyable for critics, but above all, accessible to those who don’t go gallery hopping each weekend. Icon is about appreciating traditional forms of art (through our features and reviews), while learning where contemporary art fits into other aspects of our lives (check out the “State of the Arts” section to see where art intersects with fashion, politics and business). At Icon we are not championing the “art as real life” attitude. Rather, we are allowing those interested in the arts to get the full picture, with events calendars, quick trend blurbs, reviews, interviews, and in-depth features.

As you read through this issue take note of our mix of local and national stories. It is our intent to give about half the stories in each issue national appeal. The others will be Chicago-based. For the locals, we want to be a weekend planning tool. We’ve done our job right if you read about the Warrington Colescott show at the Perimeter Gallery, hop on the “L” towards River North, and experience the exhibit for yourself.

As we get off the ground here in Chicago, plans are already set to expand. Our next stop—San Francisco. As we expand to more cities the plan is to keep our nationally relevant stories the same and replace anything with local flare. By employing art-savvy field editors in each major U.S. city, we will be able to stay on top of numerous art scenes, and keep locals up on what is going on in their neighborhoods. Other cities we hope to reach within the next few years? New York, Los Angeles and Houston.

While I am ecstatic that we are finally getting our feet off the ground, I am particularly excited about a few things in this issue. As a girl who had her first job in retail, and still devotes way too much of her paycheck to the fashion gods, I absolutely love the Fashion section of “State of the Arts.” I’m wild about the skull encrusted 501 jeans by Damien Hirst. Equally high on my radar are the mini paintings Ananda Khalsa embeds in sterling silver and gold rings and necklaces, (I’m obsessed with the “Oval Autumn Maple Ring” available at guild.com).

I’m also thrilled to be featuring Dan Perjovschi, who I believe to be one of the most fun artists around. I was lucky enough to see his “Projects 85” show at MoMA in 2007. As you’ll see in the photos (page 114) he started with blank gallery walls, used a lift to move all around the space, and drew cartoons and political commentary as he went. Like the rest of the audience, I was completely captivated. By that time, Icon was already in the works, so I knew Dan had to be featured in our first issue.

Finally, the month of February is placing us in the midst of some major political turmoil. Pretty soon each party will spit out a presidential candidate and America will be set for our most exciting election in decades. We’ve heard Hillary’s stance on war, and Barack’s plan for education. But what is each candidate saying about funding for the arts? Check out the Politics section in “State of the Arts.” You may want to read this before you cast your vote.

As the weather starts to warm up (well, sort of) we look forward to the promise of spring. In our premiere issue we’ve given you so much to do and see in the city that you have no more excuses to hibernate. So get out there and enjoy! We’ll see you again in May.