The Paper Knife, a multiplatform arts organization, releases second volume

Cut down a tree, print some symbols on it and call it a print publication. But wait, there's more! One local group, The Paper Knife, curates not only an unbound print medium but a record label and shows featuring both music and static art.

The organization gathered local artists, art and community members while Cartel Coffee Lab played host to TPK on Sept. 5.

In an email interview with what could be called the editorial board of the organization because of their collective work to produce the publication, the collective shared its vision for the release of the magazine and beyond.

English literature senior Robbie Boccelli, political science and philosophy junior Cody Inglis, alumnus Evan Bisbee and Isaac Porker lead the organization.

The importance of space, physical space, demands consideration in the community after the recent announcement that Parliament in Tempe closed down. Parliament, which was open since last year, helped the local scene because everyone needs space to show art and play music.

The scene really rose to the occasion and offered a diversity that TPK yearned for.

"We look at the community and what it can offer. We find new spaces, and we become more dynamic," TPK said.

Artists for the show and for the magazine were gathered from crowd-sourcing, TPK said. Many artists from Volume One were sourced again and many decided to come submit their work once more.

"We’ve known for a while that we wanted to expand outward, so when Cartel offered us the opportunity to curate the art on their walls as well as release our second edition in their space, well, we jumped at the opportunity," TPK said. "The place is a real hot bed for local, talented artists. Many of the folks in Volume Two can be seen drinking their toddy there."

Those toddies seemed to have inspired many works of art, from still lives, photographs, with realist and geometric inspired pieces interspersed on the pallet-like walls of the local coffee shop.

Annalisa Macaluso painted some geometric cacti with desert colors that could only exist in the desert after some prolific rain. Her impressionistic and therefore interpretive view of these cacti, as well as those colors, drew my eye the closest.

Sarah Black painted a woman smoking a pipe with such intensity that the piece demanded a wall of its own. The folds in the woman's dress as well as her middle-distance expression, what some might call a classical style, created friction with the (dare I say Freudian?) pipe sticking out of her mouth.

Chris Czaja, drawing senior and art curator for TPK's art expositions, has been curating for the organization since January.

"TPK does a lot of things — jazz every month, art shows, (bringing) art to Tempe, where there's not enough of it," he said.

The community comes together after the glut of house shows with local bands and adds more static art into the mix.

"There's a group of people who get to look at art, not just listen to music — they get both sides," Czaja said.

The group supports its fair share of music, though. There are live recorded jazz nights from the old Parliament sets, with Pictures of Cake on the "label." The release was replete with seven inches scoured from the Revolver Records dollar bin and sold with prints, right next to the unbound publication.

TPK's Volume Two was something else entirely, with the content distributed randomly inside a normative white box.

Some of the artwork on the walls was included in the publication, totaling to 23 prints. The issue also contains three written submissions, a cassette featuring Pictures of Cake and a CD featuring Franklin. Also included: a comic book and bookmark, TPK said.

The individual nature of the prints and media means that you can share with friends and family, TPK said.

The box in which the publication came in contained a bunch of TPK matchbooks.

Some of the prints were included in the show and in the release of the publication, too.

The publication uses a modern moniker to characterize itself, Inglis said. "Post-post is how we would categorize it. It's post all the other movements," Inglis said.

This modern approach to presenting art and media in general is the best way to include the diversity of the art that Tempe has to offer, Inglis said.

"It feels good in a way that it's all disjointed — it's all put together but it's not necessarily related,” Inglis said. “One doesn't necessarily depend on the other but in a way yes they all do because they're being packaged together. You get a big range of local art. Not just a bunch of painters or just a bunch of printmakers you get everything in between."

The organization really does it all. Ultimate goals of TPK include, basically, expanding its current reach and organization. "Meet talented people. Share their work. Start working in larger quantities. Ship a book out of the country. Start collecting art from a wider network. Most of all, though, is simply to keep doing it," TPK said.

In the coming months, TPK advises that the community should keep a keen eye. Watch out for 2,500 matchbooks of the neon variety, as well as every type of media, including shows, tapes, books, CDs and content that’s sure to inspire.

 

Reach the Arts & Entertainment Editor at pnorthfe@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @peternorthfelt

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