Volume 5

(March 1, 2024)

Volume 5 is a memoir of the creative process, a collection of moments in visual expression, what it feels like to make art. What is it like living between reality and surreality, between life and art? This volume’s main focus was to create a narrative to carry the reader across the magazine. The story follows our favorite red masked protagonist, Q, and their journey after discovering what it means to live outside of reality, but without getting lost himself. What do you think Q found in his journey?

We decided to use our “Commercial Breaks” as the main way to tell and contain this linear story. The backdrop of the beach was meant to create a feeling of a wasteland of sorts, a place untethered from the realities of modern life. We thought about bringing the character into the city, but decided to shelve that idea for now. Another tidbit of the story is the use of light. As the sun goes down, the story unwinds to its end.

This volume, in particular, came with creative friction. This was soon our biggest gap. It started to take a toll on us. Now a team of two, as the wheels began to move again, cobwebs had to be dusted off. A lot of late nights were ahead of us. But something happens when the moon’s out, right? As the magazine began to take shape, another important realization began to take place.

We came to the realization that the magazines are essentially galleries, able to be taken around, shared physically and digitally. Don’t get us wrong, we love having actual gallery events to showcase the work in the magazines. But as you may have noticed, these magazines don’t have many words. And as you’ve seen, most of our magazines are portrayed in a “white cube” gallery style, where each piece of art is contained in its own section. It’s interesting how lucky we are to understand our actions in retrospect.