''Arty'' is an independent British art fanzine started by the artist

Cathy Lomax Cathy Lomax (born 1963) is a London artist, curator and director of the Transition Gallery. She is mainly known for her figurative paintings which often focus on the female image and are inspired by 'the seductive imagery of film, fame and fa ...

in 2001. Lomax is also the editor. ''Arty'' is for art fans written by artists themselves and published by Transition Gallery's editions department, the

artist-run space An artist-run space or artist-run centre (Canada) is a gallery or other facility operated or directed by artists, frequently circumventing the structures of public art centers, museums, or commercial galleries and allowing for a more experimental ...

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

History

''Arty'' was founded in 2001 in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. It is published twice a year and sold across the UK, including the

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is ...

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in ...

and ICA in London. Frustrated by opportunities for emerging artists to voice their opinions and concerns and inspired by zine culture, artist Cathy Lomax started Arty as an antidote to dry, critic led writing about art. The first 20 issues were photocopied and stapled and featured eclectic artist led content including reviews of contemporary art and numerous exclusive drawings from over 30 prominent and emerging artists from around the world. Themes of past issues have included Entertainment, Boys, Girls, Books, Nature, Alphabet, Scandal, Our Idols, Labels and Reviews London. From issue 21 the size of the magazine has increased and each issue includes a featured colour. Recent contributors have been Jessica Voorsanger, Sarah Doyle, Rachel Cattle and Gavin Toye. Arty has featured British artist

Stella Vine Stella Vine (born Melissa Jane Robson, 1969) is an English artist, who lives and works in London. Her work is figurative painting, with subjects drawn from personal life, as well as from rock stars, royalty, and other celebrities. In 2001, she ...

's drawings and art since 2003. In November 2002, Vine also contributed a drawing on an envelope, ''Untitled'' (2002), to the compilation book Arty Greatest Hits In Winter 2003, Vine contributed a drawing to Arty's issue number 13, in which artists were given a letter of the alphabet and asked to make a drawing related to their given letter. Vine's drawing was ''E is for Eggs'', depicting the artist

Sarah Lucas Sarah Lucas (born 1962) is an English artist. She is part of the generation of Young British Artists who emerged during the 1990s. Her works frequently employ visual puns and bawdy humour by incorporating photography, collage and found objects. ...

with fried eggs on her T-shirt. Vine contributed a drawing ''Joe eating hash cakes'' (2004) to Arty 16: Boys In 2008, Vine was one of 20 artists invited to create a

tarot card The tarot (, first known as ''trionfi (cards), trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a pack of playing cards, used from at least the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play card games such as Tarocchini. From their ...

for ''Entertainment'', the 24th issue of Arty. Vine contributed an acrylic painting on paper called ''The Tower'' for her tarot card. Arty 25: Fame was published in March 2009. It features Jessica Voorsanger, Harry Pye, Gavin Toye, Sarah Doyle, Kim L Pace, Cathy Lomax, Grace Morgan and Carolina Casis. In 2002, ''Arty'' was described by journalist Dave Calhoun in '' Dazed & Confused'' magazine as "a fanzine written by artists about art—of all shapes and sizes." Arty participated in the first Publish and Be Damned fair in London in 2004 and has taken part in all the subsequent PABDs Althea Greenan, Senior Librarian of

Goldsmiths College Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wor ...

, London described ''Arty'' as "low budget" but "confident" and "sharply relevant". Contributors have included:

Jasper Joffe Jasper Joffe (born 1975) is a British publisher at Joffe Books contemporary artist and novelist who lives and works in London. Life and work Joffe is the brother of artist Chantal Joffe. He studied Fine Art at the Ruskin School of Drawing and ...

Cathie Pilkington Cathie Pilkington (born 31 July 1968) is a London-based British sculptor represented by Karsten Schubert London. She studied at Edinburgh College of Art and the Royal College of Art, and was elected as a Royal Academician in 2014. She became ...

Harry Pye Harry William Pye (born 31 August 1973) is a British artist, writer, and event organizer. Early life Pye was born in London. He completed a foundation course at Camberwell School of Art in 1991. He then studied printmaking at Winchester Sch ...

and Jessica Voorsanger.

Collection

A book chronicling the early history of the magazine, ''Arty Greatest Hits'', was published in 2004. The book compiled the best articles and drawings from the first 16 issues, as well as including new work made especially on the theme of Greatest Hits. Articles included reviews of

Tracey Emin Tracey Karima Emin, Order of the British Empire, CBE, Associate of the Royal Academy, RA (; born 3 July 1963) is a British artist known for her autobiographical and confessional artwork. Emin produces work in a variety of media including drawi ...

's exhibition at

White Cube White Cube is a contemporary art gallery founded by Jay Jopling in London in 1993. The gallery has two branches in London: White Cube Mason's Yard in central London and White Cube Bermondsey in South East London; White Cube Hong Kong, in Centra ...

gallery, and thoughts on artist duo

Gilbert and George Gilbert Prousch, sometimes referred to as Gilbert Proesch (born 17 September 1943 in San Martin de Tor, Italy), and George Passmore (born 8 January 1942 in Plymouth, United Kingdom), are two artists who work together as the collaborative art du ...

contributed a drawing ''Joe eating hash cakes'' (2004) to ''Arty Greatest Hits''

Notes and references

{{Reflist

External links

Arty Magazine official website
Visual arts magazines published in the United Kingdom Lifestyle magazines published in the United Kingdom Monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom Contemporary art magazines Independent magazines Magazines established in 2001 Magazines published in London 2001 establishments in the United Kingdom