meatpaper

Any artist has encountered the following situation: You have an idea. It intoxicates you and takes over, or it lifts you out of a stagnant funk. As you realize you are about to create something great, or as you stand in front of the object you've poured yourself into for the last significant chunk of time, someone casually asks, "Have you ever seen so-and-so? I think you'd really like them."

So you go. And you look. And you find that someone has already done what you just did. And the emotions that follow are complicated: You hate them, for stealing an idea you had (or were just about to have), especially because they've received press. And probably a grant. Jerks. But you love them for so fully understanding what it is you are trying to understand, for asking questions you are asking in a similar but different way, and you feel relief for having an ally.

I have found my ally, two women in San Francisco who I absolutely adore, but secretly am raging jealous of. Nonetheless I will endorse them. Sasha Wizansky and Amy Standen have started a publication entitled meatpaper (www.meatpaper.com). A magazine of art and ideas about meat, the editors write on their website, "Us, we’re ambidextrous here at Meatpaper — no agenda except to gnaw on the ideas, artistic excursions and bone-deep emotions the subject inspires. We invite you to dig in with us."

Well damn, ladies. That's what I was trying to do. I mean, I think it was. I realized it as I read your introductory letter in the first issue, but still, me too.....

Despite my mixed emotions (Why didn't I think of that? They HAVE to be my friends), it is quite an interesting magazine. Very similar to Cabinet in its mix of art and culture, its minimal layout, matte finish and quality printing, its poetry and history mixed in, the publication takes a step back and offers up examples of the idea of meat. There is no political agenda here. If anything, these women have tapped into a current cultural phenomena that relates to all food consumption and is most easily identified by meat and animal products. The question of what it means to eat meat-- physically, emotionally, historically, socially, environmentally-- has never really been asked before, especially in the United States where meat has symbolized prosperity since before the beginning. Our wealth of resources is now such that we can step back and ask ourselves these questions.

And so Wizansky and Standen have started with the artists, publishing a visually stunning magazine with images that seduce, disgust, and open up the floor for a thorough discussion of what meat means. If you ladies are searching the web, I want to be part of that discussion.