An ideal
hammock or beach read and a must on funky toilets
Creative Capetonian Mantis
Well known Cape Town graffiti artist and musician Mantis
was responsible for the overall production and art direction
of the Xpose 2004 annual which was a labor of love. If you’ve
traveled along the highways in Cape Town- especially the
N2- you might be familiar with some of Mantis’ graffiti
art with his signature he also did some illegal and legal
murals. And when he’s not behind a computer monitor
finishing off a magazine or making graffiti murals Mantis
is making music. "We’re trying to build a music
scene in South Africa, people should appreciate local music,”
he says.
A year in the making
Creative chameleon Mantis says that he and two other guys
had been talking about starting the Xpose annual for a year
until it was finally initiated. “There was a gap for
an annual; when I was a kid there were always these Archie
and Superman annuals, we tried to do this project in that
vein. Trying to encapsulate creative Cape Town and South
African unusual art and all that takes place beneath the
surface of the mainstream,” says Mantis.
Not driven by commerce but
by honesty
What he also stresses is that they tried to tell the stories
featured in the annual from a normal perspective. The final
product, more than 250 pages of it, makes the team who put
it together very proud. “The last four months I moved
up to Durban- that’s where the annual was printed-
and the experience was just beautiful,” says Mantis
of the time spent laying out the annual. Although it does
feature some advertising its not over the top and intrusive
like in other magazines in Cape Town or the publishing industry
in South Africa.
Best quality, start collecting
Mantis says that they tried to bring out the best quality
for the magazine. All the pages are glossy and it was laid
out using Photoshop. “I’ve applied my knowledge
of visual arts to produce a magazine that was appealing
in both content and the layout,” he says.
The annual gives you this feeling there will be more on
your bookshelf in the years to come.
Getting stories
How did these three guys, more specifically Mantis, manage
various contributors to the annual? Mantis says: “One
article just led to another, people heard about what we
were doing and just contributed stories and at the end we
had to cut out a lot of the contributions that we received”
Judging success
He says that the success of the annual will depend on the
sales. “The sales will depend on whether there is
a 2005 version coming out,” he says. The annual will
be distributed through a large chain of bookshops across
South Africa getting exposure amongst the literati.
Also some alternative channels are used to reach the unusual,
arty and funky people out there in the world. It should
be distributed overseas as well, not only by bookshops in
Cape Town or South Africa.
Couple of laughs: tongue firmly
in your cheek
Taking on the form of a magazine, it still possesses elements
of a paperback. The people responsible for the annual say
it’s ideally a “toilet read”- someone
should take them up on it.
If you’re expecting deep
insights and pontification be aware, this one is not for
you, if on the other hand you have your tongue firmly in
your cheek then you might get a couple of laughs from it
and learn something in the process.
A perfect way to discover
the first creative Annual
Order the xpose 2004 via come2capetown.com for €18,75
(excl. shipping costs)
Click
here to order
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