VILE Vol.3 No.2.

[Anna Banana, ed.]

VILE Vol.3 No.2.

San Francisco, USA: Banana Productions, 1977

98 pp., 27.4 × 21.4 cm., softcover

Edition of 1000

General Idea's FILE Megazine (itself a parody - and anagram of - LIFE Magazine) was influential enough to result in several other publications referencing their format: BILE, SMILE, Defile, and VILE, with the latter being the most well known. 

FILE preceded VILE by a couple of years and became essential to the growing Mail-Art movement in Canada. The inclusion of an Artist Directory helped establish a network of artists across the country, resulting in a proliferation of correspondance art. When Anna Banana sensed a "growing disdain for mail art" from the periodical, she countered with her own large format magazine. 

Even three years after the debut issue, the editorial made clear that the magazine stood in opposition to FILE: 

“Here we are at the 5th issue of VILE, and finally an issue which satisfies my original conception of the magazine — a merging of literary and artistic works into a parody of everybody's favorite alternate art magazine — FILE”. 

The issue features collages, drawings, photographs, artworks, essays, letters and advertisements for non-existent products. Contributors include Alison Knowles, Bill Gaglione, Wolf Vostell, Genesis P-Orridge, Maurizio Nannucci, Monte Cazazza, Ray Johnson, Robin Crozier, and others. 

VILE often featured a nude subject on the cover. Here, the artist and art collector Guglielmo Achille Cavellini is seen writing on nude male.

Banana produced seven issues of VILE over nine years, ending in 1983. 

VILE Vol.3 No.2.is available from Re/Search publications, for $80, here.