Stan Douglas | Television Talk

Stan Douglas
Television Talk
Toronto, Canada: Art Metropole, 1996
16 pp., 20 x 12.7 cm., staple-bound
Edition of 1000, 25 of which are signed

Television Talk was the first issue of the Little Cockroach Press, a series of 20 artist-designed pamphlets published by Art Metropole between April 1996 and July 2000. Other artists included
Emma Kay, Alfredo Jaar, Stephen Willats, Zoe Leonard, David Shrigley, Lucy Pullen & Sandy Plotnikoff, John Waters, Linda M. Montano, Maurizio Nannucci, AA Bronson & Matthias Herrmann, Sonic Youth and others.

The work consists of an essay by Stan Douglas about politics on TV and the politics of TV, deciphering network buzzwords such as "topspin", “the hook”, “pipe” and “heat”.

Sample line: “For some reason on TV no one can leave a room without a joke. I don’t know how it is in your home, but in my home a lot of people will just go out, but here you cannot, you must deliver a joke and leave the room”.

They were produced in editions of 1000 copies, which were distributed free of charge to Art Metropole's mailing list. Copies now sell on the secondary market from between $20 and $200. Twenty-five copies were signed and set aside for a special edition, which was housed in a cardboard box designed by James Carl. This intially sold for $350, and is now unavailable.

An unsigned, unboxed set is available here, for £420.00.

A video of Television Talk can be found on Youtube, here.

Sonic Youth | Letter from NYC

Sonic Youth
Letter from NYC
Toronto, Canada: Art Metropole, 2000
16 pp., 12.7 x 20.5 cm., paper
Edition of 1000, 25 signed by the artists

The final entry in the Little Cockroach Press series is by the band Sonic Youth (Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo and Steve Shelley). Highlights include Thurston shopping for Halloween costumes with Patti Smith, a shot of Kim that looks like it could’ve been taken at the height of grunge but actually predates that era by about twenty years, Macaulay Culkin in a tutu (taken from the video for the song Sunday, directed by Harmony Korine) and a young Thurston wearing headphones, rockin’ out to Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music (which, for those unfamiliar with the record, consists entirely of guitar feedback).

The issue led to Art Metropole hosting the exhibition Sonic Matters and to the ‘bootleg’ reprint of the Sonic Death ‘zines.

Jinhan Ko & Janet Lobberecht | Troubles by design

Jinhan Ko & Janet Lobberecht
Troubles by design, a breaking up book/design by troubles, a book about breaking up
Toronto, Canada: Art Metropole, 2000
16 pp., 12.7 x 20.5 cm., paper
Edition of 1000, 25 signed by the artists

Instant Coffee's Jinhan Ko - known for immersive creative collaboration with his romantic partners - and Janet Lobberecht document their break-up in this double-sided Little Cockroach Press booklet.

AA Bronson & Matthias Herrmann

AA Bronson & Matthias Herrmann
Untitled (Little Cockroach Press 18)
Toronto, Canada: Art Metropole, 2000
16 pp., 12.7 x 20.5 cm., paper
Edition of 1000, 25 signed by the artists

A series of self-portraits with cockrings and open assholes by Matthias Herrmann and AA Bronson, who initiated the Little Cockroach Press series three years prior. Herrmann is the only artist to appear twice in the series.

A set of six signed prints from the same photoshoot is available from Printed Matter, here, for $2000 US.

Maurizio Nannucci | Freezer

Maurizio Nannucci
Freezer
Toronto, Canada: Art Metropole, 2000
16 pp., 12.7 x 20 cm., paper, craft paper with silver ink
Edition of 1000, 25 signed by the artist

The artist (who lives in Italy) instructed Art Metropole staff to document a series of home refrigerators of their choice. The title is possibly considered as a companion to the artist's book Lives Here, published by Art Metropole in 1987, which consisted entirely of artists' homes and addresses. The fridges belong to Germaine Koh (artist) John Goodwin (publisher, gallerist and then-director of Art Metropole), Paul Couillard & Ed Johnson (performance artist and partner), Tom and Ann Dean (artist and former director of Art Metropole), Marina Polosa and Daniel Olson (artists), AA Bronson (artist and founder of AM), Joyce Mason (founder of C Magazine), Andy Patton & Janice Gurney (artists), Luis Jacob (artist and former staff member of AM), Jordan Sonenberg and Michelle Jacques (rooming at the time, AM staff member and AGO curator), Andrew Paterson (artist), Jinhan Ko and Jaxon McDade (artist Ko produced the 19th Little Cockroach press), Amy Wilson & Peter Bowyer (artists), Susan Hobbs (gallerist and then board member of AM), Katherine Mulhern (gallerist) and Peggy Gale & Michael Snow (curator/AM board member and artist). Most lived close to the gallery or were affiliated in some manner.

Linda Montano | The wisdom of Mataji & Bapuji

Linda M. Montano
The Wisdom of Mataji & Bapuji
Toronto, Canada: Art Metropole, 2000
1 pp., 21 x 13 cm. (folded) 41 x 51 cm (unfolded), paper
Edition of 1000, 25 signed by the artist


The only issue of the Little Cockroach Press series to deviate from the 16 page format, this folded poster contains Montano’s biographical account of her spiritual mentors and friends Dr. Aruna Mehta (Mataji) and Dr. A.L. Mehta (Bapuji). It includes 51 sayings by Mataji and a meditation on Christmas by Bapuji.

Harvey Manning | Concrete Warriors

Harvey Manning
Concrete Warriors
Toronto, Canada: Art Metropole, 1999
16 pp., 12.7 x 20 cm., paper
Edition of 1000, 25 signed by the artist

Andrew Hunter | Billy's Journal

Andrew Hunter
Billy's Journal
Toronto, Canada: Art Metropole, 1999
16 pp., 12.7 x 20 cm., paper
Edition of 1000


There are currently four listings for The Little Cockroach Press on ABE, and, curiously, three of them are for Hunter’s Billy’s Journal.

John Waters | 12 assholes and a dirty foot

John Waters
12 assholes and a dirty foot
Toronto, Canada: Art Metropole, 1999
16 pp., 12.7 x 20 cm., paper
Edition of 1000, 25 signed by the artist


"It's impossible to find a shot of an asshole which isn't being threatened by a mouth, an arm, or a dick." Waters told the Independent in 2004. And the dirty foot? "In porn movies there's a guy responsible for washing the performers' feet, so it's equally impossible to find a dirty one." The Little Cockroach Press 13 reformats Waters’ 1996 photograph of the same name, using the drawstring curtains as front and back cover.

“[It has] curtains you can close on it because it’s such a rude piece, and if your parents are coming…”





John Waters
12 Assholes and a Dirty Foot
1996
22 x 138"
Chromogenic prints, curtain
Edition of 4

Lucy Pullen and Sandy Plotnikoff

Lucy Pullen and Sandy Plotnikoff
Untitled (Little Cockroach Press 12)
Toronto, Canada: Art Metropole, 1999
16 pp., 20 x 12.7 cm., paper
Edition of 1000, 25 signed by the artists


“Sandy and I made projects to test the so-called "social contract."

Both of us were interested in propositions. The spaces available to us were public spaces, so that's where the work took place. We were assertive and there was nothing to lose. Both of us were interested in simple formal principles like colour, piles, and wordplay. His view of the world was strange, which I liked. We visited the dumpsters regularly. Both of us were studying the remains of conceptual practices in Canada and the US, looking for new things to do. Our projects were sustainable because they were ephemeral: super-balls bounced into the ocean, booklets were distributed for free. We always thought the work was generous, economic, and generative. We had a profound influence on one another.”

Lucy Pullen

David Shrigley | Centre-parting

David Shrigley
Centre-parting
Toronto, Canada: Art Metropole, 1998
16 pp., 20 x 12.7 cm., paper
Edition of 1000, 25 signed by the artist

Zoe Leonard | Ladies and Gentlemen

Zoe Leonard
Ladies and Gentleman
Toronto, Canada: Art Metropole, 1998
16 pp., 20 x 12.7 cm., paper
Edition of 1000, 25 signed by the artist

Katie Bush | Katie gets wet

Katie Bush
Katie gets wet
Toronto, Canada: Art Metropole, 1998
16 pp., 20 x 12.7 cm., paper
Edition of 1000, 25 signed by the artist

James Carl | Legend

James Carl
Legend
Toronto, Canada: Art Metropole, 1998
16 pp., 20 x 12.7 cm., paper
Edition of 1000, 25 signed by the artist (via a rubber stamp)

A glossy cover with newsprint pages mimics a children’s colouring book, with the iconic graphics that Carl later used for the Art Metropole/Mercer Union title Content 1.0, for Art Metropole’s sandwich board (now housed at the National Gallery) and for Mercer Union’s outdoor billboard space.