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If you want to see your work published in the next Brushfire, submit your work by March 25th to brushfirestaff@gmail.com.

New Brushfire!

Edition 64 Vol. 1 is out! Pick up your copy at the Joe Crowley Student Union today!

 

Photographer or Magician? Asger Carlsen’s Fantastic World of Black and White Photography

Warning: This post contains nudity and some weird sorta graphic stuff.

I first discovered Asger Carlsen whilst sifting through the pages of Vice Magazine’s 2011 Photo Issue. Initially, the photos evoke sort of a passionate displeasure with a compulsion to keep staring at the page. I was fortunate enough to see original prints of Carlsen featured in the Photo Issue at the Vice release party this summer in NYC. I wish I could have put a camera on the photos to see the reactions of absolutely everyone who walked by. I stood in front of each photo for at least fifteen minutes trying to figure out how the eff Carlsen makes these. At first I was convinced he had taken photos of mutated human corpses before I realized that they had to be sculptures or he was using some mystical prestidigitation or maybe just maybe, he’s the best photo manipulator of all time. I’m pretty sure that all of this is Photoshopped and in some photos it’s pretty obvious, but in his studio series the photo manipulation is absolutely amazing.

Here’s a mini bio on Carlsen and what he’s all about:

Asger Carlsen is a 37 year-old photographer from Denmark living in China Town in New York City who has published two books Hester and Wrong. He’s been publishing work since 2005 and continues to amaze the photography world with his unique and often disturbing modifications of human, animal, and inanimate forms. Carlsen explains his methods to and inspiration from photography as “an expression never really belonging anywhere.”

-Photolover

Comic Sans and Me

As I sit here writing this post and drinking my morning tea from an adorable mug that says “You’re the cat’s meow” (because I am), I reflect on all the times that I’ve seen Comic Sans ruin a perfectly good word/sentence/phrase/ad/anything ever. Doesn’t matter if I received a letter congratulating me on my induction to the World Hall of Fame of Awesomeness (if there was such a thing, I would be in it, obviously), if that shiz is in Comic Sans I would say no. Comic Sans not only rubs me the wrong way for its lack of originality and large curved assholy Sans Serifness, but it generally makes most people in design fields cringe. But then I thought, hey, Comic Sans has feelings too, right? To which my internal monologue said, “No, obviously not.” It’s ridiculous and prompts many an infantile tantrum within me every time I see it. But there’s two sides to every story blah blah blah, maybe Comic Sans has something to say in retaliation, so here, I’ve found what Comic Sans has to say for its over-used self:

“Listen up. I know the shit you’ve been saying behind my back. You think I’m stupid. You think I’m immature. You think I’m a malformed, pathetic excuse for a font. Well think again, nerdhole, because I’m Comic Sans, and I’m the best thing to happen to typography since Johannes fucking Gutenberg.

You don’t like that your coworker used me on that note about stealing her yogurt from the break room fridge? You don’t like that I’m all over your sister-in-law’s blog? You don’t like that I’m on the sign for that new Thai place? You think I’m pedestrian and tacky? Guess the fuck what, Picasso. We don’t all have seventy-three weights of stick-up-my-ass Helvetica sitting on our seventeen-inch MacBook Pros. Sorry the entire world can’t all be done in stark Eurotrash Swiss type. Sorry some people like to have fun. Sorry I’m standing in the way of your minimalist Bauhaus-esque fascist snoozefest. Maybe sometime you should take off your black turtleneck, stop compulsively adjusting your Tumblr theme, and lighten the fuck up for once.

People love me. Why? Because I’m fun. I’m the life of the party. I bring levity to any situation. Need to soften the blow of a harsh message about restroom etiquette? SLAM. There I am. Need to spice up the directions to your graduation party? WHAM. There again. Need to convey your fun-loving, approachable nature on your business’ website? SMACK. Like daffodils in motherfucking spring.

When people need to kick back, have fun, and party, I will be there, unlike your pathetic fonts. While Gotham is at the science fair, I’m banging the prom queen behind the woodshop. While Avenir is practicing the clarinet, I’m shredding “Reign In Blood” on my double-necked Stratocaster. While Univers is refilling his allergy prescriptions, I’m racing my tricked-out, nitrous-laden Honda Civic against Tokyo gangsters who’ll kill me if I don’t cross the finish line first. I am a sans serif Superman and my only kryptonite is pretentious buzzkills like you.

It doesn’t even matter what you think. You know why, jagoff? Cause I’m famous. I am on every major operating system since Microsoft fucking Bob. I’m in your signs. I’m in your browsers. I’m in your instant messengers. I’m not just a font. I am a force of motherfucking nature and I will not rest until every uptight armchair typographer cock-hat like you is surrounded by my lovable, comic-book inspired, sans-serif badassery.

Enough of this bullshit. I’m gonna go get hammered with Papyrus.“

From “I’m Comic Sans, Asshole”

by Mike Lacher

Quoted from McSweeney’s

-Contributor K

Clayton Beck

When you see Clayton Beck’s pictures, you might be tempted to think he’s just another unfairly attractive male model. But when you visit his website and see that his modeling is but a fraction of his vast talent, you can’t help but be impressed.  He has spread his wings (ones he probably made himself, and out of all-recycled material nonetheless) into almost every branch of the fashion world; Hair Design, Photography, Retouching, Full body Makeup, Wearable Art, Jewelry Design, and Spiritual Healing are all in his job description, and he does them all masterfully. When I first heard of him, his various talents seemed to make him worthy of an all-steel-and-glass penthouse somewhere in New York or LA, and only upon hearing from our dear friends at TressaTheresa (who met him personally in his own home!) did I find out that he’s based here in our own Reno, NV.

As I browse even one avenue of Beck’s talent, I feel completely lame and inadequate. It’s only when I combine his various talents that I, unfortunately, pee my pants in awe.

Clayton, we are impressed (and infatuated).

Find him elsewhere:

http://claytonbeckphoto.com/

http://claytonbeck.tumblr.com/

http://www.modelmayhem.com/1934711

http://twitter.com/#!/ClaytonBeck1

http://tressatheresa.wordpress.com/2011/09/13/people-you-need-to-know-clayton-beck/

Yeah. We’ve got a blog now.

So, Brushfire fans, we’ve officially entered the inner-web domain and obtained a blog. Excited? We are too. Expect some ridiculously awesome things from Brushfire in the next year, we’re trying to beef up and impress the opposite sex (other lit mags/journals), so maybe we’ll impress you in the process, too. All we want is a little love. Money would also be appreciated. As would awesome pictures of snakes/cool stuff.

-Hannah Behmaram, Editor