From the Archive: Closing the Book on Storyland (CAROUSEL 39)

Let me tell you a story … This is the small story of Storyland, told from beginning to end, and a little beyond. Storyland: a quirky, children’s theme park which opened in 1966 near the town of Renfrew (slightly northwest of Ottawa, ON), founded by Durk and Bonnie Heyda, two immigrants from the Netherlands, on an 175 acre property near the Champlain Lookout in Brown’s Bay — where legendary French explorer Samuel de Champlain made

Read More

From the Archive: Cole Closser ‘A Drip in the Mouth of a Horse’ Interview (CAROUSEL 39)

American cartoonist Cole Closser has been called a master of “butchered quotes and borrowed styles” — a man whose ink-stained dreams tend to have a yellowed, nostalgic residue covering them, and whose drawing style is constantly in a state of technical re-examination and flux. Like the abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock — who is said to have noticed a drip in the mouth of a horse in Picasso’s mural-sized oil painting Guernica, and from that

Read More

From the Archive: Anders Nilsen Interview (CAROUSEL 37)

Anders Nilsen is a notable American graphic novelist whose works include Big Questions, Dogs and Water, Don’t Go Where I Can’t Follow, Rage of Poseidon, The End, and others. In Poetry is Useless, his latest book, Nilsen redefines the sketchbook format, intermingling elegant, densely detailed renderings of mythical animals, short comics drawn in ink, meditations on religion, and abstract shapes and patterns. This expansive ‘sketchbook-as-graphic-novel’ reveals seven years of Nilsen’s life and musings: it covers

Read More

From the Archive: Jeremiah Maddock (CAROUSEL 29)

Dislodged faces and code-like assemblies of letters litter the found book cover canvases of Jeremiah Maddock’s art works. The New York-based artist uses ink, bleach and marker to lend everyday, recycled materials a fine art aesthetic that has garnered him legitimate attention over the last few years. Maddock is flirting with books as art objects — perhaps unwittingly — carrying on a dialogue with the tradition of the artist book. He successfully gives paper ephemera

Read More

From the Archive: ORLAN ‘Long Live Transitional Flesh’ Interview (CAROUSEL 24)

Given French performance artist ORLAN’s dedication to altering her physical appearance in the name of challenging the limits of human physicality, it’s ironic that her rather idiosyncratic look — the Bride of Frankenstein-esque hair, the exotic implants on her forehead and the owl-like glasses she often wears — makes her instantly recognizable in a way that few artists since Andy Warhol have been able to manage. In a world fascinated by cosmetic surgery, where the

Read More

Justin Stephenson’s Titles for Crimes of the Future

In lieu of our regular weekly USEREVIEW posts, we at CAROUSEL will be using each Wednesday in December to highlight just a few of the many exciting artistic projects that former contributors have been at work on outside of the pages of our magazine. Up now: Justin Stephenson’s film titles for David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future (2022). Past CAROUSEL contributor Justin Stephenson is an award-winning filmmaker and moving image designer. He has directed, animated

Read More

Anders Nilsen Interprets John Wyndham!

In lieu of our regular weekly USEREVIEW posts, we at CAROUSEL will be using each Wednesday in December to highlight just a few of the many exciting artistic projects that former contributors have been at work on outside of the pages of our magazine. Up now: Anders Nilsen’s covers for new reissues of classic John Wyndham books! Past CAROUSEL contributor Anders Nilsen is the Los Angeles-based artist & author of ten books including Big Questions, The

Read More

Hey Witch

In lieu of our regular weekly USEREVIEW posts, we at CAROUSEL will be using each Wednesday in December to highlight just a few of the many exciting artistic projects that former contributors have been at work on outside of the pages of our magazine. Up first: Hey Witch! Pottery & Art by Jessica Bromley Bartram. CAROUSEL contributor Jessica Bromley Bartram is an illustrator, graphic designer and artist based in Ottawa, Ontario. We’ve featured her work

Read More