ELCAF FORTNIGHT!
There’s an obvious immediacy to illustrated zine delivery that allows artists to make an instant impact on their audience in a relatively short presentational space. Holly St Clair’s Love is Temporary offers a rapid-fire procession of single image symbolism that captures love from perspectives that are both contemporary and universal. From the influence of the online world as a catalyst for relationships to the crushing feeling of break-ups through to posseessive mindsets and the comfort of that special someone, Love is Temporary brings situations and experiences to the page that we can all relate to with a deft visual shorthand.
St Clair’s artistic style here is accessible and stripped back but always inventive and imaginative in composition. Visual metaphor (a heart being stomped on by an unforgiving boot), sight gags (‘Booble’ as above) and representational iconography (the birds and the bees, also above) sit side by side evoking feelings of poigancy, mirth and the recognisable in equal measure. Proof positive that ephemeral packaging does not preclude profounder content!
Review by Andy Oliver
Holly St Clair will be exhibiting at this year’s ELCAF. Visit her website here and her online store here. Holly will also be a guest artist at this week’s Gosh! Comics and Broken Frontier Drink and Draw.
For more on ELCAF 2019 visit the festival site here and follow them on Twitter here.
