VNA - Very Nearly Almost #33

162 pages
Edited by George Macdonald
Language: English
Softcover
Publisher: Very Nearly Almost magazine
2016

Very Nearly Almost is a UK-based independent magazine printed quarterly which features interviews with some of the world’s best urban artists, illustrators and photographers. VNA tracks everything from the wheatpastes, paint and stencils out there on the streets through to gallery shows and events that bring together artists from around the world.
For the cover of this issue, we bring you Seb Lester, a typographer and calligrapher living in the heart of Sussex, UK, who’s literally exploded into the public eye. He’s killing it across social media as well as in that funny old thing they call real life.
Always willing to keep broadening our horizons and testing our readers’ own boundaries and tastes, we have some fresh new talent alongside some of the more established names. Returning to one of our old favourites, Sickboy, we go diggin’ in the crates to get a retrospective of his work over the years, from Bristol bins to his exploits in Galloya, Gambia. Also dipping into the Bristol scene we look at the work of Bacon-esque impressionist China Mike and his work coming up through a scene that’s fostered the incredible talent of Xenz, Mr Jago and Will Barras, amongst other Scrawl Collective legends. Aussie home-grown heroes include the illustrative talent of Georgia Hill, as well as hand-cut stencil king ELK, aka Luke Cornish. A quick trip to Japan, with the help of Backwoods’ Alex Mitchell sheds some well-deserved light on Kami & Sasu – an incredible duo who have worked together almost inseparably to produce some of the most beautifully evocative pattern work.
Over in the States we look at Allison ‘Hueman’ Torneros work – a woman who’s been rapidly rising to the top of her game and securing some strong walls in the world’s top international mural festivals. Michigan-based Matt Gordon throws down the gauntlet for acid-laced pop-surrealism and over in New York, Cheryl Dunn offers a glimpse at her highly underrated and often overlooked photographic archives from Beautiful Losers to post-9/11 Manhattan. MOMO rounds off the ratpack with his nomadic lifestyle and easy on the eye rainbow rollercoasters as he gives us a view into his current hometown of New Orleans. We take a peek at Mexican native Ana Teresa Fernández’s stunning, liquid portraiture, as well as pedaling over to Amsterdam to pop our heads into Andenken Gallery and get the gallery talk lowdown from owner and active street (in one of the truest senses of the word) artist, Hyland Mather.
Photographers Claude Crommelin, Mark Rigney of Hookedblog, NoLionsInEngland, and Paul Gray stomp the streets of London to find the finest examples of art in the streets. Meanwhile last issue’s Instagram legend p1xels comes correct with an awesome pictorial round-up of San Francisco street art.
Contents: Georgia Hill, MOMO, Matt Gordon, ELK, Cheryl Dunn, Ana Teresa Fernandez, Kami & Sasu, Seb Lester, China Mike, Hueman, Sickboy, Andenken Gallery