It's the first full week of April. It's spring. It's time to get some mail. Janky will be mailed out to everyone who pledged at the appropriate level and up. The release party in Riverside was great. A good crowd, fun performances. Janky release parties will be held in Boston, NYC and PHilly at the end of April/early May. Thanks, kickstarters, for the support.
-Lee

Hey all, JANKY is nearly here.
First: do check out the Janky website. You can see some photos from Janky, find the latest info, and i will periodically post new pix up there even after Janky is out, kind of like a janky photo blog. If you made a $19 pledge and above, you will be mailed Janky in early April. If not, Janky is available for purchase for $30 on the Janky site.

Below, please find a bunch of photos of JANKY during its production stage. To give it the proper respect, all photos were shot on a cell phone. The photos show my friend Aaron picking up (and looking confused!) at the magazine, the printing company for the color mag, partially-folded zines, the telephony cassette and packaging, and more.

Cheers,
Lee

P.S. The first Janky release party will be held this Saturday in Riverside, CA. More release events will be held in other cities on the west and east coast this April and May.

Hi Everybody,
Thank you all so much for your support. This message is an update to let you know what happens next, now that Janky has been fully funded, a little over $2600.

Transferring funds takes about 2 - 3 weeks to get from you to me! During this time, I will be working on production of the magazines, zines, cassette tapes, handprinted photos, pamphlets, nic-nacs, mastering audio, confirming proofs, arranging layout and printing, etc etc etc. Janky is on track to be released in April. That means I'll probably be able to start mailing copies out to you sometime around the end of March. A mini-tour will commence in April. I am looking for venues to hold a Janky release party with a DIY concert and 1-night-only exhibit. Please let me know if you have a venue or a tip for a space in a city such as Boston, NYC, Philly, Baltimore, LA, SF, Portland, etc.

Everyone that made a pledge at $19 and above will get a message requesting their address. And everyone who pledged $36 and above will receive a request for a photo for inclusion in the Ruff Cut Credits.

In the meantime, feel free to follow along on the new webpage: http://jankyness.com

Please message me or email if you have any questions.
Thanks again,
Lee

Last person to pledge $ to Janky before it expires this Friday gets a special collection of several past zines, plus a new small 1-of-a-kind zine on experimental fabric, quilts, forts, yurts and more. it's called "Be Prepared To See More Than You Expect." The amount you pledge will determine the amount of past zines you get.

THANK YOU EVERYBODY!!! $2500 has been reached so JANKY will be printed. Technically, there are 5 days left for you to pledge financially to the production of Janky. If you pledge before the 5 days are up, you will be able to get Janky at this lower rate of $19 (it will jump up $10 once it is printed and on sale at the parties/online/at stores/etc).

A Janky release tour will commence in April. Currently planning on hitting Boston, NYC/Brooklyn, Philly, LA, Riverside, SF. If you have a tip for a site in any of those cities (minus Philly or Riverside - got that tied up) to host a release party/exhibit/concert, please let me know. Or if you are somewhere else and want me to come to your space, send me a message through kickstarter or leave a comment here.

I am so grateful for everyone's support, to all the participating artists (30+ artists! I am afraid i may leave someone out):
Aaron Roche, Ammad Bahalim, Ashira Siegel/Red Riding Hood Productions, Brianna Bakke, Cars Will Burn, Son Cleva, Chris Vigil, Dan Duy Nguyen, DANGER {sic}, Daniel Hantman, Esq., Daniel Lichtman, David Leapman, Douglas McCulloh, Douglas van Hollen, DSubNet0, Food Sunshine, Mamiko Inoue, Mark Price, Monte Williams, stole_life, Nic Roman, Ondirei Gottesman, Rachel Baron, Rebecca Frick, Rusty Jordan, Talene Salmaszadeh, Tim Bieniosek, The 47th Star, Gingko, and and and...everyone who will be contributing a photo for the Ruff Cut Credits, and and...2 anonymous contributors that i don't know!
-Lee

Wow, only $30 left to go. Whoever pushes this over the line past $2499 gets a "Thank You" phone call!

Also, just because $2500 is reached doesn't mean $$ needs to stop. With additional funding, that will allow:
-additional zine/pamphlets/photos to come packaged with Janky
-higher quality production (including ultra-awesome printing, amazing spot inks, screenprinting some of the jank instead of just photocopying and glossy mag paper, fiber paper printing for the set of 6 prints, and who knows, maybe the ability to create a vinyl LP instead of a cd or tape with enough money (about $800 need for the vinyl production alone))
-a higher quantity of Janky to be published

I am so grateful for everyone's support. Thank you thank you thank you.
-Lee

Yes, yes, yes. 82% funded. 11 days left right now (as of Tuesday Feb 2) until the final day expires right at the beginning on February 13th (I picked that date for good luck).

Janky has 35 backers right now and $2047 raised out of $2500. I am hopeful that the rest will be raised by the 13th. Venues for the 1-night release party/pop-up exhibit/art event have been set for SoCal, Philly. I have been invited to do a project with students at Brandeis University (my alma mater). Currently working on finding venues in Boston and NYC. And potentially Chicago and SF. These events will feature copies of JANKY, artwork from the publication, new works, potentially video installation, live music (using the mobile performance rig depending on what's needed for that particular site - see vanagallery.org for more info on live guerilla performances i have done).

Other behind-the-scenes developments:
-Received quotes for printing the glossy mag
-Hired audio engineer Aaron Roche to co-produce and master the soundzine
-explored creating a cassette tape for the soundzine
-working with artists to hand print contact prints
-partnering with ZineWorks for production and release of the zines

Does this excite you? It excites me. Let's get to $2500. Ok!

Hey, the project's at 51% funding. That's a hair over 50, but not enough. If you've been waiting after the holidays and new year's, now is not the time to fade. Now is the time to pledge!

So in the last update, I promised to give some audio and more info on the Telephony Soundzine that comes packaged with Janky. One of the things I enjoy about the Janky project is that it allows many different artistic mediums and approaches to come together.

Just as in the rest of life, sometimes people place barriers between mediums, tradition and approaches in the arts. One of the fun things about Janky is that it's kind of like an explosion of many things. When I open a bag of pretzels, I take 1 or 2 but then keep going, grabbing more and more out of the bag and popping them in my mouth. Janky will hopefully be like that: an absurd amount of photo and art publications...and then you have an audio cd-zine and that just puts it over the top.

Experimental audio and music, like other areas of contemporary art, can sometimes be difficult for new audiences to enjoy. Sound envelopes us and can sometimes be overpowering (other times it can be comforting). For the Telephony Soundzine, it will be both. Each track is short and different. A new taste. Many different styles of audio art are included: drone, loop, text-based, minimal electronic, musique concrete (audio collage), and even plain old awesome phone messages. I've included two very different samples here. All of the Telephony tracks are united in that they were recorded over the phone to my voicemail. They have a very lo-fi and tough audio quality that matches the aesthetic of the other components of Janky. But do keep in mind that these tracks are currently un-mastered until the final tracks come in at the conclusion of production, and so therefore they are a bit low in volume (crank it!) and need their EQ's adjusted.

The first track is a bit of a mystery. The caller left no name or contact info. (If it's you, let me know!) The second is a short track from a suite by Danger Dale, a visual artist and musician who spends time in Berlin/New Jersey/Morocco. Telephony currently has 26 tracks. For anyone that contributes over $333, they will be able to include their own phoned-in audio field recording on the SoundZine (in addition to the inclusion a mini zine and other rewards). For more info on other audio projects, check out the site for my experimental audio cdr mini-label: http://jewishnoise.com

Ok, that's it for now. Thanks for your pledges. Send me a message if you have any questions.

I've also included a photo of a recent commission of a garbage/collage/quilt I recently completed, and a random messy studio shot.

Thank you to everyone who has pledged so far. JANKY is a bit over the 1/3rd funded mark. I appreciate everyone who has made a pledge to get this made. Help me help you! Get the word out to your friends so JANKY can be fully funded, printed, out the door, into the mail, and into your hands.

One of the challenges of this project is to do describe JANKY since it is a bit non-traditional. And it's hard to do a "show and tell" since JANKY isn't completely finished until it's fully funded. But here goes:

Janky is a DIY publication that grows out of the zine tradition. WHAT IS A ZINE? A zine is a self-published, sometimes handmade, limited production book/mag/printed-thing(!) created outside of traditional publication channels. They can include poetry (a chapbook), stories, photography, drawings, art, anything. Sometimes they are screenprinted, photocopied or even mimeographed. I have made zines for years that includes the work of many photographers and artists. I am also part of a group called ZineWorks that organizes zine-making workshops in Southern California.

In this tradition, JANKY is a marriage of old and new. It's a cornucopia of both traditional black and white photocopy handmade zines and beautiful glossy digitally-printed magazines. The photography runs the gamut but is united by several themes: minimalism, urban landscape, detritus of the american outback, recession documentary photography, and people in public space. Some of the works detail graffiti, bike culture, suburbanization, protests, carny culture, urban exploration, desert utopia. Some works are haunting; others are uplifiting. IF YOU PLEDGE $36 YOU GET TO INCLUDE A PHOTO IN THE RUFF CUT CREDITS ZINE. This is huge. You can select any photo and it will be handled roughly and reproduced. Janky will be distributed in art/bookstores and galleries across the country. Countless citizens will be able to see your contribution in its mangled glory.

Well, that's it for now. Thanks again for your pledges. 65% left to go! Please email if you have any questions.
-Leee Tusman

Next update: Audio from TELEPHONY SOUNDZINE

3 photos attached to this update:
Excerpt from "Dream Street" Series by Douglas McCulloh
"ENTER (SLAYER)" by Ondi Gottesman
"untitled" by Doug Van Hollen (DvH)

Hi everyone,
Huge-ass Thanks to everyone who's pledged so far. We're a few ticks above 13% funding and it's been only 4 days! That's great, and I feel tremendous appreciation for the support. But I'm not resting on my laurels (do people say that anymore?). To make this project happen, about $300 a week (average) needs to be raised. Or 114 more people need to pledge $19 to purchase the JANKY package. With your help, it can be done! The more people we can recruit to participate in funding, the closer we come to the goal of $2500 to print the magazine and get your rewards! And of course, for those pledging $36, you will have the pleasure of seeing one of your own photos in print, distributed at art bookstores, galleries and other spaces nationally.

JANKY is a bit untraditional, and I will send future updates with more info on the contents. In the mean time, this update includes several preview photos from JANKY. If you have any questions for me, about the artwork, funding, or about anything else, please do get in contact through the vanagallery.org website or right here through Kickstarter (if you make an account, you can send me a message).

Again, thank you. And make sure you tell everyone you know. We have 87% to go!

Warmly,
LEe Tusman
Curator, JANKY

4 photos attached to this update:
"Real America" by Son Cleva
"Los Angelopes" by Ashira Siegel
"BM3" by Lee Tusman
"Cream" by Brianna Bakke