Since arriving on these fair Australian shores Izrock Mixed Business, publishers of art based zines, have been spotted alot around town. More recently they’ve also been making waves across the water with collaborations including Mike Giant (U.S. Graffiti/Tattoo artist) among others. I caught up with Izrock founder, print enthusiast and moustachioed Monster Children gallery curator Joseph Allen Shea to share a coffee and and his thoughts…

So ‘zines’. How did all this start for you?
I met Marcus Oakley and French (London based illustrators/artists) when I was living in London. These guys were making stuff, but I wasn’t making any art or anything. I just wanted to contribute really… That’s how it came about. I wanted to publish other peoples work.

Although this is a commercial thing, it seems more like a hobby…
It’s just my interest. I’m not making any money out of it. (Yet!). When I first started I was looking for grants but I wasn’t in the system. I didn’t go to art school. No one knew who I was or felt confident in giving me money. I worked really hard as a freelance designer doing mundane catalogue jobs and created the capital. I put quite a lot of money into making my first two books. (Marcus Oakley and Kill Pixie) then just self distributed aswell. There’s something nice about doing it yourself and having a relationship with everyone that you sell to. And the idea is once the network is there you can just build upon it. 

Mainstream Print titles are finding it difficult right now, either collapsing or shifting online. On the zine front however, it seems the appetite for the medium is growing… Why do you think this is?
I’m a fan of magazines. I’d much prefer to read something on paper than on a screen, especially if its a lot of text… I think it’s the tactily of it. It must be some kind of reflection on everything being on the internet now. It’s just as easy, or easier to publish a blog now. You can put everything online. I guess, it must be some kind of backlash. Some want for human touch and mistakes. Aaron Rose (Alleged gallery director and curator of Beautiful Losers) was out here the other year and I asked him why he makes books. His little quote was ‘There’s no hair stuck in the internet’. I think its those little chancey things, those little human elements that get roped into tactile objects that make it important. I’ve been doing zine fairs for a few years now and it’s (the culture) just getting more and more popular. And the quality is getting greater aswell. It used to be just for anarchists and hippies and a real political message. If you weren’t into that then you’d miss the whole thing. Now people are making anything that’s personal for them.

So who’s buying your publications?
People with an interest in art and design. It’s the same people that will buy an art magazine or a Nieves book or go to art shows or whatever… The content of my books and zines is all artwork. That’s what I do for a job. I curate shows and run an art gallery. At this stage in my life I’m a lot more interested in putting out other peoples work than my own… Even the design of these books are all straight up art. There’s nothing of me in them…except that logo… There’s no crazy, wacky graphic design or fingerprint. It’s the simplest design.

Where can people expect to find them…
In Melbourne and Sydney art bookstores like Ariel or Published Art have them. The Gallery of Modern Art (Brisbane) has been a good supporter. They found me. They called up and said give us some stuff. It’s been a bit harder with the Sydney galleries for some reason… MCA (Sydney) and Art Gallery NSW (Sydney) haven’t picked them up.

I keep hearing this! Melbourne in particular seems to embrace the more artistic/creative stuff but Sydney just…
Yeah, I think it’s culturally quite different they are interested in the arts and culture is a way of life I think… Sydney is for me a business city. Its fast paced, can be quite surface level. I think Melbourne is slower. People are taking their time, sitting in cafes, meeting up. It’s a little bit more human. I’m an advocate for Melbourne for sure. I think it’s a great city. Brisbane similarly. People are lovely up there. I went to Brisbane for the first time last year and just had a great time. Felt welcomed… everyone was super involving. They just took you in. I’ll be going back there next month for some more art shows.

It’s also great seeing stuff going off on a global level…
I think you want to be talking to an international market. Especially because it’s so niche. In Australia its growing, but it’s tiny. There are tiny pockets everywhere. It’s nice to be able to talk to all those pockets all over the world that have an interest rather than trying to push one market and one city. I brought Mike Giant out to do some shows in Australia (2007) and we made a zine on his experience. (this way/that way). It’s sold all over the world and has helped people come to me. Stockists in Japan will call me up…. People are buying boxes in the hundreds.

Who’s worth keeping an eye on in Australia?
Rain Off books. They do distribution of a couple of US titles and they make they’re own photography books aswell. 3 other small publishing companies, well companies may be a strong word!… but ‘individuals’ that I do work with regularly and we do collaborative zines and projects and always go to the zine fairs together. I’ll keep working with those guys: Mark Drew who does ‘Making Ends’  and also runs a gallery called China Heights. Dave Ladd. ‘He, She, It, they, I’. He’s from Adelaide, but we used to live in Dalston (East London) together. Another good friend of mine Tristan Ceddia from Melbourne does Serps. Serps are a gang/gentlemen’s club/art collective. We all gelled immediately and made this zine called Brofile after the Canberra Zine fair invited us to go. We’ve since moved around as four like minded people.

I’m guessing you’ve picked up a few zines over the years?
Yeah. Probably a few Hundred. I’m gonna help the national library of Australia build a collection of zines. I’ll be calling up everyone I know to donate one copy of everything and then it’s there forever. I think that’s what everyone wants.To have their publications in a central place where they’re looked after. I know I do…

Interview: © Paul Mansfield