State of the Arts
Visiting a museum can be inspiring, but it doesn’t cause most people to launch a magazine. However, just over a year ago, Vermonters Adam DeMartino, a.k.a. Demo, a Burlington DJ, and graphic designer Guy Derry were at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City when “Guy saw this piece of metal that kind of looked like a claw,” recalls Demo. “So we decided to call it ‘futureclaw.’” That enigmatic name soon became the catalyst for creativity.
Wanting to start a new project together, Derry and Demo had toyed with options including a website and a DJ collective. But when they met local fashion photographer Bobby Mozumder, a vision emerged: FUTURECLAW Magazine, a quarterly devoted to, Demo says, “pictures and words.”
Composed of thick, stock-paper pages of high-resolution photography and editorial content, the 15-by-12-inch publication, which debuted October 4, is more coffee-table book than fashion rag. And, at $14.99, it costs plenty more than the latter. FUTURECLAW manager Demo points out that the price reflects the cost of producing a high-quality product.
“One of our things is just displaying art in a cohesive and detailed manner,” he says, pointing to a charcoal-eyelinered model. “See, you can see her pores!”
That kind of acute attention to detail is the team’s goal. But the perception of the images is up to readers. Andrew Stock, FUTURECLAW’s art and music editor, puts it this way: “We want people to think for themselves. At the same time, we want to be a part of the commentary, not just documenting it.”
That’s why Stock contracted Dan Nadel of PictureBox, a visual book publishing company in Brooklyn, to curate a section of the issue. Nadel’s piece, titled “More History is Present,” is prefaced with the statement, “Ignore bullshit trends and ignorant assholes. Follow the art. Celebrate the New Dark Age.” What follows are rich paintings from artists such as Jim Nutt, Peter Saul and Scottish sculptor Eduardo Paolizzi. Nadel’s 18-page collection of multicolored, contemporary images is diverse but suggests a definitive theme.
Local artists also appear in the debut issue, including photographer JP Chandelier. The FUTURECLAW team encourages all artists, local and international, to submit their work for consideration.
Mozumder, who serves as editor-in-chief, says his goal for FUTURECLAW is to “capture world-class creative content.” “We are connected with the world,” he says. “The linked-up phenomenon is global. It is only appropriate to reflect this quality in the content mix of the magazine.”
Given the economy and typical challenges of magazine publishing, naysayers might suggest the young entrepreneurs, all except Mozumder in their early twenties, are naïve in entering the industry.
“It is true that we have entered the marketplace in the midst of a turbulent economic climate,” concedes Mozumder. “We’re compensating for this by keeping our administrative overhead low, maintaining limited print production runs during our growth stage, and utilizing appropriate online media platforms to display and promote the magazine.”
For now, the opportunity to carry out the dream and produce this thick brick of eye candy is worth it. For these young entrepreneurs, the future is the claw.