Small Press – The Concordian

A first-hand account of this year’s hipster-filled small press fair

“You might have to pinch a few dicks to get through,” I overheard somebody say as I walked into the overcrowded room where Expozine, the yearly Montreal small press fair, was held. Row after row of tables, piles of books, walls plastered with posters: I kept telling myself to look at everything before buying anything, but I ended up reaching for my wallet whenever something caught my eye. There was too much to see and I wanted it all. I went broke within the first hour.

Here is a work by Meags Fitzgerald, one out of 300 individuals present at Expozine.

I talked a bit with Keenan Poloncsak at the Pro-Can table. Keenan recently released a movie based on his first comic, Pro-Can (Ibalizm), about a new drug that turns people into flesh-eating zombies. He doesn’t want to put the movie online, but told me to check out his website for postings on the upcoming screenings in Montreal. A DVD release is still in the works. I bought his newest comic, Cop Porn, which Keenan drew with his left hand—anything to be original these days.

The Co-op Coup d’griffe table always has cool stuff for sale, according to my own experience. Their posters and silkscreened patches are intensely detailed and keep getting better every year. They had a few copies of their political zine, À L’Attaque! for sale, as well as a suitcase full of folk punk CDs.

I was particularly giddy going through Adam Waito’s posters. Waito is known for illustrating many of Pop Montreal’s posters, often featuring a different spin on popular characters. I walked away with a poster of E.T. and Yoda as baggy-pants gangsters and another of Freddy Kruger eating breakfast. I guess even a nightmarish monster needs a big breakfast to start the day right.

Even if you go to Expozine with empty pockets, you can still pick up a number of stickers and zines for free. For example, at the Nouveau International table, I picked up their Makin’ Art zine, a guide to the happenings at Théâtre Sainte-Catherine. I also coaxed them into giving me a Dépflies poster, free of charge. A short conversation really brings out the generosity in some.

One recurring complaint I heard from the vendors was of how packed the event was. So many of them wanted to leave their post to browse the other tables, but the overwhelming crowd kept them stuck behind their own. There was a doubt among many that they could clear the room by 6 p.m., the scheduled closing time of the event.

Besides the occasional claustrophobia, this year’s edition of Expozine was a success. I walked away with a bag full of bizarre art, content with my purchases. Being able to experience the clash of cultures, the protesters, aging hippies, weirdo cartoonists, knitting hipsters and parents passing on the creative torch is the reason I return to Expozine year after year. If you feel like sharing your personal space with some of those fascinating characters and browsing the impressive collection of works presented at the event every year, keep in mind the name and be one of the many, many people that will come back next year.

For more information, visit expozine.ca.

Biggest small press fair Expozine preparing to take a hold of Montreal this upcoming weekend

There’s a moment every year when I get overly excited. No, it’s not Christmas, not my birthday either: it is for Expozine, happening on Nov. 15 and 16. Expozine is a small press fair co-founded by Louis Rastelli in 2002, and it has grown to become the largest event of its kind in North America. It will be taking place in the basement of Église Saint-Enfant-Jésus where over 250 artists and publishers from all over the world will gather to sell their books and art.

Rastelli has been writing for zines and local newspapers since the mid 1980s. “I was a teenager and I started submitting concert reviews, band interviews and record reviews. I also started publishing my own zines and little books in the 1990s,” Rastelli said. “I knew the Montreal scene very well and I had six or seven colleagues, also long-time underground self-publishers, who felt the need for something to promote their work. We already had a good list of contacts and people to invite to take part when we first started this project.”

Expozine advertises itself as one of the most important Montreal cultural events of the year.

The reason Expozine has become so big is mostly due to its bilingualism, which attracts people from all over Quebec as well as publishers from France, Belgium and the United States. “We have to turn away so many people because we don’t even have room for them. Everybody wants a table at Expozine; it’s getting tougher to sell stuff at bookstores, so events like this are really important for sales,” said Rastelli. “A lot of publishers rely more and more on book fairs to be able to sell enough books.”

At least 100 out of the 250 participants are new to Expozine. “We have a crew from France coming in for the first time; they’re called Cagibi, really insane silkscreen and printed art,” Rastelli described. “Another new exhibitor is the Goethe Institute, who are cultural ambassadors from Germany.”

The Expozine sister project, Distroboto, will be present as well. For those of you who haven’t heard, Distroboto takes old-fashioned cigarette vending machines and fills them with small art and zines that sell for two dollars. Another thing to look for this year is Rick Trembles’ work. Trembles is best known for his Motion Picture Purgatory comic reviews in the recently deceased Montreal Mirror, and is teaming up with his 87-year-old father, a long-time illustrator and comic artist. They will be launching their brand new zines together at the cultural event.

Expozine will also be having a number of round table discussions, one of which will be hosted by a former member of Arcade Fire, Howard Bilerman, and will concentrate on the explosion of the Montreal indie scene in the past years. It will take place Saturday, Nov. 15 at 3 p.m. and admission is free. Archive Montréal, co-founded by Rastelli, will also be hosting a roundtable discussion exploring the small independent press of the 1960s and 1970s, which will be presented on Sunday, Nov. 16 at 3 p.m.

“Expozine looks for art that is pushing the envelope, or that is more innovative or different,” Rastelli explained. “For me, it’s like Christmas; if I don’t have enough time to go around and buy something from every table, I’ll be very disappointed.”

Expozine will be held on Nov. 15 and 16 in the basement of Église Saint-Enfant-Jésus situated at 5035 St-Dominique. For more information, visit expozine.ca.