This is the second time I have read this particular issue of Blast, and I can say with all honesty that it is no less shocking and no less thought provoking than the first time I read it. What Wyndham Lewis created in Blast is equal parts intellectual and absurd. The visual orientation of the magazine is truly unique and perfectly captures the inception of a brave -- however, short lived --  artistic movement. The violent wording and varying font techniques act as a visual slap to the face and even now, almost 100 years later, I am stunned.

My favorite part of this magazine is definitely its manifesto. It contains the absolute core of vorticist ideals which present themselves unashamedly and without explanation. We stand for the Reality of the Present -- not for the sentimental Future, or the sacripant Past. WE NEED THE UNCONSCIOUSNESS OF HUMANITY - their stupidity, animalism and dreams. The only way Humanity can help artists is to remain independent and work unconsciously.

While a great deal of the statements made in the manifesto may (definitely) sound a little mental, I think what is so inspiring about the vorticist movement is the fact that Wyndham Lewis does not try to convert people to his way of thought traditionally -- instead, he states the mission of the vorticists unabashedly and never explains or apologizes for himself. The unreserved belief of purpose in Blast is rousing to say the least and although the movement was dead by 1920, the influence of Wyndham Lewis and this bizarrely weird publication can definitely be seen in the post-vorticist movements of Great Britain.

Sidenote: I really, really liked the flipbook versions of Blast.