Response to reading Blast

Submitted by Christopher Hol... on Mon, 02/25/2013 - 09:38

When reading Blast, I found myself puzzled by the way that it breaks up plays and short stories with a few pages of art. I was initially very jarred when, with no warning, I would go from one page of text to a group of illustrations. These illustrations would last for a few pages before transitioning bact to text just as suddenly. This can be seen in the Enemy of the Stars, The Saddest Story, and Inner Necessity.

Initially, I found myself at a complete loss trying to discern why the magazine would be arranged in this way. This arrangement is, at best, jarring to the reader, and at worst, wholly off putting. It was not until I considered the concept of the vortex,that I could understand this choice. Here, the various pieces are flowing freely and swirling together, just as they would in a vortex. It is because of this that I find Blast to be more than just a collection of articles, as most magazines are, but is a piece of art in and of itself, a physical representation of the vorticism it champions.

Comments

Will Boogert

Mon, 02/25/2013 - 12:48

I hadn't thought about the magazine itself as a vortex before, but now that splicing of the stories that you talk about makes more sense. Then that led me to think, who would a magazine that focused so much on Individualism blending multiple pieces of art into one? And why would they label themselves "Vorticists" in this case? It seems counterintuitive to me, but maybe there's something more complex to the idea of the vortex.

Victoria McGouran

Mon, 02/25/2013 - 13:26

I think you've hit on something really significant with this idea of the magazine as a vortex. It completely changed the way I saw the articles and art -- what appeared to be a haphazard amalgamation of stuff now seems to have some kind of (slightly crazy) rationale.

Olivia Wood

Mon, 02/25/2013 - 14:36

I agree with the comments above.  Looking back at the magazine as a vortex in and of itself, and therefore being non-linear and somewhat incohesive, gives the whole piece a different sense of meaning than expecting it to be a sensible series of works.

Kristyn Baker

Tue, 02/26/2013 - 18:22

Thanks again for answering my question in class about the visual aspect of Blast.  I had not had a chance to read your blog post but this further clears things up and I am glad to see that I was not the only one who was initially thrown off by the set up.