Provence: Issue R (Autumn/Winter 2009)

Provence (FR) is "an eight-issue magazine dedicated to hobbies," (P-R-O-V-E-N-C-E). Mostly informal in its writing style, but the rhythm and approach to its design and primary content is unpredictable with each issue. Printed with a high-gloss cover stock that gives a serious dash of elan, its interior pages reflect a calculated chaos of ideas that pull from the best traditions of low magazine culture. There's a sense of the daily life, extrapolated into the heady impacts of visual culture on it; also the other way around. A stellar roster of writers, artists, and friends contribute.

We decided to stock this particular issue because of a story with/by/on Ghislain Mollet-Vieville, critic, collector, and "art agent" of conceptual and minimal art. His style (and the man has style) of organizing and showing is quite amazing for its ability to embody the complexities of the work he lives and promotes. Many other fascinating stories are also in this issue, recollections that are revelatory through a personal experience with something small, or big. There's a lot about fashion (Takeji Hirakawa interview), or mode, maybe, in this one. Hard to say.