PULP WAVE (intro)
By:
December 1, 2022
We are pleased to present a 10-part series, by Canadian semiotician and HILOBROW friend Charles Leech, sampling the recombinant artwork that he sells via his Etsy shop RecombinantCulture.
PULP WAVE: INTRO by Charles Leech | PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, LET ME GET WHAT I WANT | PLANET CLAIRE | ONE OF OUR SUBMARINES | LET ME GO | PERFECT KISS | BELA LUGOSI’S DEAD | JUST LIKE HEAVEN | HAPPY HOUR | SHOUT | FALL ON ME. PS: Here’s a Spotify playlist. Also see: QUIRK YOUR ENTHUSIASM series | POPSZTÁR SAMIZDAT series | FILE X series | SURVIVAL SAMPLER.
RecombinantCulture is a fun weekend project I started during COVID, to give myself a creative outlet for self-expression and autonomy — to actually make something semiotically, not just to analyze at minds-length. I didn’t come up with the general concept, of course, but I was dissatisfied with what I saw online and figured I’d try my hand at it.
It’s an exercise in intertextuality, the idea that there are a very small number of original ideas in the world, and so a vast majority of art comes from the combination of existing elements: art isn’t about coming up with something new, but rather about combining old things in new ways.
Playing with ‘narrative congruence’ is fun. Can we find new appreciation for familiar art when it’s ‘intertextualized’ in relevant, appropriate ways? How can music, and lyrics, and song titles, and visual image connect with each other over decades?
It started as a lark and now there are 650+ titles available for sale (in 5 sizes apiece) via my Etsy storefront.
CURATED SERIES at HILOBROW: LINOCUT 2022 by Lawry Hutcheson | PULP WAVE by Charles Leech | DRAWING TABLE WORLD by Theo Ellsworth | PARAMAX by Max Glenn | YUKO ODA by Yuko Oda | PLAGUE YEAR by Rick Pinchera | NOOSFERA by Charles Glaubitz | A SILENT HALLUCINATION by Alex Gerasev | BUNNY CITY by Gary Panter | HOP UP by Lucy Sante | HERE BE MONSTERS by Mister Reusch | DOWNTOWNE by Bradley Peterson | OUTBOUND TO MONTEVIDEO by Mimi Lipson | STERANKOISMS by Douglas Wolk | COOLING OFF THE COMMOTION by Chenjerai Kumanyika | UNFLOWN by Jacob Covey | ADEQUATED by Franklin Bruno | PINAKOTHEK by Lucy Sante | BIGFOOT ISLAND by Michael Lewy | DAILY DRUMPF by Rick Pinchera | WINDS OF MAGIC by James Parker | MUSEUM OF FEMORIBILIA by Lynn Peril | ROBOTS + MONSTERS by Joe Alterio | ANNOTATED GIF by Kerry Callen | NOMADBROW by Erik Davis | & many others.