Sarah Dahnke

If you have any lingering fears of monsters under your bed, in the closet or hiding in a dark room, you should probably not pick up the recently released "Beasts!" This book compiles prints by ninety artists, who were all asked to create their own version of one of around 100 mythological beasts that Jacob Covey, the book's curator, composed. The results are surprisingly realistic interpretations of incredibly scary sounding monsters, such as the Chenoo, "an icy-hearted cannibal known to madly chew off even his own lips" or the eerie female known as the Disembowler. (An explanation should not be necessary for that one.) While some of the prints convey a child-like feeling, they do so in a mature manner, rather than reverting to the obvious cartoonish ways many illustrators choose to depict monsters.

As a testament to our city's incredibly gifted printmaking scene, about ten percent of the artists in "Beasts!" are from Chicago. The included artists range from Jay Ryan to Dan Grzeca to the Little Friends of Printmaking. Covey says this geographic inclusion was by no means deliberate. "It just happens that Chicago has crazy-talented people per capita," he says. "It's an impressive group over there." For Covey, the concept of the book was not something he had to derive. Rather, it was something that was so obvious to him that he almost had no choice but to begin contacting artists to create prints for the book. But he knew a collection of "standard" mythological creatures, such as unicorns and dragons, was not going to cut it. He then began an intense research period that involved finding the names and descriptions of various beasts. This list, which ended up being around nine pages long, was distributed to the artists, who claimed their respective beasts on a first-come, first-served basis. They were supposed to choose a beast that was the most visually interesting to them. But it was impossible to completely escape the traditional. "Seonna Hong made a brilliant Unicorn, cast into a modern setting as the new kid on the playground," Covey says. "I never would have thought someone could make the unicorn interesting to me again, but she did it."

The book broadly reflects a number of styles, from detailed illustration to whimsical, brightly colored works, to Asian animation-inspired prints. But for Covey, this variety wasn't as much deliberate as it was simply necessary. He approached the ten-to-fifteen printmakers who he had previously interacted with and convinced them to be a part of the book. Once he had them on board, it was easier to convince bigger-name artists to jump on board. "My goal in choosing a variety of artists wasn't very conscious," Covey says. "I get very bored with most art collections simply because they are so narrowly focused on some genre that it gets bogged down in a style. Not everybody in that area is going to have something new to bring to this project even if there are audiences who like what they do. In the book you have people like [Tim] Biskup, who can do anything they want, and guys like Corey Lunn, who I don't think has ever published anything, and both are incredible talents that floored me with their artwork. I love knowing that people are discovering new artists that they connect with in areas of art that they may not be aware of."

In the beginning, Covey needed clarification of his role in the book. He knew he was not an author or an artist, but the term "editor" contained more academic implications than he was prepared to assume. He settled on the term "curator" because the process for putting together "Beasts!" was not much different than that of curating a gallery show or in a museum. "My role was bringing together disparate talents and showcasing them in a thematic exhibit that just happens to be permanently installed between two hard covers," Covey says. "Besides, it had an archaic ring that fit the tone of the book."

While I would never condone destroying a book, "Beasts!" contains the type of work that it is almost a pity to keep hidden underneath a book cover. It is impossible to pick up the book and not find several prints that are appealing to the eye, which explains its universal appeal. At press time, Fantagraphics Books (publisher of "Beasts!" and where Covey works as a lead designer) was completely out of copies of the book. And after the release party for the book at Quimby's on March 9, it wouldn't be surprising to find out it was impossible to find a copy in the city of Chicago as well. Covey says stores ordered more copies of the book than Fantagraphics ever anticipated, so they started a second printing of the book last week. If you can't find a copy right now, hold your breath. They're on the way.

(2007-03-20)

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