WUNK

(If viewing this on your phone, RSVP is at the bottom)

Hi friend!

We're putting together a new magazine designed to spotlight Portland artists breaking new ground and pushing at the edges, and you're invited to our initial open house.

Wednesday, July 1st, 7pm @ Mudd Palace, Around the corner and up the metal stairs above Free Geek, 1731 SE 10th Avenue

This will be our first meeting for the magazine.

We are asking you to join us to hear our vision, and to share ideas of your own. We would like your input as we start to shape what the magazine will become, and we hope that you might contribute to its pages. We encourage you to bring friends! We want the project to serve and elevate the artists that we already know and love, but also to help bring our attention (and that of the general public) to new and / or overlooked people in the extended Portland art scene.

WHAT IS IT?

We're calling the magazine WUNK, and it's a celebration of art for art's sake. We'll feature comics, illustration, photography, fiction, poetry, irreverent articles, gonzo journalism, satire, artist / musician profiles, media reviews, and just about anything else an artist might do.

We want the magazine to be a snapshot of the most innovative and exciting artists working in Portland (and the PNW) today, as well as a celebration of counter-culture and art that stands outside of mainstream attention.

The WUNK magazine project will be a mix of high-brow and low-brow, just like the Portland art scene.

WHO WE ARE

The WUNK editors are Riley Michael Parker (AMP Gallery, 2017-18) and Zach Werbalowsky (Mudd Palace Gallery, 2025-Now). We have a shared passion for bringing a spotlight to interesting creatives throughout the Pacific Northwest, and building community around art. We think this magazine will help strengthen the existing community, bring new people in, and help working artists from Portland and beyond to find and build their audience.

So far we have commitments and / or delivered work from :

Comic Artist / Musician Lily O'Donnell

Painter / Journalist Ro Hebert

Writer / Comic Artist Mykle Hansen

Painter / Writer Spencer Winans

Photographer Xander Nox Draven

Illustrator / Musician Clae Spratt

Designer / Editor Michael Sean

. . . and negotiations in the works with several other artists.

WHO WE'RE LOOKING FOR

Our top priority is to bring attention to artists working on the edges. We like outsider artists, innovators, and people who push new ideas and work in strange ways. We are looking for artists with vision, who are unapologetic about being themselves.

CONTENT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

We have very few hard rules when it comes to what we will accept, but the main thing is Don't Be Boring. Bring us work that is creative, and boundary-pushing, innovative, transgressive, unpredictable, and simply engaging. Hold our attention.

WHAT INSPIRES US

We love what magazines used to be, and we want to breathe life into this dying medium by building on top of the graves of the greats, and then taking things to bold new places. We are inspired by old VICE (circa 2008 -2013), Interview, PAPER, Nylon, old JUXTAPOZ, Mass Appeal, Thrasher, Big Brother, Mad Magazine, Zap Comix (and related publications), Smoke Signal, Vision Quest, and punk / counter-culture / fanzines of the last four decades.

SPECS AND STUFF

Color - Generic CMYK (Full Color)

Mag Size - 8.5" x 11"

Full Bleed - 9" x 11.5" (this will let color go all the way to the edge)

Pages - Minimum of 60 pages. Aiming for a higher page count.

Manufacturing Cost (per issue) - This depends on a number of factors. We will be paying for the magazine through limited add sales, and every dollar raised will go towards production, distribution, and promotion.

Cost (to consumer) -WUNK will be a FREE MAGAZINE

Template - We have templates available for contributing artists to create pre-build pages (on occasion for things like comics), or artists can send us raw material that we will shape (standard for all writing and most other works).

DISTRIBUTION

We will be producing a MINIMUM OF 500 COPIES, and will have partner distributors all around Portland (and beyond). We will be working with book stores, comic shops, record shops, bars, tattoo parlors, and any other partners we find that promote outsider art and counter-culture.

COMPENSATION

As a magazine free to the public, this project will not bring in any money for editors or contributors. All money raised will be put into production, distribution, and promotion of the work. No compensation is available in the current model.

GOALS

Showcase - Shine a light on talented creators that often get excluded / overlooked, as well as artists not suited for the algorithm.

Art Community - Strengthen the existing community by helping to link our separate thriving Portland scenes.

Audience - Reach new people who are not in the know about events and exhibits, helping artists find new fans, and fans find their way to new art.

Opportunity - A collective show of strength elevates all participants, and can help individual artists, and the group as a whole, open doors that we don't even know exist yet.

Thank you for taking the time to look this over. If you have any questions (and I'm sure you do!), please save them for the meeting. We look forward to seeing you!

Wednesday, July 1st, 7pm @ Mudd Palace, Around the corner and up the metal stairs above Free Geek, 1731 SE 10th Avenue