G. B. Jones (book)
G. B. Jones, edited by Steve LaFreniere, is a book of the drawings and artwork of G. B. Jones, published by a New York City gallery in 1996 as a limited edition.
The book features essays and commentaries on the work of G. B. Jones by Dennis Cooper, Kevin Killian, Dodie Bellamy, Vaginal Davis, Jena von Brücker, Caroline Azar, Jeffery Kennedy, and several others.
As well as featuring her drawings, it also includes posters and still frames from her films The Troublemakers, which features Caroline Azar and Bruce LaBruce; The Yo-Yo Gang, which features Caroline Azar, Leslie Mah, Donna Dresch, Beverly Breckenridge, Deke Nihilson and Bruce LaBruce; and The Lollipop Generation, featuring Jena von Brucker, Mark Ewert, Vaginal Davis and Mitchell Watkins.
The book included the record covers and posters of Fifth Column, the band G. B. is a member of, and reproductions of pages featuring writing and art from publications she was co-editor of, such as Double Bill and J.D.s, the zine that first brought her drawings to public attention. A well-known aspect of her early drawings is the appropriation of the fetish art of Tom of Finland, reinterpreting both his drawings and Vivienne Westwood's punk exploitation of them on her T-shirts for her shop SEX. These are known as the Tom Girl drawings. Unlike Tom's work, in Jones' drawings the women depicted seek to continually undermine authority figures. The drawings have appeared in fanzines, magazines, and books, as well as on posters, record covers and special edition T-shirts, such as the t-shirt for Will Munro's Club Vazaleen, and in galleries throughout North America and Europe.
Although G. B. Jones was widely available in the United States and Europe, copies of the book were seized at the Canadian border and it was officially pronounced "banned in Canada" .
See also
External links
- The Tom Girl series
- East Village Boys interview with GB Jones on her zines, drawings, films, and the banning of the book G.B. Jones