PAQ #1 was an experiment in the mechanics of producing a "booklet". It has images on only every other page and those images are out of context with the rest of the body of Pure Art. PAQ#2 was much more fully realized and is I think one of the better examples. The Pure Art Quarterly wanders over a fair piece of graphic territory and was constrained only by the physical reality of its printing medium, in this case, line art reproduced by "quick copy" low end offset printing. Print runs were 100 with the only exception being the sister publication Blind Trails which went into a second printing of 100. Late 1940's and early 1950's cheap magazine graphics were (and are) a favorite starting point to be painted over, clipped out or traced. The result was a dada comix mix, stark, black and white and ironic. Production of the next PAQ would begin as soon as the previous one was mailed to my ever changing list of art pen pals. The obligatory day job and other painting and drawing work left little time for the PAQ project, still the demand of meeting some kind of deadline was welcome discipline. To throw off the historians there was no issue #5 and the art for #8 is now lost.
THE ART THAT CONCEALS ART
ALL CONTENTS ©2008 JOHN A ADAMS