> Vile /

Vile is a magazine published by Anna Banana (Canada) in 1974 and 1975, and in collaboration with Bill Gaglione (U.S.A) between 1976 and 1979. Banana was born in Canada but lived with Gaglione in San Francisco, from 1973 untill 1981. The idea of a magazine began at 'Speedprint', a small instant print shop in San Francisco where Banana worked, and it became apparent to her that anyone could be a publisher. After returning to Vancouver in Canada, she published the book About Vile in 1983, as a last review of Vile. About Vile gave details about the seven issues that were published between 1974 and 1979.

Vile was inspired by derogatory remarks in File, an earlier Mail-Art magazine which turned its back on Mail-Art. File was a Canadian magazine published from 1972 till 1989 by the group 'General Idea' which consisted of the artists A. A. Bronson (Canada), Felix Partz (Canada) and Jorge Zontal (Canada). The magazine started as a parody on the myth and the mass media format of Life magazine. It was one of the first magazines dedicated to Mail-Art which published artworks, invitations and addresses, helping to expand the network. File then focused on their own projects, giving little or no attention to the Mail-Art network. Banana started Vile to fill in the gap with a world-wide magazine dedicated to Mail-Art only.

". . . I visualized a magazine that would look like Life, but on close examination, would reveal its true nature; subtle put-downs of the mass culture with nasty, dada "up-yours" type messages. However, it didn't take any close examination of the first couple of issues to see that they looked nothing like Life beyond their covers." Banana, A. (1983]. About Vile. Vancouver, Canada: Banana Productions.

Vile turned out to be an important instrument in the expansion of the Mail-Art network in the seventies. It did not only documented the Mail-Art activity throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and South America, but published also contact addresses for international artists. An edition of two hundred copies became unsufficient by issue number two, after which the number of copies in the edition was increased to a thousand copies.

Calling the magazine Vile a parody on the name File, which was a parody itself, Banana influenced the names other publishers gave to their zines. The Mail-artist Bradley Lastname (U.S.A.) choose Bile as the name for his magazine. Which in turn influenced Stewart Home (England) to use the name Smile for a "multiple name" zine he proposed around 1984. Vile has been influential in an other way. To describe her art, Pat Larter (Australia) used the term "Fe-Mail-Art". Later Gaglione used it as tittle for number six in an issue dedicated to women in Mail-Art, after this publication the term became wide spread and is still in use today.

In his book Art in the San Francisco Bay Area 1945-1980, An Illustrated History (University of California Press, 1985) Thomas Albright (U.S.A.) wrote that Vile has been of influence for the "New Wave" publications of the late seventies.

"The militantly anti-style of such parodistic magazines as FILE and VILE (take-offs on LIFE), with their concentration on the bizarre and repulsive, served as a model for many of the publications that grew up around the New Wave scene later in the 1970s." Held, J. Jr. (1991). Mail-Art: an annotated bibliography. London, England: The Scarecrow Press, Inc.

Except for numbers six and seven Vile parodied the look of Life's cover; a full page photo, with the title Vile in white letters in a red block in the upper left-hand corner. On the cover of issue number one we find a bloody-chested Monty Cazazza (U.S.A.) holding out a bleeding heart, an example of the bizarre and repulsive that Albright wrote about. The inside pages are printed in black and white. Vile has received grants from the 'Co-ordinating Council of Literary magazines' and About Vile was funded by a grant from the Canada Council.

Summary:

No. 1, with cover photo of Monty Cazazza with bloody heart in hand, dated February 14, 1985, even though it was published in January, 1974! The cover dates are "dada" i.e. not the actual dates are published. Edited & produced by Anna Banana. 8.5 x 11" format, 56 pages, instant printing with black & red wrap-around cover, Velo binding, edition of 200 copies.

No. 2, with cover photo of naked, hanged man by Jimmy DeSana (U.S.A.), the issue is called "Vol. 1 No. 4", and dated September 1974, when it was actually published. Edited & produced by Anna Banana. 8.5 x 11" format, 48 pages instant print, stapled, edition of 200.

No. 3, with cover photo of man parting the bum-flap on a woman's long-johns. It's called "Vol. 3 No. 1, Dec. 1975", which is the actual date of publication. Received financial assistance from the CCLM; format, 66 pages, saddle stitched, edition of 1000 copies.

No. 4, with cover photo of Gaglione's chest, with DADA shave, and 1/2 Anna Banana's face, called "No. 2/3 International Double Issue" on the cover, but inside it is listed as "Vol. 1 No. 2, Vol. 2 No. 1 (aka. Nos. 2 & 3) Summer 1976", the actual publication date. Bill Gaglione is editor, Anna Banana is associate editor. 8.5" x 11" format, photo offset, 104 pages perfect bound, edition of 1000 copies.

No. 5, with cover photo of Guglielmo Achille Cavellini (Italy) writing on nude male on cover, called "Vile International, Vol. 3 No. 2 Summer 1977", which is the actual publication date. Editor and producer, Anna Banana. 8.5 x 11" format, 98 pages photo offset, perfect bound, edition of 1000 copies.

No. 6, the "Fe-Mail-Art" issue with drawing on cover in pink & black, is accurately called "No. 6, Summer 1978", the actual publication date. Editor, Bill Gaglione, associate editor, Anna Banana. Published with financial assistance from the CCLM. 7" x 10" format, 107 pages photo offset, perfect bound, edition of 800 copies.

No. 7, black wrap-around cover with rubber stamp glued on. Issue called "Vile No, 7, Stampart", with Gaglione as editor, Anna Banana as associate publisher, dated accurately as winter 1979. 6.625" x 9.5" assembling with 93 pages bound with metal clasp through two punched holes, edition of 200 copies.

No. 8, with anonymous photo of man's face with agricultural fork through it, called About Vile edited and produced by Anna Banana, copyright 1983, and published with assistance from Canada Council. 8.5 x 11" format, 106 pages photo offset, perfect bound. Edition of 1000 copies. The book About Vile had similar contents to all the other issues; Mail-Art, articles, poetry, photos with the addenda of Anna's and Gaglione's European tour of 1978, and coverage of her 'Banana Olympics' events in the beginning, and a full account of all issues of Vile in the introduction.

Related Topics:
[01] Magazine
[02] Banana, Anna
[03] Gaglione, Bill
[04] File
[05] General Idea
[06] Parody
[07] Invitation
[08] Network
[09] Dada
[10] Expansion
[11] Lastname, Bradley
[12] Bile
[13] Home, Stewart
[14] Smile
[15] Multiple name
[16] Zine
[17] Lastname, Bradley
[18] Larter, Pat
[19] Fe-Mail-Art
[20] Albright, Thomas
[21] Held Jr., John
[22] Cazazza, Monty
[23] Cavellini, Guglielmo Achille
[24] Rubber stamp
[25] Stamp art
[26] Assembling
[27] Poetry
[28] Banana Olympics
[29] Event

References:
[01] (A. Banana, personal interview, August 2002)
[03] Honoria. (2002). personal article submitted as contribution to "Mail-Art Encyclopaedia".
[03] Banana, A. (1983]. About Vile. Vancouver, Canada: Banana Productions.
[04] Held, J. Jr. (1991). Mail-Art: an annotated bibliography. London, England: The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
[05] Perkins, S. (1997). Utopian Networks and Correspondence Identities. [WWW page] URL http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/atca/subjugated/two_5.htm 
[06] Held, John Jr. (1995). John Held, Jr. Papers - Archives of American Art - Smithsonian Institution - Key to the Collection: Correspondence, 1976-1995. [WWW page] URL http://www.geocities.com/johnheldjr/ 
[07] Kester, G. (1990). Yawn, supplement 11a. [Acrobat reader file] URL http://yawn.detritus.net/pdf/y11_a_2079-80.pdf 

Date last update: 27 July 2003