Exscind
Perzine, Adel Souto (author), 32 pages, [email protected]
Unique packaging gets noticed. This statement can also apply to zines, like the brand new zine by Adel Souto called Exscind. Exscind features something approaching a book sleeve and is filled with high gloss paper, which gives the zine a sense of stature and artistry. This is important when it is mainly prose mixed with some full color visuals. If you like firsthand perspectives and POV, you should pick this up. Veteran zinester Adel Souto goes deep with a few topics, with some drawn from experience and some drawn from opinion. It’s a good blend of both. There are several passages, all of which are worth checking out for one reason or another. Yeah, some of the religious stuff gets a bit muddy at times. If that’s not your speed, there are some other words about suicides in the NYC subway that are pretty compelling (they include some first person accounts with Adel as the witness). There’s also a quasi review of the crime reality program The First 48 that is damn good too. In general, most of the pieces are fairly dark but also darkly poetic, as Adel spins a singular lens on the outside world. It’s not pretty, but good art obviously doesn’t have to be. What art is, is consistent and after reading through Exscind and re-upping on certain pages, one is totally left with a fairly lucid impression of who the author is. It was generous of him to share. (Cam Gordon)