On October 21st, Raymond Biesigner released his book 9 Times My Work Has Been Ripped Off through Drawn & Quarterly. Known for being an illustrator and artist based in Montreal, Canada, he has an approach to his illustrations and art that is described as minimalist maximalist. It is very distinct. It hits you right away.
In his new book, he weaves nine stories for anyone in a creative field to know if they ever have to face the scenario of having your work either being stolen or used without permission. Throughout the book, he covers different artist sectors that he has worked in throughout his career and tells stories that are both anecdotal, humorous, witty and well, creative. In addition to this, Biesigner provides historical context and examples of things from the art world and also his personal life to show how to creatively deal with unfortunate situations such as this.
Throughout his 20 year career as an illustrator, Biesigner has worked with everyone from The New Yorker, the Globe & Mail, The Guardian, Fortune, GQ, Reuters, Sub Pop and The New York Times, to name a few. The depth of knowledge found in this book, can’t go unnoticed here. For example, he discusses the artist that came up with the logo for Nirvana or the rate illustrators used to make in the early 1900s compared to today. Biesigner’s love of history, which pops up in his art/illustrations, is also weaved through the book’s chapters. It adds more depth to the stories being told here.
I found out about Raymond’s art through his band The Famines. They were a two-piece group, originally based out of Edmonton when they started out in 2008. With song titles such as “Faux Famous,” “Got Lies If You Want Them,” “Free Love is A Sales Technique,” “The First World War,” and “Attack Machine Blues,” their music was both thought provoking and noisy. Their live show was also quite something to see and hear. Described as “an art cult noise garage duo,” they released several seven inches, an album collecting their singles and one full-length album titled Too Cool & Other Songs. All of them featured artwork by Biesigner. Just before they disbanded, The Famines began releasing what they called paper LPs. Basically, it was artwork printed on usually 20X30 newsprint and featured a download code to an album or songs. It could be framed as a piece of art once you downloaded the music, if you desired. I was torn to frame some of the artwork for these releases due to the fact that both sides usually had artwork on them. For some of the releases I did manage to acquire, they sit in special spot persevered in time.
The Famines released several compilations on a label they started called Pentagon Black, highlighting many underground/independent bands in the Canadian music scene, albums by other bands and ceased operations around 2021. You won’t find too much of The Famines stuff online nowadays. Unless you have a record they did or one of their paper LPs, it may be difficult to track down. It’s not on any of the streaming sites, but there are still some places to provide musical evidence out there, despite being elusive if you look hard enough. Perhaps one day their music will appear again. Perhaps not.
On his website fifteen.ca, Raymond Biesinger describes his work as this:
“You can think of much of my work as a collage that doesn’t look like a collage—pieces made from real-world lines, shapes, and textures scanned into a computer that’s used as an infinitely-forgiving Xerox machine, glue, and scissors. These “collaged” components lose their recognizability in the process, but through repetitive use bring flaws, eccentricities, and geometries that form a unique visual vocabulary.”
In 9 Times My Work Has Been Ripped Off, Biesinger collects pieces from real-world examples. Although this quote, refers to his illustrative output, it can apply here. The words found in this book provide a unique look into a world most people will never know or be a part of. For people that want to choose this path, it can provide insight. The stories in this book mend together past experiences, in a part instructional, part memoir, anecdotal, candid and cohesive way. This book can be described as a page turner. It can be an interesting read to anyone, not just artists or creators. Combined with some of his illustrations that showcase his distinct style, it is hard to put this book down once you start. Then when it’s done, you want to read more.
In this podcast, Dave and Adam discuss with him many things relating to the book and the art world, including the ongoing threat of AI.
Grab a copy of the book over at Drawn & Quarterly’s website:
https://drawnandquarterly.com/books/9-times-my-work-has-been-ripped-off/
Visit Raymond Biesigner’s website for his Illustrated work:
fifteen.ca
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