BLAST! and Format

The Scholes and Wulfman article nicely maps out an easy approach to read a modern magazine. One of the approaches I find to be very helpful is Format. In this, it is important to note key changes among different issues of the magazine.

The modern magazine BLAST was a short lived magazine, with only two issues, dedicated to Vorticism. In the first issue of BLAST, the Vorticists are attacking futurists for being too sentimental. The first edition predates WWI by two months. The cover is bright pink with BLAST written diagonally across. The first few pages are very dynamic in their use of space. It is very eye catching but also straight forward. The first issue includes artwork by Edward Wadsworth and Wyndham Lewis, to only name a few. The artwork is very abstract and looks very mechanical and industrial. A particular piece by Lewis titled " Plan of War" is very interesting because the war had not begun yet. However, it gives an abstract representation of how a war moves. It also suggests the war against establishment, which being a magazine dedicated to Vorticism would make sense because Vorticists wanted to set themselves apart from everyone else.

The second issue of BLAST is dedicated to supporting the war. The artwork on the cover is by Lewis and is reminiscent of some of the his art seen in the first issue of BLAST; very industrial and mechanical. The opening few pages attack the Germans for their ideas on Romanticism. The second issue is very aggressive, violent, and primitive. The articles, poems, art, etc. in the second edition speak to war, humanity, and art. This shows the change in purpose among the two editions. The first edition was working to set themselves apart, seen in the blast, bless, and curse lists while the second edition is working to show support for the war. Something that stays similar among the two issues is that there is no use of color and the art remains abstract.

This change among the two issues of BLAST, I believe, is due to the message each issue was trying to convey.