Guest Contribution by Anna Foskolou

In the heart of autumn there was a stir, an effort to prevent the colourful summer of Art from turning dull like the leaves on the trees. This November, the publishers of FRAME and MARK launched ELEPHANT, a new magazine on Contemporary Art and Visual Culture with a vision to discover originality and offer artists and art aficionados a medium that mirrors the core and ever-changing course of the visual art scene.  ELEPHANT is a breath of fresh air in an oversaturated and highly conventional magazine market, and sets out to shed light on the fine line between the “proper” art world and what has been known as applied arts, or commercial art, where the most groundbreaking work is actually happening. That is when artists start thinking outside the box, and break the self-righteous confines of the museum or gallery environment they force themselves into, and see the art scene for what it truly is. And that is when sheer creativity kicks in.

ELEPHANT is here to unveil new trends and talent in contemporary visual culture featuring up-to-date material, fresh faces and original voices. With a visual content that exceeds two hundred pages, ELEPHANT aims to become a highly anticipated reading experience of remarkable depth and breadth. The magazine is targeted to people, who despite their different background, education, profession, mentality, have one thing in common, a craving to unfold the mystery, to grasp the elusive Zeitgeist. People who are constantly scanning and re-assessing everything around them with a burning desire to change the world. They set the pace, they form the scene, and they bring ELEPHANT into existence. 

The magazine celebrates the artists’ obvious objection to the corporate nature of things, and delves into their independent ventures, offering a step-by-step peak into the elaborate stages of creativity, from conception to realization, and ultimately success. ELEPHANT steps into the action, “invading” art and design studios, interrupting rehearsals, lectures, takes, riding bicycles, and playing today’s cutting edge computer games, proving that it is here to stay.

Marc Valli, owner of the Magma design book stores and ELEPHANT’s Editor in Chief outlines the magazine’s noble spirit, “Direct, sincere and multi-disciplinary, ELEPHANT looks for its ethos in the time before the ‘art world’ and the ‘creative industries’ took over, a time when artists didn’t value their work according to the auction prices, but by the reaction of their peers to their ideas.” He claims that this is no time for cynicism, but instead an opportunity to embrace spontaneity, the same quality that once gave birth to Futurism, Dadaism, and Surrealism.

With its unique approach, unparalleled aesthetics, and cornucopia of topics that cover the spectrum of today’s Art Scene, ELEPHANT is in many ways the first genuine visual art magazine, guaranteed to end up with an impressive fandom… Or should we say phandom?