Zine Review: Crime Van Issues Two and Three

Crime Van issues two and three, by Jefferson Ross, feature a series of portraits of vans in various locations across the U.S. and in various states of distress. These portraits - still lives, rolling action shots and a few close-ups of rusty hoods and crevices - are interspersed with other images: Guns, humping pugs, a dead raccoon, a cannabis field, drug paraphernalia, a roll of cash, a paint-splattered fire extinguisher, and many many images of security warning signs and security cameras. As you leaf through the pages of these zines you get a feeling of mounting anxiety, of watching and being watched, of being caught red-handed at an illicit activity even though all you wanted to do was to check out the backside of that Ford E250 or the portholes on that RAM. As the official description for issue one states, Crime Van “explores the relationship between anonymity and exposure,” and it’s up to the viewer to use the puzzle pieces of imagery to imagine what the twisted, dark story behind each van might be.

Issue two consists of 78 pages with b/w photos; issue three has 70 pages and is printed in full color on thick natural stock with a stitched spine. While the mix of photos in issue three is similar to the preceding issue, the most recent Crime Van presents the photos layered onto a background of newspaper clippings. The pairings are seemingly random, but in some cases there is a direct, echo-chamber-like interplay between the images and clippings.

Available now at operationmadman.bigcartel.com. Grab them before the OYE store goes back offline. Bonus: The Reader is also once again available and highly recommended to any fans of the Bookman.

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