The 125th publication from Public Collectors features the flyer designs and film screening graphics of Pittsburgh-based artist Joshua Rievel.
From the back cover:
We live in a visually dishonest time. Flesh is smoothed over with phone camera filters. We count the number of fingers on hands and look for anatomical inconsistencies or background discrepancies in every photo that seems too good to be true. People use special effects to make their digitally-created images look like they were produced with a RISO or a photocopier from the 1980s. The lies don’t make anything better.
In this world filled with slick, forgettable AI-generated garbage, Joshua Rievel’s purposefully crude 8 1/2 x 11 inch flyers slice right through the slop. His drawings for film screenings—mostly horror films—feel like they were made by someone that was traumatized and is trying to purge what they saw by drawing from memory—scarred deeply enough to get all of the important parts right. Missing details and colors can be imagined in between gaps in the jagged lines.
Publication Year: 2026
Dimensions: 7 x 9", 36 pages
Materials: Paper, staple-bound
Joshua Rievel
Joshua Rievel was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania 40 years ago but has lived in Pittsburgh for the last 19 years. Many of these flyers were produced for local Pittsburgh screenings and shows, but also for events in New York and the UK. Sometimes organizers and artists ask him to make flyers for their events. Rievel also takes it upon himself to promote events he likes: “I think flyers are usually bad so I’ll make my own without being asked.” Three Pittsburgh-based artists that helped with a few of these flyers are Tyler Thompson, Keith Caves, and Bradley Sizemore. Taking initiative like this and welcoming collaboration can deepen relationships and lead to future projects. Rievel also makes things for friends to support what they do and “build the real network of people who live in the same universe.”
Half Letter Press
(Avondale)
Half Letter Press is a publishing imprint and online store initiated by Temporary Services—Brett Bloom & Marc Fischer, who have published booklets as an element of their collaborative work since 1998. Half Letter Press was created to publish and distribute book and booklet length works by themselves and others, and to use this endeavor to build long-term support and expanded audiences for people that work creatively in experimental ways.