Small press based in Ipswich, Queensland, mainly dedicated to publishing the work of founder Lachlan J McDougall with a selection of other work from across the globe
Electric Boy Scout:: Guerrilla Typewriter is a largely non-fiction book dealing with the pressures on Control and the possibility of using art and literature as methods of social resistance. Part essays, part interview, part stories, and part something else, this book takes you on a trip to the future and beyond.
Get a copy of the book from Amazon here or email lachlan.mcdougall@gmail.com to order direct from the publisher
File Folders: Painting in Ephemera is a brand new book of art featuring stunning paintings from a personal collection made during 2022. A great way to bring home a thrilling series, you can get copies of the book from Amazon here or email lachlan.mcdougall@gmail.com to order a copy direct from the publisher.
NegativeLand is an obsession with the inverse, the photographic negative exposing that which we cannot usually see. Colours form, image is distorted, the simplest artefacts become glistening crescendos of light. In particular, I am drawn to the minute particulars and the sweeping beauty of the natural world. The negative draws out a ghost of another time, a darkness and light that plays off our subconscious reckoning. Fourteen photographs kept in negative like projection light from deep inside. Do you see another world? The inverse ghost world where the light grows thin. Each photograph is printed in an edition of ten signed and numbered prints with the option of a second edition in the future. There is also a ‘print on demand’ option which is unsigned and not part of the official suite. Ease of access to art is very important to me.
You can purchase prints of each slide at artpal.com or take home the book of the series here
Systems is ten images based off the idea of an image processing system. We take a verbal cue from out in the aether and we transpose to the picture language. We distort what is through our lens of system. A rigorous system no doubt but what remains is another matter entirely. These photographs represent the functional world reduced to mere repeating patterns. Things are brought down to a simple gridwork or a fantastic kaleidoscope and move further and further away from that thing which they are. The physical world is no longer recognisable and the representative function of the photograph is nullified.
All images, bar one, were produced by taking a photograph of a thing then using a standardised procedural system to overlay image and distort functionality. The thing no longer remains although it has been multiplied ad infinitum. The odd image out was produced by abstracting photography away from the object and moving towards the infinitesimal—the thing becomes blind to our looks and takes on a textural quality like trees on a distant hill. I’ll let you decide which image is the odd one out.
Systems distorts the commonplace by repetition and abstraction. Nothing remains when you see a thing multiplied beyond the point of counting. The ocean is not a glass of water, a roll of paper is not a tree—these images are not their preceding form, they are something new that stands outside of function and time. They often take on a stark minimalist quality—the thing which looms so large is reduced to a mere pattern that stands in for the entire universe—or else they explode in kaleidoscopic mandalas where the thing loses itself in the monumental ebb and flow of time. Systems is the point of departure, even the name loses meaning.
Each image is on offer in a limited signed and numbered edition of 10 per photograph. For affordability and accessibility there is also an unsigned ‘print on demand’ option. Prints can be purchased from artpal.com or email lachlan.mcdougall@gmail.com for pricing and details.
System #1System #2 (Fish Eyes Bug Out)System #3 (Viper’s Nest)System #4System #5System #6System #7 (Keyhole Lights)System #8 (Hermetic Order of The Golden Dawn)System #9System #10 (Future Proof)
As you may know, LJMcD Communications publishes free zines and pamphlets from time to time. To date these have been the work of press founder and main contributor, Lachlan J McDougall, but now the call is open to have your work published as part of this wonderful free mail out network.
What we’re looking for: set your word document to A5 paper size and put together material up to 52 A5 pages in length. Please, no more than that as the zines become unwieldy, but anything up to that length is workable.
We’re looking for experiments here. We’re looking for something that’s been on your mind and you just need to get it out. You might want to check out the free pamphlets that have already been distributed here.
What’s in it for you: well, it’s a free mail out service, so there’s no monetary recompense, but it’s a great way to get your work out to a wide audience and it will put you in a good position if you ever want to submit a book for consideration with LJMcD Communications. There’ll be the option to limit the number of print copies if you’re into rarity, but otherwise your pamphlet will be distributed to the mailing network and included with orders of books and other mail outs and go on the ‘Catalogue of Ephemera’ for collectors of LJMcD Communications work.
Your pamphlet will also be put aside for inclusion in an anthology volume collecting all the LJMcD Communications ephemera in the future.
You will hold complete copyright over your work and can withdraw the zine at any time or use it for your own purposes, whatever you like!
There is also an option to put the pamphlet out as a full book after a period of time to set it in stone as part of the LJMcD Communications catalogue.
How do I submit: start by familiarising yourself with the zines the press has already put out, then put together your own zine manuscript and email it to lachlan.mcdougall@gmail.com for consideration. I’ll get back to you as soon as possible and let you know how to proceed from there.
Images exposing the ugliness of flesh the stark naked reality devoid of sexuality. The artistic conceit is complete—completely open, completely nude. Photographs and digital manipulations to highlight the fractured nature of reality the stark poses of an artist whittled down to a fine point.
The focus is on the body as a system of disembodied parts. The public artist is a fractured sensibility each shred of self subject to infinite dissection and replication. The focus is on the body as an object of abjection, the usual sexual vigour drained away to reveal a vicious ugliness. There is also a softness and vulnerability there—the artist is forced to be open by the nature of their craft, they are forced into nudity, prostitution and a fractured self.
These images belie the world of the modern artist—I am the artist when I am open. They are a prostitution of the senses gleaming cold reality from a distant eye. You as the viewer are complicit. You take the images as aesthetic slices, pieces of the artist to eat up and digest. You are looking through the keyhole into a private world exploded into the public eye. . Where does the art world draw the line?
Each image is available in a limited run of 10 signed and numbered prints with the option to release more in the future. There is also an unsigned ‘print on demand’ option for art accessibility. There was originally going to be a folio art book released to coincide with this series, but personal circumstances have brought me to withdraw some of the images and the set you see before you is incomplete. I did not feel comfortable releasing a book of the incomplete set and so you book lovers will have to wait until June for the File Folders: Painting in Ephemera book to be released with the fabulous file folder series of painitings.
To purchase prints of any of the images in this series visit artpal.com or email lachlan.mcdougall@gmail.com with your order and I will get back to you with pricing and print details.
See the series (incomplete) here:
Four Cocks MeetUndressingHair in Excelcis Deo To Examine the BodyHand Fractured FleshSuggestion of a SexHand in Movement Pubic Hair Opening onto the WorldNipple in Light Pubic Hair in Shades of LightNipple with Tattoo Penis Flaccid Contemplative Penis Disembodied Ghost of Past Penis Head in BloomFountain
This year I’ll be providing monthly updates on what’s going on in the world of McDougall and here we are at the last Saturday of January.
My latest email newsletter has just gone out with all the updates for the month and you can sign up to that little list here
So what’s been going on? In chronological order
The Diaries 2022 – the first in what will hopefully be a long series of intimate diary publications, this book catalogues the last few months of 2022 with a series of full colour photographs and abstract musings on the day to day of the art life. You can get a copy of the book here
A Day of Perceiving — a brand new visual art series to kick off the 2023 catalogue, this bold new collection is available for sale in limited edition signed prints and one original painting. You can view the entire series and read the artist statement here. You can also have a look back over all my other visual art releases and have a look at my 2022 catalogue here.
The Exorcism of the Dark Spirit or The Trials of Hell — the first free pamphlet of 2023 with a lot more on the way. This short experimental work deals with my own experiences with mental illness and is currentlt available for free. Just download the pdf below.
Mr Martin Held All Board Room Reports — a free chapbook put out as part of the C22 open editions series, this text experiment furthers my own mythology of Mr Martin Mr also known as Johnny Ynshe alias the Architecture Kid. Available for free by downloading the pdf below or get a print edition here
That’s it for releases this month, but make sure you check out my full range of publications here and download what you like and buy anything that catches your eye.
And coming up next month, we have a few more great publications. Check out what’s on offer below.
Twelve Photographs of Silence — a brand new visual art series being released in limited edition photographic prints on February 1st with a folio art book of the entire series to be released at the same time. An overview of the series with artist statement and link to purchase the book will be uploaded here at the beginning of February.
Nagasaki Blues — the first in the Hypernovel Trilogy, this wonderful new cut-up science fiction novel tells a tale of invasion on EarthSphere and humanity’s last ditch efforts to save itself. Coming mid February, you can pre-order an ebook copy of the novel here or email lachlan.mcdougall@gmail.com to pre-order a signed print copy. Look out for the book to be released mid February!
And that’s all for this month. Make sure to check in regularly to stay updated and get the latest of all my boom reviews and other news.
These are images of insomnia photographed darkness and the small lights that rise up from the depths. These are images of sleepless nights the thoughts that reverberate dull monotonous through the room lit only by the sound of passing cars. Each photograph has been digitally touched in order to bring out their innate qualities.
The point is a look at the places where sleep no longer lives, the quiet places of contemplation that exist in the small hours of the morning. Painstaking set-up to capture that small pinprick of light, a blur as a face moves through the shadows, this series aims to capture the visual essence of a silent room shrouded in a close darkness.
Perhaps it is a magic act to bring sleep upon me, perhaps it is to push the insomnia outwards. Either way, the images came up nicely and, I think, show some of the beauty of the night.
Each photograph is issued in a limited run of 10 signed and numbered prints with a non-signed unlimited edition of print on demand copies. Prints can be purchased at artpal.com or by emailing lachlan.mcdougall@gmail.com
There is also a print book catalogue of the series which can be purchased here. A great way to take home all twelve photographs without paying full price and giving up your wall space!
View the photographs below (and buy your favourite)
This collection draws on my usual love for the childlike forms and free flowing vectors of chaos coupled with a primitive instinct and a nod to the minimalists. The series is a walk through a time in space, it is a series of impressions of abstract reality sketched down in concrete form. It exists in the ephemeral space—chalk drawings here today gone tomorrow, coloured pencil on printer paper like a child stretching out their hand, and one painting done on a scrap of cardboard.
The aim is to show a different way of looking at the things around us. ‘A Day of Perceiving’. Any minor mark can well up into a horse or a monkey or the end of the universe—take a look at a simple set of chalk lines, where do they take you? A child’s scrawl can become s system of horses in the paddock. But these impressions are fleeting like the ephemeral nature of my work. Nothing lasts forever, not least the floating flashes of inspiration coming from the ineffable aether.
Digital manipulations are also important highlighting the subtle mutability of our perceptual apparatus. Where do the drawings end and the computer take over? Are there any true images outside of our perceptual tuning? Our Day of Perceiving is full of mediation—nothing is ever as the artist intended, perhaps this statement is a mere puff of air.
Each of the images is available in print limited to 10 signed and numbered copies, except for Two Horses and Bird with Human Figures which is a single original painting for sale. I have also made the decision to open up a non-signed and numbered ‘open’ edition with the ‘print on demand option’. It’s important to me to make the work open and accessible even for those who can’t afford an original print.
See the images in the collection below. Purchases can be made through artpal.com or by emailing lachlan.mcdougall@gmail.com.
A Moment in MayA Yellow Sun in Winter Grey Birthday Cake of the Universe Chalice and Mask of the Monkey KingExplosion in Luxe Fever Dream: Storm of ErosFive Colums (Temple of Zeus)Forest of Trees Galaxy Eye at the End of a Fork Grid System #1Horse in SummerHouse in a Storm Old Monkey FacePeople Crowded Terminal Stable DoorSunset Kerosene Lamp Temple Vision on a Clear Day Texture Poem #2Texture Poem #3Texture Poem #4Texture Poem #5Tumult of Horses in the Paddock Two Horses and Bird with Human Figures
Unfortunately, the physical copy of the catalogue is quite expensive due to printing costs, but never fear, you can always download the free pdf below.
I would urge you to get a physical copy if you’re able as it’s a gorgeous edition that’s a great feature on any shelf, but I understand that not everyone can justify the expense.
I would also suggest that, after looking through the catalogue, you select your favourite piece and purchase it through artpal.com or email me direct at lachlan.mcdougall@gmail.com. Bring a piece of McDougall into your life to cherish forever.
As you know, my books and art are all for sale through the usual channels, but did you know I’m also always open to trading my wares for art, books or whatever else it is you create?
I’ve been building a small mail art network over the past year and you’re always welcome to become a part of it. No obligation to send stuff back, but you will receive goodies from me from time to time like handmade zines and chapbooks and pieces of random art. There’s also the option to trade directly for any of my books or paintings/prints that you like the look of. Just reach out to me by emailing lachlan.mcdougall@gmail.com and let me know what you want and what you’re willing to swap. I’m happy to send anywhere in the world.
In essence, my main aim is to get my work out there into the right hands. I’m less concerned with the day to day financial aspects of the art life as I am about sharing art, and I want to get connected with all of you!
So please reach out by email or social media (see my contact page) and get connected!
LJMcD Communications (Lachlan J McDougall) 