“It’s happening… again.” – Giant from Twin Peaks

Brian Chippendale, Fort Thunder, Olneyville

We’ve heard this story before. These are our friends. Brilliant youth come together in a small town where there’s absolutely nothing to do. They get together in someone’s basement or a cheap wherehouse space and they start making art and noise. There’s no rules so they do whatever they want. The message is so loud and clear, ‘we are alive, we exist’. It’s instantly contagious and inspiring to anyone who comes across it. “This is what I want to do,” is your reaction. The methods are cheap or free diy: photocopied zines and posters, silkscreens and cdrs.

Brian Chippendale – Save Eagle Square

Suddenly it’s a scene. Maybe you tried to keep it kinda secret, but it’s too late. People have heard about your town and now they’re moving in and they need a place to shop. Now it’s all fucked.

Mat Brinkman

My first exposure to Fort Thunder and the Providence art scene was through Paper Rodeo and Mat Brinkman’s Multiforce. It was instantly my favorite comics. The characters reminded me of Masters of the Universe and D&D and Black Sabbath, real evil psychedelic stuff. Something about Total Ogre and all those blocks seemed just sublime. Even though it was a free paper, the stuff was still pretty scarce here on the west coast. I don’t think I saw Brinkman’s work again until the cover of Kramer’s 4 which was another comics revelation. So for me, Wunderground is a discovery of what was going on in Providence for the last decade or so. The veil of obscurity is lifted and origin stories are revealed at last.

Jim Drain – Wrestling At Fort Thunder

For others, who were connected to the scene, this book will probably be a bit emotional. The kids have been evicted, the mills demolished to make way for shopping malls. But you know that somewhere, right now, the next generation is cooking up something new and amazing with remarkable spirit and quality.

Leif Goldberg – Unholy Perch

This book documents the end of the first chapter of their story. Wunderground was a 2 part exhibition that took place at the Museum of Art, RISD this September: Providence Poster Art 1995-2005, and Shangri-La-La-Land a temporary utopia designed by 9 of the founding artists of Fort Thunder and Dirt Palace.