Artpolice, 1974-1994

Artpolice was an underground zine collectively published by a dozen Minneapolis artists, notably Frank Gaard, Robert Corbit, and Andy Baird. It was known for combining low brow humor with current art school ideas and politics. The zine, begun at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, lasted from 1974-1994. By the time it ceased publication, the zine was a fixture of the larger art community, winding up in the permanent collections of university libraries across the country and museums like MOMA, the Whitney, the Smithsonian, and locally, the Walker, Mia, and our own Hennepin County Library.

Artpolice, long held by the Minneapolis Public Library, has recently been transferred to the Minneapolis periodical collection in the Special Collections department. View some issues online in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago Digital Collections.

GAARD, Frank (editor). ARTPOLICE COMICS. Minneapolis, MN: Artpolice, 1974 (1982). First Edition. 

Apparent reprint of the first issue of the long-running art zine helmed by Frank Gaard. Originally printed in 1974, this copy has several contributions dated (and clearly from) 1982. Not mentioned in Aarons and Roth. With a punk ethos and an outsider quality, ARTPOLICE was a reactionary publication designed to provoke, even within its own ranks, in the early years largely made of Gaard's current and former students. "I wanted to break all the rules...I fancied myself and art criminal," stated Gaard. The issues are comprised almost entirely of line drawings, with constant variation in size, bindings, printing methods, titles and issue numbers (there are at least seven issues marked volume 1 no. 1). Unnamed contributors, including Joe McDonnell. [Aarons and Roth, 78-87].