Arnold Skemer, Small Magazine Review, January-February, 2006

Let me quote: Vanitas will be: "...a forum for international voices with an emphasis on coming to grips with current world situations. Each issue will feature the work of a visual artist. The artist will contribute text and images..." Jim Dine is so featured in this issue. From these varied pages the following struck me as interesting: Jordan Davis' analysis of the New York School of Poetry, an eight page account of shifting currents, curious sociologies with a sort of Darwinian slant as different crosscurrents swirl and snuff each other out. And then one encounters overt political passions. Clayton Eshleman in "Autumn 2004" states: "Dick Cheney's mouth slides on circular saw teeth with rakers to rip out the roots of words." Also: "Bush looks like a simonized monkey." Nada Gordon in "Decency," continues this leitmotiv, adding Condoleezza Rice and Ronald Reagan to the paths of villainy.