Houses known as "Vancouver Specials" are an icon of Vancouver, and local visual artist Mark Mizgala has long found them fascinating.
Mizgala created Duct Tape magazine in 2024, building on his background in advertising and art book design. The first issue focused on his photos of back alleys in East Vancouver.
The second, released last year, involved Mizgala's own portrait photography done in collaboration with other artists.
"I invited 25 local artists to participate in an experimental portrait project," he tells V.I.A. Mizgala had the artists alter a piece of glass for him to take a photo through.
A Vancouver Special edition
For the third issue, he created another collaboration. This time it features his photography of Vancouver Specials altered by artists, including many he'd worked with previously.
"I do a lot of wandering around Vancouver," Mizgala explains. "I'm fascinated by the Vancouver Special, and I have quite a number of the Vancouver Special photos."
The style is iconic and unfairly maligned, he says.
Mizgala notes that many local artists have some sort of connection to the familiar houses, having either lived in them or had friends who lived in one.
He sent the photos to the artists and received more than two dozen original pieces of art based on Vancouver Specials in return. Artists participating include Chairman Ting, Sandeep Johal, and Allison Beda.
There's also a photo Mizgala got from Ken Lum of the artist's 2015 piece "Vancouver Especially" (a huge scale model of a Vancouver Special).
The new edition of Duct Tape was recently released, published under his 18 Per Cent Press.
The magazine issue is currently on sale via his website, at Vancouver Special (the furniture store on Main Street), and at Kranky Cafe in Mount Pleasant.
To celebrate the third edition of Duct Tape, Mizgala is hosting a show this summer featuring some of the pieces of Vancouver Special art. The one-day event will take place on July 19 from noon to 4 p.m. at the Art Works building in Mount Pleasant (237 E 4th Ave.).
The next issue will be Mizgala's photography again with a focus on found objects, discards, buildings in a state of disrepair, and abandoned cars around Vancouver.
