Nationality Canadian Name Paul Labonte | Genre Non-fiction Role Author | |
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Born December 14, 1976 (age 47)
Point St. Charles Montreal ( 1976-12-14 ) Occupation author , photographer , director , publisher , curator | ||
Paul Labonte (born December 14, 1976) is a Montreal-based author, photographer, director, publisher and curator.
Contents
Personal life
Labonte resides in Montreal with a Staffordshire bull terrier named Marcy.
Career
He is best known for his first book All City: The Book About Taking Space (2003) that documents the world of graffiti and includes interviews with celebrated yet anonymous graffiti writers. Labonte operates an independent publishing and book packaging company called Second Hand Projects (2002) and serves as a consultant and curator to major lifestyle, street, sport and cultural brands via the branding agency The Mill House.
Labonte has been a WeSC Activist since 2010.
Themes and influence
Labonte’s ability to capture stories and images simultaneously both from the vantage point of an outsider-voyeur and insider-member informs much of the tension and uniqueness of his work.
Books
All City: The Book About Taking Space (ECW Press/SecondHand Projects, 2003) is an in-depth look at the world of graffiti and graffiti writers. The book won the 2004/2005 Applied Arts magazine Design and Advertising Award for Complete Book Design and the 2004 Writers Notes Book Award in the legacy category.
Bully: It's the Pits (ECW Press/SecondHand Projects, 2005) is a compilation of art, advice, interviews, and anecdotes about the much-maligned pit bull or "bully" dog breeds, such as the Staffordshire Bull Terrier, the American Staffordshire Terrier, the American Pit Bull Terrier and the Bulldog.
Turfizm: The Selected Works of Jean Turf One Labourdette (SecondHand Projects, 2009), a look at realist painter Turf One, was his third release.
Photos inspired by the rap music that once inspired me (SecondHand Projects, 2010), a collection of photographs inspired by the rap music that once inspired Labonte originally exhibited at the 381 projects space in Toronto in the spring of 2008
The House Always Wins(2012) is a 96-page volume of photographs conceived of as an analog Instagram that you can hold in your hands.
Labonte wrote his books under the nom-de-plume "Paul 107," inspired by the 107 bus route that runs through the south-west Montreal neighbourhoods where he grew up, that is from Verdun, through Pointe-Saint-Charles up Peel St. to Montreal's downtown core.
Director
As director, Labonte is able to go beyond his signature lens and take on ones that are as varied as the music of the artists he collaborates with.