Michael Dooley
Wet, revisited
In the late '70s, one magazine had an unparalleled artistic influence on L.A.'s bohemians
(Credit: Photo: Raul Vega. Design: April Greiman and Tom Ingalls. Art direction: Leonard Koren.)
In the late 1970s, bohemian hipsters on L.A.’s west side were getting Wet. At the time, it was highly influential among local artists, designers and architects, despite its small circulation. And now, “Making Wet: The Magazine of Gourmet Bathing,” provides a sampling of its spirit.

Poster illustration and design: John Van Hamersveld.
Leonard Koren admits in his book that when he launched Wet in Venice Beach in 1976 he had “no skills in writing, editing, designing, art directing, advertising sales, publishing or business generally.” The first one, printed at Peace Press Graphics, “looked an awful lot like a newsletter.” After a few more issues he met Thomas Ingalls. “Tom had pale white skin, a long, straight nose, and limp blond hair parted rakishly on the side. He was exactly how I imagined a graphic designer might look.”
For the next six months or so, Tom tutored Leonard on layouts and paste-ups and connected him with photographers, illustrators, and designers who contributed to the magazine in exchange for freedom from commercial restraints. “In Wet they were able to express their bolder, brasher weirder visions – unfettered. April Greiman was one of those creators. She and Tom were romantically involved but on the verge of breaking up. In calmer times they had both agreed to assemble Wet issue number six. It was to be the first time someone other than me designed the magazine. When I brought in the text and visuals, April and Tom were screaming at each other. Nervously I sat around waiting, wondering if I had made the right decision.”
As it progressed, each issue became an innovative, off-the-grid visual experience. Graphic sensibilities varied from punk to pre-New Wave to proto-PostMod. Leonard recently told me, “I wouldn’t know where to begin about the various art directors who’ve worked for Wet.”

Leonard Koren signing books last month at L.A.'s La Luz de Jesus Gallery. Photo: M. Dooley.
The magazine lasted 34 issues before it went under in 1981. While afloat it covered the likes of David Hockney, David Byrne, David Lee Roth, David Lynch, Dick Dale, Debbie Harry, Chrissie Hynde, Sissy Spacek, Tim Leary, Merle Haggard, Mick Jagger, Henry Darger, Henry Miller, Helmut Newton, and on and on.
Those features, and a full survey of the magazine’s groundbreaking graphics, will have to wait for their own anthologies. Rather than an immersion, “Making Wet” is mostly a frothy, self-indulgent soak, with snapshots and drawings of men, women, and children in various stages of undress, cavorting and luxuriating in all manner of showers, spas, and tubs. There’s also a ten-page comic strip review of bath soaps by a pre-”Simpsons” Matt Groening, work by Gary Panter and Peter Shire, and some striking covers, including the ones below. So take a dip.


#7. Photo: Raul Vega. Design: April Greiman and Tom Ingalls. Art direction: Leonard Koren.

#9. Photo: Matthew Rolston. Design and art direction: Tom Ingalls.

#12. Illustration: Lynn Robb. Art direction: Leonard Koren.

#13. Photo: Jules Bates. Design and art direction: Elizabeth Freeman, Leonard Koren, and Margaret Wynn.

#14. Photo: Herb Ritts. Design and art direction: Leonard Koren.

#19. Photo: Larry Williams. Design and art direction: Roy Gyongy and Larry Williams.

#28. Photo illustration and design: Taki Ono and Lisa Powers. Art direction: Leonard Koren.

#30. Collage and design: Bob Zoell. Art direction: Leonard Koren.

#33. Illustration and design: Teruhiko Yumura. Art direction: Leonard Koren.
Copyright F+W Media Inc. 2012.
Salon is proud to feature content from Imprint, the fastest-growing design community on the web. Brought to you by Print magazine, America’s oldest and most trusted design voice, Imprint features some of the biggest names in the industry covering visual culture from every angle. Imprint advances and expands the design conversation, providing fresh daily content to the community (and now to salon.com!), sparking conversation, competition, criticism, and passion among its members.
Black Dahlia beginnings
A crime historian explains how Elizabeth Short's makeup informed her famed post-murder persona
Wrapping up my interview with crime historian Joan Renner, we delve deeper into an unsolved murder mystery. Joan explores her theory that the victim’s Black Dahlia persona began when she was still alive. Read part one, with more details of the Dahlia investigation, here.
Anarchy in L.A.
A West Coast exhibition looks back on the work of the Sex Pistol's signature designer

Folk The Banks, 2011. Ink, collage and acetate on paper, 18 x 18 inches, image © Jamie Reid and courtesy Isis Gallery.

Shepard at a recent public session of my Art Center class: a "Creative Entrepreneurs" panel moderated by Petrula Vrontikis. Photo by Joan Dooley.
The real Black Dahlia
A crime historian talks femme fatales, homicidal husbands and LA's most famous unsolved murder

Imprint illustration: Scott Gandell.
So I’m at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood to scope this 1933 Stanwyck flick about broads behind bars, but before it starts this dame gets up in front, name Joan Renner. Says her passion is historic crime and vintage cosmetics: sounds to me like a lethal combination. Then she gives the whole audience the inside skinny about the real characters behind the motion picture story, and about femmes fatales in general.
Pop art’s political legacy
A new exhibit explores the intersection of '60s activism and the artistic movement
Popular culture, capitalist critique and female empowerment are among the topics of this, the last of a three-part feature on “Pop and Politics,” one of the programs at the 100th annual College Art Association conference in Los Angeles. Part one, my interview with Anthony E. Grudin about Andy Warhol and comic books, is here. Part two, the first half of this interview with art historians Allison Unruh and Kalliopi Minioudaki, who organized “Pop and Politics,” is here.
Pop art’s proto-feminists
A new exhibit explores the gender politics of the movement's often overlooked women artists
In 1963, Betty Friedan’s “The Feminine Mystique” drew attention to the stifling state of American womanhood, and Roy Lichtenstein painted what might be considered a visual analogue: “Drowning Girl,” who’d rather be engulfed by tidal waves than call Brad for help. It was also the year Andy Warhol began his grungy, frightening Race Riot silkscreens, as civil rights protests grew. And James Rosenquist was working his way up to “F-111,” his big, bold antiwar statement of 1965, as Vietnam came into public focus. And a good many other pop artists around the globe were also picturing social concerns and changes on the horizon.
Page 1 of 5 in Michael Dooley





















Photos © Joan Renner.





























































