Edited by Jesse Pearson.
Apology is a new magazine of art, fiction, games, humor, essays, interviews, journalism and photography. Founded and edited by former Vice magazine editor-in-chief Jesse Pearson, Apology is inspired in equal measure by the golden ages of The New Yorker and Esquire; by 1980s punk zines like Sick Teen and RE/Search; by the Encyclopedia Britannica and The People’s Almanac; and by MAD magazine. In a general ‘statement of intent,’ Pearson writes:
“1) Each new issue of Apology will be just different enough from the one before it that it will be slightly unsettling if you were a big fan of the previous issue.
2) There will be no regular features in Apology, although if a certain kind of piece works really well we might do something very similar in a subsequent issue.
3) You will, however, be able to rely on each and every issue of
Apology containing, in varying degrees: Fiction, poetry, photography, interviews, essays, humor and art.
4) I’m trying to think of each issue of Apology as one component of a big, Baroque Apologetic tapestry. Think of it like a season of a good TV show with all the little threads and coincidences.
5) I want Apology to be smart, beautiful and funny but I also want it to be really weird because there aren’t any other genuinely weird magazines alive today. (I used those emphatic italics there to drive that point home extra hard.)
6) And now, one last thing: I hereby preemptively call out the fact that pretentious stuff has been said in this statement, and thereby I have stripped anybody else of the power to call me or Apology pretentious—forthwith, in perpetuity, ad infinitum.”
Jesse Pearson was the editor-in-chief of Vice magazine for eight years (from 2002-2010). Prior to that, he was an editor at index magazine. He has curated art shows in New York, Melbourne and Tokyo; conceived, produced and directed numerous internet television series (Soft Focus, Shot By Kern, Art Talk!, Americana); and edited numerous books (including Catholic: Cats; The Vice Photo Book; News, Nudity, and Nonsense: The Best of Vice).