Fred Thomas is an artist and musician living in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Defects Mirror is his annually published zine focusing on understated humor, horror and a brightly positive kind of nonsense through devilish collages and free-flowing prose, profound in it’s absurdity and vice-versa. Though he’s lived in Michigan the majority of his life, Thomas is constantly travelling, playing shows year round in various locales and putting together much of the content for Defects Mirror from random detritus and the discarded run off of pop culture he picks up in transit.For this, the third issue of the zine, more collaborators were welcomed in than previously, with submissions of writing and new art from a crew of like-minded friends familiar with each other from the multi-media stew of Michigan’s underground noise and gallery scenes. About half of the issue is by Fred, with the other half made up of work by guests like Ben Saginaw (Ritual Howls), John Olson (Wolf Eyes), Knox Mitchell (Lidless Eye), Samantha Flowers (Paternal Vacation), and many others. It’s incredible to see the similarities in styles so bizarre, and yet how vastly differently each artist approaches their pieces.
Sporadic writing and new photos appear at fredthomas.blogspot.com and the full catalog of available music, clothing and print releases from Fred’s Life Like label (including back issues of Defects Mirror) is available at lifelike.bigcartel.com. 