Rapid Eye Volume 3 by Simon Dwyer

Simon Mckenzie Dwyer was a curious fellow. A pub brawler and a football hooligan. A Plymouth Argyle supporter with a tender soul and ferocious intellect.

Initially started as a fanzine in 1979, Rapid Eye quickly became something bigger and more fully formed. Dwyer had started Rapid Eye as a zine after he moved to London amid the cultural tumult of post-punk in 1978. Developed through the eighties, it culminated in 1989 with the first of three ambitious coffee-table volumes.

Here we a copy Rapid Eye 3, the third of three volumes of Simon Dwyer's collected interviews and writings from hallowed contributors such as Kenneth Anger, Gilbert and George, Stewart Home, Robert Heinlein and William Gibson. Alongside articles and essays on Ponography, A Clockwork Orange and Process Church. This copy is still wrapped in plastic á la Laura Palmer so it's as minty as they come.

Rapid Eye, and the passionately curious and affirmative spirit of Dwyer which is infused into every page of these volumes seems in some ways to be lost to time. There is very little about Dywer and Rapid Eye online comparatively to other compendiums of alternative culture from the same period such as RE/Search publications. I would highly recommend reading the beautiful obituary for Simon written by his widow, Fiona Dwyer. You can find it here in full.

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Cover Art by Gilbert and George

Edited by Simon Dwyer

Published by Creation Books, 1995