Alex Jovanovich at Artforum:
THE MARQUIS DE SADE rained hell upon his Justine, a fictional naïf whose virtuousness was relentlessly “tested” by every stripe of abuse and sexual atrocity the malveillante French author could dream up. Since her appearance more than two centuries ago, the character has spawned countless progeny. Among them is Amy, a young and voluptuous glutton for punishment invented by painter and comics artist Vanessa Conte, whose work for the past decade has been examining the role of the female figure within the realm of sadomasochistic fantasy. Amy: Thrill to Live, a black-and-white zine (with four-color cover) released by Random Man Editions in 2023, is the first collection of the titular underdog’s harrowing adventures.
Aesthetically, Amy is trapped in the mall-fashion amber of Long Island—where Conte, who is now based in Los Angeles, grew up—between the years 1986 and 1991: the ideal primal-scene milieu for an artist born in the late ’70s. Amy’s clothes, seemingly plucked off the rack from a Merry-Go-Round, call to mind the looks once offered by teen-favorite brands Generra, IOU, or B.U.M. Equipment. She also possesses a thick mane of hair, which is frequently teased into the fully dressed styles of her fulsome era.
more here.