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Photography: provided by Geoff Snack
Geoff Snack is the owner and proprietor of vintage dealership and retail consultancy Wrong Answer. Specialising in curating rare print materials in fashion, art and design his selections have been seen alongside brands like Colbo NYC, Better Gift Shop, Noah, J.CREW and Lichen. His inventory offering of assorted curios and vintage prints is so high level, the concept runs on an appointment only basis. We caught up with Geoff to chat about his favourite bookstores, design cliches and him being the bookstore batman.
HR: Where do you think your love for vintage publishing comes from?
GS: My love of print and publication started when I was a kid growing up in a small town in Canada. I’m part of the generation that grew up both with and without the internet as we know it now. So early on, I was on newsgroups and forums trading tapes and live recordings of bands. With books I think it was being able to connect to culture, growing up you kind of want to signal to others what you’re about. Clothing is definitely one way of doing that, but I also think books are another, so that’s kind of how it started.
HR: You sell vintage books, print, art and ephemera through Wrong Answer. How did this come to life?
GS: It’s something that was always in the back of my mind. I've also got a habit of collecting things, so that’s definitely part of it. In terms of selling, I remember visiting an older dealer in Boston and she was telling me stories of how Ed Ruscha would work above her gallery. She said “I don't care what you say, every collector becomes a dealer”. It's sort of inevitable though isn’t it? Because naturally you want to share the things that make you, and other people, happy. I think as you want to acquire more stuff, you usually eventually need to make room.
There are two reasons why I started it though, one was out of spite, because I noticed a lot of vintage dealers selling really mid art books for too much, being quite brazen about marking these items up, which I thought was gross. And the other was in Toronto, there wasn’t anywhere you could find used books that were directional; like very focused on art and design or visual culture. It was either you go to a new bookstore of which there are a few good ones, or you dig through a two floor shop that's dusty, and you'll find great stuff but there wasn’t a nice curated experience.
In terms of the first pop-up, I worked with a local real estate company to use some unused retail space in a nearly completed building a few doors down from Lost & Found in Toronto; It was dusty, with piles of garbage and plywood everywhere. I sent Bijan from Intramural a message and basically said I was doing books and had access to this street level retail location; I asked if he was interested in having some of his vintage t-shirts and homewares alongside the material. He’s a sweetheart and said yes, so he came down for it too. It was great, we would go down there on the weekends and hang out and people would come by. The necessity to have an e-commerce platform and something a little more official came from that. I’ve really started it with no expectations of where it’s going to go, but I wanted to start here and I really enjoy seeing where I can stretch things and exploring new areas to move into, such as art for example.
The current Wrong Answer exhibit
HR: We really like the logo, it kind of reminds me of an early 2000’s skateboard graphic.
GS: Thanks, that’s what I was actually going for. The funny thing about the logo is I stole that from a Damien Hirst book. There’s a really thick volume of his spot paintings and on the back he has this little pill shaped motif with his name on it. I took a photo and asked an illustrator friend of mine to match it.
HR: What do you look for in an item?
GS: The first thing I always ask myself is does it look good? Really for me it needs to be visually great, and if it’s not, is it historically important or significant? The second would be what exactly is the work, where does it fit in the canon of 20thC art, who made it, etc.? In my very narrow view, I ask myself do I think it’s a good representation of the artist and their career? Damien Hirst is a great example, I think his later stuff is terrible but his earlier work, such as the medicine cabinets are really cool.
Another lens is if the item is something I want to offer and share with my audience then I'm happy to take less or no margin just to be able to handle the piece. The fun for me is really being able to have the piece pass through my hands. Like if you could find me a 1980’s book on home decor and it has really good references of furniture and tall ceilings in it, then that’s a no brainer.
“A ping pong ball housed in a small box alongside a sheet with a graph illustrating the body’s decay after death and a list of poison control centres” from @GeoffSnack & available on Wrong Answer
HR: Do you notice buying trends early on, like these Rothko books are really moving, or 80 interior books are, but ones from the 70’s aren’t.
GS: I do my best, I really do my best to have my finger on the pulse and notice what people are responding to. For me, it needs to be something that I think is important and good first and foremost. It's also helpful if it is something I know my clients will likely want than that is a bonus.It’s definitely a tough balance between what I think is cool, versus what I think other people are going to be interested in. But if the first is true, the second usually doesn't matter because I might just keep it.
HR: How’s the library looking in your apartment at the moment?
GS: It’s actually quite small, because I try to keep it moving. I have a small shelf and then in my living room I have IKEA shelving that takes up the wall, but it's very sparse. I want to make sure when clients come to an appointment things are displayed nicely, I don't want people to have to dig. My last apartment was quite modest, so I kept some books in the oven for a little while. It’s never really been a crazy amount because I have quite a few outlets, like I can take things to Noah, Colbo or other dealers. I also have to keep things moving, which is nice so there’s not a lot in there; but there’s definitely some good shit and heavy hitters on there all the time. I collect a lot of ephemera, so those often go into archival boxes or binders.
HR: Are there any publishers that are quite sought after?
GS: There’s definitely certain galleries that are known for having great rosters of artists or particularly well-produced invitations. There’s a few which I’ll buy on sight because I trust and love what they do. In terms of publishers, Gemini G.E.L is one, if I see their logo I’m immediately paying attention to it. .
HR: Does your interest in print, art and design often collide with strategy?
GS: I think my strategy brain allows me to be a little more self sustainable with it. I buy a lot of work that maybe traditional A grade art book dealers wouldn’t buy because there’s a slight imperfection or they simply don’t see the value in the material. This has sort of allowed me to identify a market that they’re not touching. I’m going to sound like a prick here, but a lot of people do what I do. These people are often way too deep in the book dealer world and too academic about it all, I think this has allowed me to maintain and refine my taste in selecting and sourcing material.
HR: How do you source your items? And we believe in gatekeeping so feel free.
GS: I know where to look, but I also have a lot of dealers that I’ve built great relationships with over time. Living in New York is also a plus because I have proximity to a lot of places, though most of my inventory comes online, I’ll keep it at that. Part of the whole game is knowledge, that’s why I find it so fun, it’s knowledge as a sport. I’ve been schooled by so many dealers when we’ve hung out together and they’ll pick something up and go “"This catalogue doesn't look like much, but it's important because it’s the first public exhibit of a really significant and important body of work, for example"”. It’s these small conversations you have with people where you can start to learn about these little galleries, artists, authors or curators. It all becomes more clues on the way to more knowledge and more things to go and look for.
HR: Yeah it’s funny when you have that moment of clarity and understand it. Like I understand this a little more than I did last week.
GS: Yeah exactly, a great example is Dwan Gallery in Los Angeles, started by a woman called Virginia Dwan. It was one of the first galleries to show minimal and conceptual art in LA. It was very important for that reason and it wasn’t open very long, but the invites for Dwan Gallery shows are very elaborate, beautifully produced and some quite unorthodox. Anytime I see something related to Dwan Gallery, I’m probably going to consider buying it.
HR: Do you have any favourite book stores?
GS: Karma books in New York is great, Mast books just around the corner are also fantastic, so is AEON and Left Bank Books. Arcana books out in LA are also really good, I think if you’re curious those are good places to go.
Jean Paul Gaultier look-alike contest invite. 1987. Palladium. Image via insta and sold out at Wrong Answer.
HR: You work in strategy by day, any hot takes brands should be taking note of today?
GS: Currently right now I think people are overusing the word community, I think that’s something that’s completely trite. I think if you have to tell people you have a community then you clearly don’t. It’s the same as telling people you have a funny joke, then it’s not really going to be funny is it? It would be refreshing for brands to just go after average people. Targeting people that aren’t necessarily the coolest, most affluent people in the world. Specifically with lifestyle brands, there’s a desirable crowd that everyone wants to go after and it’s a very tough nut to crack and they necessarily won’t care about you. There’s a million people out there that are being underserved by cool stuff.
HR: Do you have any design cliches that you dislike? Like Dieter’s 10 Rules of Design?
GS: Yea I hate those 10 rules of design, I also really dislike the dogma that good design has to be as little design as possible, I think it's really snobby and boring. I did a show during Design Week in Toronto celebrating really big and diverse design collections. Working with a local collector, we had Mario Botta and Pierre Jeanneret pieces there. It was a really beautiful mix of Italian and French furniture with books, and none of it was minimal at all. I feel like mid designers like to latch onto this thinking because it's easy to become critiques, it's also fairly classist in my opinion too.
HR: Are there any rivalries with other book sellers?
I’m banned for life from a book store in Toronto
I really got into it with this 80 year old man who was known for being a prick in the book world for a very long time. He was banned from most book fairs and flea markets for being an asshole to basically everyone around him. Unfortunately he had really good inventory, so I’d go there on Sundays to browse sometimes. He’d price things above what they really should be and asked why I rarely bought stuff and told me that his store was not for browsing. I said I’d buy things from him if the prices weren’t so exorbitant. He told me his prices are always going to be high and that's not going to change, and if I don't like it, I shouldn't shop there. So, I told him that I wouldn't. And, he told me to leave, so I left. But, I wanted to 'Pretty Woman' him so he didn't think he was kicking out some broke kid that wasn't going to buy anything anyways. I wanted him to think he lost out on a LOT of money. The next time I went back he came out from behind the counter, and I couldn't physically fight an old man so we exchanged some words as I left.
Five years go by and I found out he had this really amazing catalogue on Danese Milano, an incredible Italian brand; I called the shop from New York and asked them to put it aside for me. When I went back into the store with a mask on this time to obscure my face, he immediately said “You remind me of someone”. I said it’s been 20 years since I’d been to Toronto, so that’s impossible. He insisted and I continued denying being the person he banned. Once he believed me, I asked him what kind of person gets kicked out of a bookstore and had him tell me about this person (me) and what exactly happened.He begins to recount our previous run-ins and I indulged the story saying “That guy sounds like an asshole!”.
Anyway he sold me the book as I gas lit the old man, but he’s a villain.
HR: You’re basically the book batman.
GS: Haha yeah but with a really bad alter ego, because he clocked me instantly. even after having had a stroke and being 80 or 90 years old.
HR: Do you think there’s hope for the future of vintage?
GS: I'm happy in my little vintage world, but I'm very heartened by the amount of people that come by my space that I ship orders to. I went to the Printed Matter Book Fair, and the bookfair I co-run called Available Works has mostly young people there which is great. I think there is absolutely a burgeoning and rapidly growing interest in this material which is a good thing. So from that perspective I think it's fun and wonderful to see.
End.