From Our Staff | June 14, 2011

The Missouri Review is pleased to feature the work of Greek street artist Alexandros Vasmoulakis on the cover of the summer issue, “Significant Others.”  Vasmoulakis’ colorful, whimsical illustration “Contemporary Romeo” suggests the content of the issue as it renders in a humorous way the complexities of human relationships—in this case the perennial ordeal of love.  Vasmoulakis’ modern day, motorcycle riding Romeo will have Juliet even if it means carrying away the castle in a feat of virile showmanship.

The cover image for our Summer issue

Readers will see the work of Vasmoulakis again in an up-coming feature on street art that will also feature the work of Banksy, BTOY, and Miss Bugs. Hop over to his website to see his work on buildings and in galleries, videos, drawings, and other work he has called “miscellany.” Don’t expect a lot of personal bluster about who he is and what he does, though: his biography is as simple as this: “Alexandros Vasmoulakis was born in Athens in 1980. He studied fine arts and works as a freelancer. His main purpose is to communicate.”

The summer issue is at our printer now, and should be hitting your mailbox in the next three weeks(-ish). Inside, you’ll find new stories by Tom Barbash, Elisabeth Fairchild, A.R. Rea, and Amin Ahmad; essays by John W. Evans and Daniel Anderson; poetry by Steve Gehrke, Diane Seuss, and Peter Jay Shippy; and a brand spankin’ new omnibus review by Anthony Aycock. We’re really proud of how this issue has turned out, and know that you’ll be delighted, too!

Kris Somerville is The Missouri Review’s Marketing Director.