We all have bodies.  We have all experienced pain and pleasure.  The visionaries in this issue of CoSM journal all treat the body as art material, a sculptural medium charged with the mysteries of life. death and identity.

Slicing into the physical form has been a passion since Leonardo and probably prior.  Gunter Von Hagen's "Body Worlds" exhibition, now touring the US, has found a way to transform the beauty of our muscles, veins, and bones into permanent sculpture that can be put on view for an audience that has, until recently, been kept at a distance from cadavers.

 The art of tattooing has been a favorite subject at CoSM because of the many people choosing to be tattooed with Alex's art.  The Art Fusion Experience brought together a family of some of the greatest tattoo artists on the planet in
collaboration with MicroCoSM Gallery.  Then we have to acknowledge the piercers and body modifiers of all kinds.  I remember vividly one of our first encounters with body modification, in 1984, when Alex was asked by the artist Stelarc, to put twelve shark hooks into his back, arms and legs.  Then, Stelarc was pullied, naked, hanging from a "clothesline" strung up over 11th Street in the East Village.  Stelarc got a ticket for indecent exposure and causing a public nuisance.

Hanging from hooks, wearing corsets, and faces in jars are all a part of this uncommon volume.  Alex and I send loving appreciation to all the contributors and advertisers that make this zine possible. Special thanks to the hard work of Eli Morgan and Marisa Scirocco for the extraordinary third installment of  CoSM Journal.