Link it for 2021- Aristide 3108

Aristide 3108 always gives us a hint of what we will find inside his ENCARTED mailings.In this case, the figurative cutouts and the words on the back, behind the cutouts suggest the way we are meshed with each other.  In these times, although seperate we connect, through emotional bonds, social bonds and family bonds. Mail art is a connector too.

envelope which holds ATC

heavy card ATC

I like the command Aristide 3108 issues in naming this mailing: Link it.  The ATC is haptic, collaged and bespoke.

Personally I think that although we have Brexited (boo hoo) we remain connected and sending mail art is a way to communicate, explore difference and be inspired by each other. 

paper ATC

As always, I thank Aristide 3108 for his thoughtful and beautiful mailing.
 

It's Aristide 3108's fault!

…that I have something of a 'blogjam'.

Front Cover

This is the front cover of a zine I received quite a long time ago, more than weeks ago, from Aristide 3108. I took it to my room as bedside reading.  If I concentrate hard, I read French, and this zine was obviously worth reading. 

Number one it celebrates some awesome mail artists who are 'dressed for Ryosuke Cohen'and his Fractal Portrait Project. 

The zine is 36 pages and it was the thought of scanning 36 pages that has been my barrier to blogging for some time.  It's been the zine's turn for weeks and I simply haven't had the time to scan all the pages, although THEY DESERVE TO BE SCANNED!

The zine has a matt finished front and back.  Inside the pages are semi-gloss. The Zine feels good and the essays and stories are fabulous insights into this mail art world we cohabit.

 So I have scanned the entirety of Aristide 3108's entry.  He and I exchange mail art and apart from Ryosuke Cohen, Keith Bates and Tiziana Baracchi I haven't exchanged with the others highlighted, so that's where I drew the line. Keith's essay is really interesting, so I will try to scan it later for you to read. (It's in English!)

inside back cover 1

inside back cover 2

Great zine, great project!  Thank you!

Back Cover

Dada centennial - Encarted by Aristide 3108

Aristde 3108 is always au courant, so it's not surprising that the latest Encarted zeros in on the Dada centennial (1916 - 2016). My understanding of the dada movement is that it was a political expression at odds with the society it existed in. The artists associated with it created 'non-art' that emmanated from a world on the brink of hardship. According to Hugo Ball, one of the artists associated with ythe DaDa movement, "art is not an end in itself... but an opportunity for the true perception and criticism of the times we live in."  

Aristide 3108 is always aesthetic but I doubt anyone would call Schwitters unaesthetic... so I love what feels to me as 1920s use of colour used on the ATC sized card inside Aristide 3108's bespoke dada wordplay envelope. And while I know I should be hearing something experimental and confrontational, I can almost hear the tinkle of a Noel Coward song (which I guess would be the antithesis of DaDa, but in a way I guess that's the point, that playful, humorous, way with imagery, words and sound that is challenging but also enjoyable and amusing.

Aristide 3108 honours Noriko with serie DB - 37specimens

Aristide 3108 looks for the stories behind the mail art and brings them to our attention, through ENCARTED.  This time it is the turn of Noriko, Ryosuke Cohen's partner, to take the spotlight.  The card (with Noriko's profile?) is wonderfully haptic.  I think Aristide 3108 has painted a sticker, or perhaps it is an inked, recycled, adhered braincell, cut into a profile, and the result is a 'fractal face portrait.'  

Ryosuke and Noriko travelled to Europe, meeting up with mail artists so that Ryosuke could create a fractal portrait of his own this summer and Aristide 3108 is paying tribute to this visit. As ever, I am delighted to be included in the mailing. 

My Ritual with Aristide 3108

What I will call Aristide 3108's New Year's Ritual, a looking back and consolidation of a year. You may remember thatI was honoured with my very own ENCARTED some months ago. and here ARistide 3108 tells me that 'I cut it' with 2015. I suspect Aristide is a bit like me, saving her leftovers until they spill over.  I see vestiges of encarteds repurposed - TRASHPO - of sorts.

 I am not really doing this mailing justice.  It arrived nested in envelopes in a particular way.  I opened it and then wasn't sure how it had been…  As usual, I get a version and then an original. It is layer, haptic ATC. And it has a steak of hot pink that speaks to me.

 This is the back of one of the envelopes. a corner of an envelope with a different version

 On the back of the original ATC are the names of 2014 ENCARTEDs. There I am, near GAC!

Great reminders, philosphical mail art.  I am already imagining how to reply, but it may be a little while… Many thanks, so much fabulous food for thought to get me through the grey days of early 2015!

2014//reb.guy.enc.//number//CS02222348 - AND I'M ENCARTED!

Every so often something comes along that really surprises me and this gift from Aristide 3108 is one of those things. I am being celebrated, encarted, and this feels odd to me... I see myself as the celebrator, not so much the celebrated! 

So this is how it went with me.  I got my first ENCARTED from Aristide  a few years ago.  I wasn't really sure what it meant but the cards, like  pieces of a puzzle, distinct, exact and considered spoke to me. With each card I became more confident that ENCARTED referred to the cards, but I didn't have enough context to really understand.  I could only respond to them on one level, on the way they made me feel, the way the text and images combined in a satisfying way. 'Send me your best mail art' proved a compelling strapline, too. 

Back on IUOMA we all talked about whether it needed to be your best mail art. My friends and family wondered why I was sending things I worked on for hours sometimes to strangers in the post, so obsessively. It might never get there.  They might not appreciate it.  You could sell it. It's not something you can explain, this NEED to send things through the post. And of course, people who I send things to become my correspondents and some become my muses or my collaborators and for people who don't send mail art that is just a step too far. For me, it feeds me.

But even then most of the time you never really know if your correspondents, your muses, your collaborators are in sync with you.  You suspect some of them are, but it's a fleeting feeling.

Aristide 3108, my French friend, thank you for the honour and I will treasure my beautiful ENCARTED and try not to blush at the thought of your network hearing my praises!