Carina Granlund: Road Kill, Call it Magic and Journal Wizard

Carina is in charge of the IUOMA MOBMA judging this month and she's come up with a wacky challenge that appeals to her sense of humour and story - something about cats, animals in general and a shipwreck.  This envelope heralds the new topic, maybe!

Inside the distinctly Carina envelope I find a bit of fluxus story telling.  Is it catwoman, I wonder? Oh no, it's a weary chick.  Well that's not surprising, Carina has a had a solo show at a museum in Helsinki, recently!

It seems like however tiring the experience of putting on a big show might be, Carina has kept her sense of humour about it! Or is she just narrowing in on eyes?  If so, she must have phychic powers, move over Diane!

Carina always tells me not to bother blogging her work.  I think she is keenly aware that every minute we spend blogging is one less minute spent making out riotous messes!  But Carina, how can I resist blogging your stuff and any way, you give me an excuse to stop making my messes)!

The next series of images is an accordion booklet showing Carina's journals.  I know her show included journals.  We exchanged journals!  This is VERY exciting!  I wish I could have been there, Carina! Luckily, my very precious CARINA journal continues to inspire me daily and this booklet lets me pretend I was there gazing at all the others!  

Bad romance from Elgin

1. according to Vizma, pink mail art is always good, so this is a very conflicted entry.
2. that face is too sweet to be a b@@@@.  DK you are very very bad but I'm not sure this is bad mail art!

Another entry for MOBMA: Reservations about a Superstar

Bad romance with a irreligious twist from New Mexico.  I'm not sure if this is a bribe, a threat or simply bad mail art?  Another hilarious take on the topic and as ever various passages make me wince, which I guess is the point!  What a contender down to the purloined airline paraphenalia!

More exquisite Bad Romance entries arrive!

As I scan my way back to blogging equilibrium, I decided to start with BAD ROMANCE, the mail art call for the esteemed MOBMA (Museum of Bad Mail Art) that occurs monthly, or so. MOBMA is one of  Diane Keys' groups on IUOMA, and I am judging this month because I (cough, cough) won last month, with my BAD BURLESQUE entry.

Carina's unique sense of humour had me reaching for google translate: 

'Drama, action shock this is great' is the English translation of the Swedish clipping on the top left. Carina has a way of using her clippings to add tension to her pieces.

As far as I'm concerned, Carina's right on all counts… a chocolate fondue is bound to break up any relationship.  NO ONE could possibly look good with warm c dripping from the corner of their lips andif someone took me out for somecstuffed chicken that looked like a Shakespeare tragedy, I would be off too.   All in all a recipe for bad romance without a doubt.  But a potentialy winning entry in terms of the competition!  Love the macabre flavour of this entry!

Vizma's envelope is a cracker! She goes to the crux of the problem with this call on the front of the envelope... Do we mean bad sex, bad candle lit dinner for two, bad underwear? Whatever there is something Eurovision winner about this entry!

I've never met Viz in person but I love her mail art persona.   I love the way she clobbers you over the head with reasons why she is the best.  She's got that competitive edge that so many other fuzzy mail artists lack.

The way Vizma masters writing and imagery with such panache never ceases to amaze me - the way she collages words and images so seemlessly to hit the target. Viz has taken all our dreams of romance and laid them bare, Grantwood, kitten, and disease in a lovely package.

Apparently fake (photocopied) stamps made by Mean Sheena

This wonderfully distorted creature comes with her own line, 'She'll suck you up and spit you out.' The line sounded familiar so I googled it.   This is what I found.  but I still think there is something else. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dVIfObZy9Q

A great contender from Vizma too. (cliché alert) Deciding will be difficult! Still time to enter… make this even more difficult!

MOBMA 1st entry: David Stafford

DAvid sent me this wonderful entry for MOBMA consideration.  Anticipating Gold, David's dog is doing a shuffle across the back of the envelope.  I have to agree with David: one minute your dog is a good dog, the next he's a bad dog. and I LOVE that Mobma has entered the realm of psychology.

Apparently this bad dog was the result of a splatter interpretation - of course it's a dog splatter David, of course it is. I can't decide if this bad dog has been raging around the fields chasing (and catching rabbits) like my lurcher, of if he went after someone else's bitch and paid for it...

Whatever, it's a great submission for MOBMA, and I appreciate that David is setting the bar really high, so I look forward to equally delightful submissions during my reign as judge!  Thanks also for ignoring all guidelines.  Rule breaking rules at Mobma.

Vizma Bruns IUOMA MOBMA submission WHAT IS PORTRAITURE?

I will quote Diane Key's comment from the IUOMA website about this entry, as I think I will need to bear it in mind when it comes time to making decisions, and awarding prizes! 'If this is Vizzez' self portrait, I am very concerned about her. I don't know that I've ever seen a collage like this--I think it qualifies for MOBMA's 'kitchen sink' category.'

I will need advice from Vizma here, though, Viz is this a portrait? I hope it is.  I love the idea of taking the theme beyond the expected figurative domain!

Diane Keys and ? (Seattle) send entry for IUOMA MOBMA prize

One anarchic group at IUOMA calls itself MOBMA (The Museum of Bad Mail Art).  http://iuoma-network.ning.com/group/iouma-mobma-museum-of-bad-mail-art Member Mailartists vie for the prize of best bad mail art, or worst mail art, depending on how you look at it. We also post photos of things we find that somehow fit in with the idea of BAD (mail) art.  Last month I 'won' one of the categories, so am 'the esteemed judge' this month.  I will be a terrible judge, just sayin, having spent years devoted to encouraging all over the hump of creative confidence, I see all attempts as a journey.  However, I do think some people are born with particularly different taste to me.

Recently I was in an antiques centre in Exeter, looking for the perfect birthday gift for our just turning 21 year old son, when I came upon a couple debating whether to buy a framed print.  I was looking at the books, side-tracked again on my mission but in a good position to see what they were considering. DVS, if you are reading, it was an otter, or a mink or some other swimming rat. I was dumbstruck.

These two fall into the bad taste category, for sure.