A taxomonomy of Une Vie

 

Herman's mail art is bold and beautiful like a trip to the cinema. Those things that happen on a day, in your life, those things that I used to write as a list when I lived in the Kerio Valley (so I would have something to say in my daily letters), those things that might feel inconsequential, a fox, a bird, a tooth, become actors in the story which Herman gathers together in snippets for me to reconstruct. This time I fell joy and wonder, like awakening from a dream, a world where we are maskless, hugging, in cramped spaces.

When I received this I had some friends staying and they wanted to see what it was.  I opened the outer envelope but when I saw the delicate string i exclaimed that I needed to open it later, carefully. Herman had never tied up his mail art in string! A delicate and beautiful touch!

At the moment the fierce heat has abated and I only need to water the polytunnel once a day, but I am this woman. She is one of Herman's photographs of what I imagine is mail art he has sent to others. His panache with juxtaposing the figure with colour and form is always enchanting and i am happy to be a voyeur in these three pieces of sent mail!

Herman tells me that in Amsterdam they have jettisoned their masks.  Here in England we are still more cautious. On the flip side of this icon,  Herman tells me of his father and the letters he wrote and how they make him proud. I was the letter-writer in my family but I treasure the few things I got from my own father. His handwriting can still conjure the man. 

Happy belated birthday, Charlotte!

This is larger than Herman's usual drawing scale and they flap in the wind. I need to make more stamps!  Thank you for a wonderful mailing, as always. I will try not to be a snail in the speed with which I reply!

Cascadia is no fool!

I opened this mail from Cascadia this morning. I have a little basket where I keep my unread/unblogged mail art and another with blogged mail art and once it's recorded I put it somewhere else until I bring my archive to the studio (at least 8 boxes now of hanging files) to file everything.  

I was confused & surprised to find this piece was celebrating April Fools Day.  That was a long, long time ago. For example, I am picking tomatoes and Cascadia writes about broadcasting wildflower seeds.  I am out-of-sync. 

I have no idea how this happened, whether I put it somewhere, found it later, or whether it really arrived so late. Sorry. I guess it's been a busy summer.

The stamps are fantastic, aren't they? I have it on good authority that Jack scoured the internet and graphic arts services which he subscribes to, for images of fools and jesters to be turned into stamps.

Below is Cascadia's translation (for Anna Banana) about, among other things Mr Peanut   Wow, who knew the master of dioramas, artistamps and seeds is also a german translator! The piece comes from a Berlin Newspaper for her 2020 exhibition at a Berlin Gallery.

 

What does Cascadia Artpost dream about?

I reckon if it's diorama time, Cascadia dreams about scenarios with giants and minatures, cars and politics in a real world context. Perhaps there is even a little anthropomorphism…  

On the other hand, when it's stamps scanned from other people's ephemera time, perhaps it's franking machines, lost tickets and blocks of colour.

When it's garden time, maybe Cascadia thinks of climbing a sunflower or biting into a giant peach. 

and all the rest of the time I suspect when he dreams he's trying to fix the problems of the world, one rabbit at a time.

Big thanks! Wonderful.
 

No Nixies in England

I think this irregular mailing is made from a bit of a book.  It's TRASHPO! Another person who used to send me pieces of books is the Artist in Seine.  His stuff was absolutely audacious.  I once sent Vizma a life sized postcard of the top half of a topless woman.  I think Artist in Seine has taken a mail art holiday.  I know I owe him some mailart, maybe he's given up on me!

I owe James and Kevin mailart, too. I have a box with all the mailart I have blogged; I haven't even managed to write it all down in the Ledger.  I always have such good intentions… It's always a pain to do it later too.

If you follow this blog you will know that I challenged James to send me some irregular mailart when (and if) I go to Maine this year. You'll be happy to know that James' experiment (sending something that might become a nixie in America - due to it's size and shape arrived. -  (Nixie (postal) ... A Nixie is a name given by the United States Postal Service to a piece of mail which is undeliverable as addressed. It is derived from "nix").  I guess it couldn't go through a machine, though, as the stamp is hand cancelled, again.

Thanks James.  It's a gorgeous piece!
 

The Storyteller Spreads the Wealth

Very cool stuff arrived for the Guyver archive from the Sticker Dude. It includes an add and pass with language practice. I used to live in Soestdijk, in the Netherlands, 'Ik spreck het Nederlands' is a good sentence to practice, especially since no one in the UK is getting off the island, these days!

What Robert Hunter says about storytelling is quite like mail art. In fact, I might think of a mail artist as sending fragments of stories that I reconstruct.  Things aren't spelled out, always, and so much is left to the imagination. and of course, I wait for my favourite mail artists to tell me more!

There is also a wonderful Bonzine for the archives from Bonniediva. BonnieDiva is certainly a storyteller. I learned a lot about 'small time celebs'.

Meanwhile, as Rachel says, 'on Earth one' I listened to the December 6th, Capital riot testimony while I took drawings out of frames, refinished them and put newly matted paintings into the old frames, ready for an exhibition I am installing on Sunday.  Joel's memory of the former guy ' it will be the most fantastic impeachment ever', seems apt, especially today. 

Brilliant.  Thanks Sticker Dude! 

BTW, if you have sent me something in the past month or two, I have a big pile of blogging mail art that I am slowly working through. THANK you. Come back to the blog and you will see yourself in lights, soon!

 

Hey How are You?

Jon's mailings are surprising because they are full of stuff and some of the stuff is really excitng, and for me, the pieces that rise to the top are his unique tape transfers. But all the other stuff makes me smile and wonder.  It is recogniseable mail art.  These pieces remind me of monopoly money but instead of being monopoly 'tender', they are newsy, informative, philosphical, communicative and instructive. They are also graphic, and often funny. If I didn't know, I'd think Jon was an english teacher

Huge thanks and hopefully I will respond soon!