Fluxus High School

Tofu's has an inimitable collage style and his concepts always bring me delight.  I am thrilled to have receieved some pieces from this new series even though I am a pathetic correspondent these days. 

I love the idea of Fluxus High School. It speaks of the self-conciousness we shared. I hated opening the Stanford Froshbook all those years ago to find I hadn't dressed and didn't look like any of the other people in my freshman dorm, in most of the class of 82.  I was from NY and there were alot of Californians and I had definitely missed the memo that LL Bean flannel shirts, no make up and long dark hair were not a good look for a young woman. I didn't get a single invite to a fraternity party, not that that mattered, but I wonder what they made of me. Tofu's collages, in this case, evoke that and I marvel at how he has created so many characters that you look at and 'read' as this kind of person or that...

I am a sucker for an envelope that is semi transparent and the scale is perfect. The stamps and collages fit neatly inside.

Thanks Tofu, I will try harder.

 

49 Years of Progress erased.

Adam's personalised stamps are a thing of beauty with a solid message.  In this case he helps us to look carefully at the butterflys and to protect them. IMHO, creating a thing of beauty is a way to get people to take notice and hopefully change behaviour. In this case, perhaps progress isn't necessarily good! 

Moving on to stickers, I am struck by their anger at the state of the justice department. Again, the images are compelling. They help me to feel the depressing truth about one branch of the Govt.

The booklet describes Adam's journey with collaborators and singularly in the mail art (rubber stamps) world. LOOK CAREFULLY at the beautiful work.

 

Think Peace not War - Sticker dude and collaborators in action.

Hello!  It wasn't until I decided I would catch up on my mail art blog that I discovered something which I had conveniently forgotten… that my scanner is sort of broken so what should take a brief spell takes a few tries and a restart of my computer. But I persevered this time, and have scanned the full backlog of mail art after a three day on-again off-again scanning fest .  It will take a while to blog in a coherent and appreciative way, so follow and make sure to revisit to see all the wonderful mail art I have received over the past few months.

 

Thank you, Sticker Dude! It’s good to get a sunflower and a contraption that creates a 3D waltz with death! The scan is a bit misleading.  The piece stands up and the middle part moves, or at least swivels.  It’s all a little eerie, a nod to the day of the dead?

 

As ever, Sticker dude merges style with substance, and message. The bespoke stamps and the bought stamps cover the envelope.  Fabulous!

Love this artistamp holder. Stamps below are all kept neatly in the little envie.

Mail art takes one away from the humdrum of regular being

Thanks Sticker dude for a chocka envie.

 

Are you Kind?

One of the things I regret, regularly, is how I don't answer emails, or post swiftly.  When I was in the Kerio Valley, hanging at the post office waiting for news from abroad, I had already composed a version of my reply as I walked home from the PO. Then in the evenings, after I marked students' work, I would paint the envelopes and put the words int he right order on paper. These days I respond in my head but it takes days, weeks, sometimes even months to reply and by then the chimera of news has shifted and my 'reply' seems irrelevant. Life is just faster.

I'm not sure when Sticker Dude sent me this, but the inclusion of Guernica makes me think it was a recent mailing. My pile of mailart is topsy turvy and out of order. and LATE to respond to.

And yet, although the past two + years have been a miserable chapter, as I read the comments from the Idaho doctor, I couldn't help thinking how our gratitude for the NHS, and Doctors worldwide is but a memory in the news of hundreds of thousands of refugees flooding through the European borders and being homed by mere citizens, responding to the humanitarian crisis.  We are doing THIS together. We have done that together.

Meanwhile, I am a somewhat lapsed mailartist, meaning to send things out but running out of time before the sun sets.  While I agree wholehearedly with Joel, that mail art is a way of looking at art and life from a different perspective and sharing art for art's sake, I can't help painting for paintings sake and that distracts from the Utopian aspect.

 Thanks Joel, so much to think about, respond to and talk to myself about.  Hopefully I will respond to you soon!

A Wish of Good Health in a Fragile time

Stamps for arts sake are one of those things I particularly like. Stamps that are abstract shapes but also say stamp. a long time ago I made some for Vizma and she copied them and put them on outgoing mail  I was delighted! Mikel's stamps could be  necklace. They are graphic objects, demanding attention.

The other pieces in this beautiful mailing are Mikel's ubiquitos mix of stamping and collage, appreciated, as ever. I relate to these colours. Thank you!