Truck Education - 'the automobile = the sculpture of the 20th century'

This bumper edition of Dad Trumph Motors gives you all the knowledge you need to engage fully with Truck Month.  Cascadia helps us to understand that the posturing of the trucking world and the slogans and logos run in parallel to our current leader's philosophy. 

 There is no need to worry about fragile egos in Dada Trumph World.  There are plenty of armoured protections.  We can all rest easy that no one will be underwhelmed by the gladiator in chief in his Ford F series… "built tough". 

As an aside, I would love to see Cascadia moving the 1:87 diorama figures and vehicles around for his photo shoot. What noises does he make? 

It's great to see that there is plenty of art in Trumph world. Who could live without a plastic marble bust of the great leader (ruler)? Or a poster of our heroes - Ivanka, Jared, Betsy, Melania and the Ruler.

 As I type I am listening with one ear about Bolton's firing/ resignation. I see Jared looking down with disdain at the 'Cold War Warrior' and get a little chill. 

In the previous newsletter, I mentioned that Cascadia showed us how dystopian the world might be… These days, here and in the US I think we are seeing it in the flesh!

I think I'll hunker down and ride out the most recent storm. I haven't got a truck  Does a Landrover defender count? 

 Look carefully at the stamps.  We've got some hawks, a statue of the ruler and some scary warships as well as TRUCKS to enchant us.  Thank you Cascadia!

Mail art lost in summer madness II Amy Irwen

So my enevelope from Amy went with me to Maine and then back again to Suffolk. Luckily I managed to keep my luggage under the overweight rating anyway… I only opened it today.  Now THAT IS WHAT I CALL delaying gratification. Amy did not let me down. What a beautiful stash of mail art wonders! And it all seems relevant what with the shadowy, greedy world we seem to be living in. Brexit and that other tweeter.  (although you'd think that the news would move on after my six week delay after receiving this!)

 I love the inchies!  They are absolute treasure.

Mail art lost in summer madness I Bruno Chiarlone

Looking at the scrawl of messages to myself in the Postal ledger, I guess I received this at the end of June from Bruno. I scanned it early July and meant to blog it before I went to Maine.  I took some pieces I hadn't even had to time to scan with me to Maine but HA no time there either. So here I am in September with a little stack of mail art and this scanned envelope full from Bruno and full of apologies. I have a few little things on the horizon but can honestly say I haven't over-programmed myself as much as usual so I really believe I will be able to make mail art slowly and steadily again. Bruno will be right there on the list. 

As far as dreams and dreaming and maps of them… I have been so tired as I've laid my head on the pillow night after night that I doubt I have even dreamt. I will try to remember and if not make something up!

And I LOVE these doodle collage characters! Summer, mail … too bad it's already autumn, almost.

Mail art meet up at Cascadia Art Posts' & Carl Chew's !

I spy Garcia Delgado (Barraca Vorticista, Jack Lattemann (Cascadia Artpost), Joaquin Dylan Garcia, A Cascadia Diorama, Kathleen McHugh, Marnie McGrath, Robbie Rudine (AKA Dogfish), Janet Yoder, Jas Felter, Anna Banana, C.T. Chew (retired mail artist). Read on to learn about the fun they had!

Word from another era

The first rule of mail art is that you need to keep track of everything.  I have this amazing ledger but it hasn't been cracked open in… I pile up the work I recieve by my computer and pile up the work I blog in another pile and eventually I move it upstairs to my filing box and eventually I file it all by mail artist in a series of boxes. It shouldn't be this way but I am just always chasing my tail. 

The trouble is when I get something from a long time ago and can't remember the detail of it… (this was part of a project that I began where I scanned some other mail artists and people added to them and sent them back to me for me to make bookies with them. This began with Herman Kamphuis' wonderful drawing and collage.) I can't remember what I was thinking. Do I know who added to this? It looks like Pone to me but I could be absolutely wrong.  Let me know if you know.  Perhaps I will take up the thread of Dkult Doodle Therapy again. For the moment I will just try and catch up on my blogging!

Sensations - Extremes coexist

Extrovert, introvert or 'enorm', Herman has a way of reflecting the world back through the characters he choses  that tell stories that might exist.  As I have thought about my own work, I have realised that this is what I care about too, telling stories that may be true or may be invented but that we can believe. 

While this green-gloved beauty might be a well-known face, she conjures up Anna Karenina on the cusp of attracting Vronsky for me. A good book is worth a thousand images and vica versa. The man with the 'eye patch' has pathos too.  From whom is his postcard relic and is he writing to her? and if so, 'is she really going out with him?' and if so, he must have done something remarkable.  These images are the inside images of collaged card that stands 24 cm.  Below is Elisabeth Bas.  Perhaps this is her story?

Age has left its imprint on the memory, scratching the marbled paper removing the colour from the painted walls.

Marker Meisje … (from Marken?) stands by the canal and possibly the sea. In the juxtaposition we seem to learn about her, a small town girl with dreams to travel to Amsterdam or perhaps a child participant in the resistance? 

I usually paraphrase what Herman writes to me but I enclose this to show you his wonderful handwriting.

Herman and I have been exchanging for quite a few years now and ss I have got to know him (in the mail), I have learned a bit about his life. The title from this blog comes from the English translation of 'Prinkkels' at Museum Dr. Guislain Gent http://www.museumdrguislain.be/en where Herman's mail art and drawings are on permanent display! I am not surprised… Herman's drawings have been the starting point of plenty of mail art collaborations and they make up some of my treasured mail art.

Like so many mail artists (and artists) we have an abundance of artistic impulse and I satisfy this by working compulsively, gathering material and using it to make the next thing. I suspect that Herman does too.  Thank you for the beautiful work (as ever), Herman, and for a little chink of time to ponder the dichotomy of extremes.

Lost in Temptation: hobnobs, puddings and egg drops

Has Tofu visited the UK lately? Or perhaps he has been to a commonwealth country.  That's the only place that you'd find a 'Ministry of Hobnobs', a 'Pudding Museum' or a 'Hotel Eggdrop'. Let's hope the earthquake that we're all learning about hasn't affected these venerable structures! Not meaning any offence… perhaps we should all take a tea break.  Thank you Tofu.