Intellectual property?

[Melanie Reed]

What do you guys think about having someone substantially change an original mail art piece they received that was signed, dated, titled, and not labeled as add and pass, and then send it back to the person who made it? I don't mind if someone sends my mail art off to one of their friends, as long as they don't try to pass it off as theirs, nor do I mind if they "augment" the decorated envelope I used for sending them art and then send it back to me with their art in it (though that's kinda borderline), but I prefer the idea of respecting other people's original art.

[Ilya Semenenko-Basin]

Hello Melanie. I too have encountered this kind of thing and have written about it here on IUOMA Portal. 

I don't like this kind of disrespect. At the same time, I have to admit that Mail Art has such a practice, it has already become a tradition and it can hardly be eradicated. Perhaps the only thing left to do is to dose communication with those colleagues who radically destroy the work they receive and return it in such a destroyed form (why?) to the sender. On the part of the colleague, such an act may not be destructive, but simply an offer of communication and a kind humour. 

[Melanie Reed]

Maybe, but in the meantime, my plan is to salvage the original piece as best I can, and then send it off to someone who will appreciate it. (Maybe I'll send it to you!) :)

[Ilya Semenenko-Basin]

Thank you, Melanie.   :-)

[Coco Muchmore]

LOL you guys-- Look what I received today!

and here's the back:

Just for the record--I sent The Celestial Scribe my original Galaxy Watercolor (which is now the background).

I must say--I LOVE LOVE LOVE this!

Here's another recent one: 

I sent this face as a sticker---

and I received back:

Which I also really love.

I must say, I have also been mail art conversing with Wm Paley--and recently I used some images from his art in collages with my own art for a deck of cards that I sent back to him. He sent a very complimentary note about them, and our conversation continues.

On the contrary, perhaps, I use the double-sided color copies that Guido Bandiolini sent me of some of his works to make envelopes, 6 or 7 of which I nested (I thought creatively--they were so cool), and sent back to him. I never heard anything back--and he may have been quite insulted--I don't know. I hope not!

Yesterday, I received some painted/stamped postcard backgrounds from Thomas Brown--who said "use these as backgrounds or whatever." And on my way to sleep last night I thought of a couple of ideas for them.

I guess I take it as a compliment--someone likes my art enough to collaborate or extend it. I don't take it as criticism or ruination or disrespect. I take it as play--creative response. My work inspired someone to do something... Of course, not all art "lands" perfectly or well, and I think we have t hold a space for these allowances in the context of the delightful greater whole. 

I found this enclosed in a stuffed envelope I received early on:

Finally, I found this quote in Mail Interviews I and printed it out to include in some of my envelopes because I think it's just good to remember--

As long as there are people-artists-living alone here and there, confronted by problems (professional, formal, human, or social. Mail Art is likely to have a role to play in helping to alleviate those problems. What we must not do is allow ourselves to take ourselves too seriously---tendentiousness is a natural health hazard for the mail artist. –Dick Higgins

[Melanie Reed]

The female figure in the "Crime Scene" piece -- which incidentally I found in a book designed for collage clip art -- was one I used not long ago, either as a mail art piece or an envelope for one, so that may be where it came from. And FYI, William Paley is the one I had the original issue with. There are definitely gray areas here. As a collage artist, I'm frequently asked about copyright. My sense is that if the part is used in a completely different, original, and visually stunning way, it's OK, which is always what I try to do. I have no problem with playfulness and dialogues. But I can't help but object when a piece I felt was good and complete comes back to me as a lesser and incomplete work that doesn't preserve the old one, especially when it's signed, dated and titled. The kinds of exchanges I like are two people deliberately sending each other separate clippings, and then sending each other back the mail artwork results -- something I've done with Bonniediva, and also MelAnie who incorporated some parts of the envelope I'd sent them in, to good effect. I guess part of my purpose with mail art is to push the quality of my own art higher, as well as to inspire others do that too. 

[Terry Owenby]

I sent a postcard with one of my Gelli plate prints. The other day I received a return postcard from that person. She had created circles as a first layer then scanned or copied my Gelli plate print over the circles. She signed it with her name. I don't think so.