Asemic Vispo by Jay Block (Bridgewater, Massachusetts, USA)

[De Villo Sloan]

Mail art by IUOMA member Jay Block (Bridgewater, Massachusetts, USA)

December 15, 2015 - I am very pleased to share this postcard-size work from Jay Block in Massachusetts.

Meditating upon this arresting, anti-art-based asemic/vispo by Jay Block led me to a realization that I believe is of some significance: The majority of text-centered vispo (that I also consider asemic) that I receive via the mail art network has been composed using the cut-up technique (or some variant thereof) most commonly associated with William S. Burroughs (and other figures such as Brion Gysin and Harold Norse). I have not conducted a quantitative investigation, but I am confident about my assertion.

In fact, this piece exemplifies the approach taken by so many asemicists in the Eternal Network. The deconstructive unit tends to be the letter rather than the sentence or paragraph. The Burroughsian cut-up focuses on the level of syntax and (non-)linearity of sentence sequences. As in this work by Jay Block, the letters are broken into fragments and then recombined to create new symbol-suggestive constructs. The rips in the paper are clearly visible and a reminder of the materiality of language, that the work was created through the movement of the artist/writer from paper rather than electronic impulses. This materiality is often present in the asemic pieces I receive. Artifice and concealment are kept to a minimum; the work is also a record of process.

Views will differ in terms of whether Jay Block has caused defamiliarization and disruption of existing language or whether he has achieved creation of some new meta-language expression upon the ruins of the old literate culture. Perhaps it is best to give him credit for having achieved both.

Thanks as ever to Jay Block!

[Jay Block]

I think that your careful reading of the work helps a bit...

[De Villo Sloan]

Wow Jay, what a great response this is getting. You can add "visual poet" to your list of accomplishments.

[Jay Block]

Always a pleasure to send you something...