Classic Cerealism by Richard Canard (Carbondale, Illinois, USA)

[De Villo Sloan]

Mail art by IUOMA member Richard Canard (Carbondale, Illinois, USA)

April 29, 2015 - With so many Trashpo innovations being reported and new controversies boiling over every day, Trashpoets seem to have forgotten (and newer participants might not ever have known about) Cerealism: A subgenre of Trashpo involving making vispo out of cereal boxes. Richard Canard is an acknowledged and indeed award-winning master of Cerealism. He went back to basics with this recent mailing and struck a home run into my post office box.

Artists outside the Trashpo community have experimented with cereal box art. Trashpo Cerealism is unique and focused because it is (1) a form of visual poetry and (2) created with the postal system in mind. Cerealism has another important connection to mail art that has not yet been confirmed with 100% assurance, but the information comes from a very reliable source. Karen Champlin (Chicago, Illinois, USA) related to me that Ray Johnson engaged in cereal box mailings. She reported that she had, in fact, engaged in cereal box exchanges with Ray Johnson personally. Again, Karen Champlin has been a reliable source of much information; and cereal boxes are ideal material for PopArt-related work. Certainly I accept Cerealism as a valid Trashpo practice, perhaps going back to the New York Correspondance School.

Many thanks to Richard Canard for this wonderful example of Cerealism.