Correspondence Art by Thomas Brown aka Bhomas Trown (Baltimore, Maryland, USA)

[De Villo Sloan]

Mail art by IUOMA member Thomas Brown aka Bhomas Trown (Baltimore, Maryland, USA)

March 29, 2015 - Mail art by Thomas Brown is witty, ironic and – as these pieces indicate – often text centered. He does visual art as well but is essentially a correspondence artist in practice whose work reminds me of such luminaries as David Stafford (New Mexico, USA) and Richard Canard (Illinois, USA). That is not to say Thomas Brown is derivative; rather, he is aware of the possibilities and challenges of the postal form. The work is more mail art than art that is mailed, if you can see the distinction I am making. I greatly enjoy mail art surveys (such as the above), especially since they have the benefit of being interactive.

The one-liner, whether a joke or poem, is a wonderful form to explore and to incorporate into mail art. I like this one a great deal.

Deepest thanks to Thomas Brown. More of his work can be viewed by following this link:

http://brownmegacorporation.tumblr.com/archive

[Mail Art News]

I've come back to say that the white postcards are the ones that I'd been using for mail art, so the idea to mail these out was linked to mail art from the beginning. The idea to send them out as mail art was a natural next step.

[Mail Art News]

hmm yes, i can appreciate those. 

I don't want to over think things today. What I'm typing and then deleting sounds full of hot air and know-it-allism. 

[De Villo Sloan]

I did a mail survey and got responses. It was about the PPMs (Personality Modulation Machines) that DKult sent out. Here are responses from Vizma Bruns and Stephanie Blake.

[De Villo Sloan]

That's interesting, Bhomas. Out of context, the intake form is - at least for me - disorienting (in a good way). I thought you might have made it especially for mail art purposes. More support for the use of "found" material - requires less time and effort but definitely works.

the "congratulations" piece is five words well chosen, then. My own sense of what it means is similar to what you state, only whenever I see the word "metamorphosis" I think about Franz Kafka and insects. You have to allow for subjectivity.

[Mail Art News]

AND yes, thank you for making the distinction between simply mailing art and mailing mail-art.

[Mail Art News]

Then the client intake form was actually used at an art event where I asked visitors to draw a picture and then we'd look at the details to see what jumped out the most and that suggested to me about their current creative identity. I was playing the role of art analyst/art therapist. It was fun. Mail it back with an example of your work if you want an analysis. ;-)

[Mail Art News]

hey, I'm honored.

"congratulations on your ongoing metamorphosis" is a joke, but is also serious medicine. you know? a reminder to let go of the past if needed. a reminder to take a look at current changes if needed. a reminder to get ready for the future, if needed. I don't know. There's more to it than that, but that's it basically. Then there's the doors and windows it opens: Hints at "change is the only constant." Hints at the idea that everyone and everything is changing at different rates, all the time, so one's molting process is not happening in a vacuum. A giant glimpse at the machinery.