DOCUMENTATION: Asemics 16 Chapter (Ed. #1) by "E" - Ambassador of Utopia - (Guivry, France)

[De Villo Sloan]

Mail-art by IUOMA member "E" - the Ambassador of Utopia - (Guivry, France)

 

July 29, 2011 - The Ambassador of Utopia, endeared to me by his fascination with monkeys, has been a wonderful collaborator in the Asemics 16 collaborative book project.

 

"E" has lent his time and energy to the project, helping make  it a truly collective effort. "E" is contributing to several editions. This Edition #1 chapter reveals his distinctive artistic style, known to many in the eternal network, as well as a fascinating, inventive, and brilliantly colorful approach to asemic writing. Here are pages 2-3:

 

 

The Ambassador of Utopia took the approach of creating a personal symbol system; I think along the lines of work by Karen Champlin (Illinois, USA). At times, these symbols cross over to letters and partial letters from the alphabet. He places them in a linear syntax. As you can see above, he also creates glyphs (ideograms?) that are grouped combinations of symbols, letters, and letter-play - a really wonderful departure. Here are pages 4-5:

 

A huge, what I am calling, glyph is on the left. I am guessing "E" is an accomplished painter, but I am by no means sure. In the Asemics 16 project, most of the contributors have created incredible and diverse contexts in which to place their asemic writing. The Ambassador's wonderful color choices and masterly brushstrokes make this work a joy indeed. He uses overlays so often seen in visual poetry, but they are relatively economical, lacking dense textual overlays. Here are pages 6-7:

 

 

These pages show two of the gigantic figures "E" has created, which seem to become more and more dominant. I think this reveals an associative process that seems to provide structure for the chapter, a playful creation of a language. Page 8:

 

 

"E" - the Ambassador of Utopia - has provided another fascinating chapter to the Asemics 16 project.  My favorite part of the chapter, in addition to the color, is the generation of the glyphs. They are marvelous verbal-visual creations. I deeply appreciate all he has done for the project and for this mail-art. "E" is an extraordinary blogger. Take a look; it is well work the visit.

http://ambassadeutopia.blogspot.com/

[E]

Hi Sloan,

Thank you very much for this blogpost concerning my work for asemic 16#1. I am pleasantly surprised with the perception which you have on this one.
Best regards.

"E"

[Marie Wintzer]

I don't think so. Guivry is quite far from Alsace, they must have hamster problems of them own up there.

Oh I forgot, really nice work!

[De Villo Sloan]

E is not here today. Surely he must be assisting the Alsatian hamsters!

[cheryl penn]

When I thought I may be doing another chapter for Asemics I hauled out my trusty The Origins of Civilization - The Ancient Near East - wonderful images - reason - the more I think about the MECHANICS of asemics, its origins, its resemblance to language but contradiction to meaning, its 'unconscious' beginnings - STILL not convinced of that - the more I think its a prediction to illiteracy in a way - a nod to the post literate society - a fore telling of what will be inscribed in that which was.

[De Villo Sloan]

Native American petroglyphs (Inscribed in stone) about 600 AD (Arizona, USA)

[De Villo Sloan]

Yip Cheryl, I am eternally grateful to the Ambassador of Utopia for stepping in and helping to keep Asemics 16 on track and organized. He is truly wonderful. I also had been secretly hoping that someone would get into constructing glyphs and/or ideograms. What he's done is very impressive, IMHO.

[cheryl penn]

Great blog and scans of E''s work DVS - I hope he sees this! For sure, he's been a trojan with this project.  I think his work looks like summer in France :-) X