Fake art by Fine Art (Escondido, California, USA)

[De Villo Sloan]

Mail-art by IUOMA member Fine Art (Escondido, California, USA)

December 5, 2013 - New friend Fine Art in balmy Escondido honored me with this beautiful mail-art that bears her "FAKE FINE ART" stamp. I have noted previous work she has done in this spirit during the preceding months and surmise that, perhaps, this is part of a series. Regardless, I consider "FAKE FINE ART" a marvelous concept, intended or otherwise.

Social commentators frequently tell us we live in a time when people long for the "authentic," presumably because so many cultures and societies increasingly lack the authentic. Indeed, some have even suggested the idea of the Simulacra: We live in a reality that is entirely contrived, disconnected from both meaning and nature, manipulated by forces beyond our control aka "The Spectacle."

Mail-art, of course, is an antidote. Yet it is also a medium that has for many years interrogated the idea of the authentic and perpetuated discussions about what is and what is not art as well as who is and who is not an artist. Fine Art's use of abstraction in the piece is an apt choice because abstract art in particular has invited questions about the nature of art. Is all art, ultimately, fake?

I applaud my friend from Escondido for not only producing fine art but for creating an art concept that might best be described as concept art, which is not exactly conceptual art. In my estimation the piece is lovely and deeply thought provoking but still carries a hint of the ingenuous, which is ingenious.

If this art is fake, then we need more fake art.

Deepest thanks go to Fine Art. Many more examples of her talent can be found here:

http://fakefineart.tumblr.com/

[Carina]

Interesting work by Fine Art! And I like your thought of all art as possible and ultimtely fake, DVS.

[De Villo Sloan]

@ fox holes - that's good!

I appreciate your interest, BG.

"Collage as writing" - that's going to appeal to the vispo folks, isn't it? A lot of vispo is collage. I am relieved that they have not had to fight the battle of critics saying, "How can you call this visual poetry? It's just collage."

Luc Fierens, wow, what a great collage artist. Much of his mail-art is collage made of bits of consumer culture. Most of us here would immediately think of Trashpo, although I'll spare him being lifted to the Trashpo luminaries like Jesus Jim.

& I have always felt Neoism used the Simulacra concept too w/all the fake identities, non-existent organizations, conspiracy theories, etc.

[borderlinegrafix]

Thanks for the information, collage as writing, it is so compelling.

[De Villo Sloan]

Thx BG, yes, I agree Fine Art's work is definitely worth a look.

The Simulacra was definitely a prophecy, as even the internet did not exist when the idea was first conceived. Guy Debord's idea of The Spectacle is related & very influential with some of the European networkers & mail-artists like Luc Fierens in Belgium.

[borderlinegrafix]

I looked at her website and I have to say that she really can 'do' hyperreal very well.  Those French really presaged our modern times with the simulacra going on.  You can literally see it - stand on a crossroads in Tempe AZ and it can look like a crossroads in at least 50 other cities in the US.  Probably more than I care to think about.

Great fake fine art and great blog.  A war on fine art is fine art - fox holes?

[De Villo Sloan]

Good call, Rebecca. Holism: the absence of art, although I think they are fake holes.

[Rebecca Guyver]

Holes and foxes too.