Karnival of Trash Mail Art Call: Revenge of the Krispy Kreme Caper by Lisa Lisa (Indiana, USA)

[De Villo Sloan]

Mail art by Lisa Lisa aka Lisa Iversen aka Skybridge Studios (North Manchester, Indiana, USA)

November 17, 2016 - I am thrilled beyond words (almost) to add this absolutely historic work to the Karnival of Trash. The piece has at least three special qualities I would like to emphasize:

(1) This is a highly innovative, 3-D Trashpo sculpture made with a nearly empty Krispy Kreme donut (doughnut) box. The work was banged around in the postal system, which only adds to its Gutai, interactive quality. This is the first piece that ever made the stony-faced postal worker at the Auburn, N.Y. front desk smile.

Lisa Lisa recycled a Karnival of Trash official stamp:

(2) The choice of the Krispy Kreme doughnut box is not random. The reign of terror of a mail artist known as Krispy Kreme is a chapter in Trashpo history. The tale of Krispy Kreme, I fear, will be circular and esoteric to “Normals.” Many trashpoets, however, will recall the curious incidents involved.

In short, Krispy Kreme was a mail artist of uncertain identity who apparently lived in Missouri USA, claimed at various times to be mayor of a small town and/or a prisoner on a farm or ranch. People actually received mail from Krispy Kreme. She eventually disappeared into the mists of obscurity but was, for a time, obsessed with Trashpo and DKult, alarmingly so, in fact.

Here is the reverse side of the 3-d Trashpo sculpture by Lisa Lisa:

Let us now move to the interior of the work:

The doughnuts were consumed before the sculpture was mailed, but a patina of grease with a mosaic of sugar flakes remains, giving the piece a social realist quality, hinting of the presence of forms that are now absent.

I do not know what the red packets are. Due to the hazardous nature of some Trashpo I am sent, I do not plan to find out.

(3) Being able to include this piece in the Karnival of Trash is a major triumph for me because it is a piece by Lisa Iversen, a Trashpo and mail art legend who is currently “retired” or who flies so under the radar that she is likely not well known to the new generations currently pouring into the network.

Lisa Iversen is affectionately known among Kulters today, sometimes, as Lisa Lisa. I believe she has had a huge impact on shaping new directions for mail art during the last five years when she was known as Skybridge Studios. This Trashpo piece is a testimony to her brilliance. If only she would share that gift with the world more than she does currently!

Many thanks to Lisa Lisa!