Another Side of Richard Canard (Carbondale, Illinois, USA)

[De Villo Sloan]

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

December 5, 2014 - Today I am thrilled to share a collection of both new and not-so-new work I received from mail-art icon Richard Canard. None of these pieces has been documented here or elsewhere, to the best of my knowledge. Some of them are not what Litter Richard’s fans might ordinarily expect from the best-known resident of Illusion, USA.

There is a classic album called Another Side of Bob Dylan that uses the concept of examining different perspectives on an artist's work (in this case the early Zimmerman) to organize a collection, and I am applying the same approach to undocumented work by Richard C.

No Richard C. gathering would be complete without some of his poetry:

St. Louis, Missouri? Hmm…. Erasure is one form of poetic composition Richard Canard has mastered.

This poem (above) is an altered book page, not the customary postcard, and came in an envelope:

The reverse:

The envelope:

Thank you and in some cases belated thank you to King Richard!

[Nancy Bell Scott]

Eloquently and sadly put, Mr. Stafford. And it's true.

[David Stafford]

Great stuff. No one chronicles our grievous decline with more flair and dedication than Mr. Canard.

[De Villo Sloan]

NBS, despite the ambiguity in these pieces, I think Richard C. and William S. Burroughs would have enjoyed target practice together. I just get a sense that's how it is. Yes, it was the pink that led me to post this after it's been shuffled around in the in-box for too long.

Thanks BG, I think both you and Richard are responsibility advocates and responsible folks. I'm not worried at all. Guns are a hot issue in the USA right now, that's for sure.

[Nancy Bell Scott]

That pink fashion statement drew me right in. It's my favorite. So outrageous.

[borderlinegrafix]

Don't forget eye protection.

[De Villo Sloan]

Given that one of the pieces was mailed from St. Louis (near Ferguson), that's a literal statement, NBS.

I actually held a number of these back for a long time because I was uneasy about the gun references. But who am I to apply those sort of value judgments? That is, I freely post work by Richard I like and withhold things I  might not agree with entirely? No, no, no. I'm not going to discriminate.

So I referenced the title from the Another Side of Bob Dylan album because many of Dylan's ideas and approaches have been controversial as well.

I do think the opening scan w/ the woman in pink is FAB.

[Nancy Bell Scott]

There are several riots here.