Oh, the Places They’ll Go: The Afterlife of Paintings and Mail-Art

[jon foster]

Click the link below to read the article.

https://thejonfoster.blogspot.com/2023/09/oh-places-theyll-go-after...

[jon foster]

@ Thom - Thanks for saying hello. Yeah, I don't mind that they're living in the world. I prefer people to enjoy or use them in some way, but existing is much better than the alternative. Who knows where that book will end up? If someone wants one for free I'm more than happy to mail one to them.

Even-keeled, thanks for seeing it that way. A lot of the initial comments from other mail-artists seemed to be a bit strong. I understand that impulse, but I'm not sure I'm fully thinking of it that way. I was more interested about why my creation was included in the first place.

Anyway, this story isn't dead...it has spawned a few more projects.

[Thom Courcelle]

Excellent musings, Jon.  It really gives meaning to the phrase "releasing your creations to the universe"...and letting them have their own life from that point onward.

It also makes me think of the genre of "FluXus" —what we think or imagine happens to our artwork, versus what really happens to it; how it is perceived/received versus its transformation into commodity in someone else's brain. Kudos for your even-keeled perspective.