RECEIVED: TIC TAC's Short Stories Are A "Must Read" in the New Collaborative Mail-Art Book (Starnberg, Germany)

[De Villo Sloan]

Mail-art by IUOMA member Ptrzia Tic-Tac (Starnberg, Germany); she dedicates the chapter to visual poet Joan Brossa

 

 

February 19, 2012 - Every mail-art exchange I have had with Tic-Tac has proven to be a blast as well as a learning experience , so I have been eagerly anticipating her contribution to the collaborative visual poetry book project Cheryl Penn (South Africa) and I are coordinating with headquarters here at the IUOMA. As ever, many thanks to IUOMA founder Ruud Janssen for conceiving such a wonderful place for all of us. (This chapter appears in Edition #2)

 

The scan above shows Tic Tac's opening chapter page (left) and her distinctive stamp on the outer mailing envelope (right). I am immediately intrigued by a "Shortstories" chapter for the vispo book.  Her use of perspective in the title represents a diminishment into minimalism through which she is able to relate big stories with a most economical use of language.

 

The editions' theme is an homage to a revered artist (Tic Tac's work is dedicated to Joan Brossa); however, in discussions about project themes, I have floated the idea of narrative by Cheryl several times for both asemic fiction and vispo narrative. How would writers and artists address these concepts? Perhaps in the future we will find out on a broader scale. For now, we have Tic Tac's compelling work:

 

 

I do not think of Tic Tac as a minimalist overall, but she uses the mode beautifully here. For her conception of visual poetry, she reaches back to concrete poetry (Tic Tac apparently has a vast knowledge of the avant garde) with its emphasis on the materiality of language and building forms from basic elements of the alphabet.

 

A surprise of the project has been that I assumed many of the artists would use vispo devoid of written text, focusing instead on the poetics of image in the lyric. The work we are seeing is far more language-centered.

 

While much classic concrete poetry is complex, Tic Tac uses single or a few letters. I think Aram Saroyan's work is a good reference point here for its visual economy and intent to express ideas and emotions rather than self-referential language. Of course, Tic Tac far exceeds the common definition of concrete poetry. This is visual poetry that has the freedom to incorporate images and even f0und objects. That integration reveals itself as the chapter progresses: 

 

 

Tic Tac gives us pencil-written titles, such as "pet poem" (above left). She creates a highly signified poem in a surprisingly small space: eye, heart, spoon, fish, fishbowl (mirrored with "u"), food, and plenty of letters.  The mind fills in the narrative of an everyday activity seen from multiple perspectives, complete with emotions,  a fantastic visual poem, I think.  The next two fill the absence a bit more:

 

 

Tic Tac's sense of humor and play is great. I like "St. Vispo" especially with the crown/halo of golden V's. Tic Tac's excellent artist's books often contain assemblages of interesting found material. The page above has some glued material that adds a haptic dimenstion. "OH!" is an interesting piece to contemplate, being built on a single ambiguous, emotive expression. Again, the mind immediately begins working to create an explanation and a narrative, yet it is necessarily far more subjective than some of the other stories in the book. Here is the final page:

 

 

Tic Tac's chapter is dedicated to the Catalan poet and artist Joan Brossa. So she has also led me to discover Brossa's work for the first time: a visual poet who has also written conventional and masterful sonnets and sestinas. (The poetry wars concerning form that we are so obsessed with in the USA are in many ways based on ridiculous stereotypes and polarizing politics when you begin looking from a more global perspective.) Brossa's art is often an extension of textual-visual explorations. Here is a link to Wik about him that can also take you to other places to see his work:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Brossa

 

Tic Tac is an active blogger, so here is a link to her profile that will take you many interesting places:

 

http://www.blogger.com/profile/11823303807599994639

 

Last year (February 19, 2011) I blogged Tic Tac's work and she shared some ideas in the comments stream:

 

http://iuoma-network.ning.com/profiles/blogs/received-documentation...

 

Many thanks for this great chapter. Tic Tac.

 

[Ptrzia (TICTAC)]

 i see your point.  but my feeling uncomfortable to talk about my own work deliberately doesn't mean that i refuse to answer questions about my work or clarify points.

as a contemporary silversmith artist i have done exhibits in galleries. i'm well aware that my work will be categorized, interpreted etc. by someone somewhere. i find it instructive at times, boring other times but always interesting to know how it is preceived. all this comes with the territory. though i'm still a non-mainstream artist and want the freedom to keep that way. reactions are up to me. silence is not passivity. work talks very loud.

and when i say 'work being finished' i mean work ready to be presented...even though the story continues.

but i'm in fluxus now...fluxus is an attitude not a movement nor a style, is intermedia, humour, simple....is anti-art. very 'appropiate' to its philosophy and my way of being. variety is the spice of art and gives critics lots of work to do. otherwise they would have nothing challenging to write about. food for the mind. 

shortstories is a hommage to the genious of Brossa and the connection i have with his irony.

regarding my work: i see letters as lego pieces. in written and spoken languages letters on their own mean nothing but only when skilfully grouped together they can turn exact meaning and suggestive language the ineffable, so i used vowels and consonants as objects to "write" shortstories with. and i printed it as text on white page.

[De Villo Sloan]

TIC TAC makes a fundamental point about the relationship between audience and artist. I believe that is why many artists choose to stay silent completely. The idea is the work is complete and thus can speak for itself. Yet I think many of us question the idea of work being "finished" or the possibility of closure.

 

I apologize to friends who have to deal with this written in English. I write a lot about art now precisely because I am grappling with issues of reviews, criticism, and reception of art and poetry. I think you must accept your work will eventually be explained, categorized, and interpreted by SOMEONE SOMEWHERE. It is a question if this process can be altered.

 

Fluxus, for instance, ultimately seeks to eliminate academic criticism, theory, intellectual history, etc and those things related to art becoming a commodity that is bought and sold in the market place and subject to price changes not unlike ground beef or soybeans. Interpretation, theory, reviews are an integral part of this product branding. And people will write about an artist's work, discuss it, propose theories to explain it regardless. You are, in a way, taking a passive stance if you ignore that aspect, I think.

 

As a result has Fluxus - and other art that seek to elude or even disrupt the mainstream - been appropriated?

 

I know at the IUOMA the situation is different. Yet the issues still emerge. For my own purposes of documentation, I appreciate it when the artists are willing to discuss things. But I respect silence too. Do not feel compelled. But the comments are always appreciated.

[Ptrzia (TICTAC)]

i must confess that i feel uncomfortable under the limelight of compliments and specially when i have to explain my work so either i say too much or too little. i see a finished work already like a statement from me, so theorically i shouldn't have anything more to add.
words have a defined meaning, art instead is maleable, reason why i express myself better through art, independently from any degree or other languages i speak. reason why i 'torment' my own written comments if not make them disappear mysteriously over night...:-) and i do apologize for that. i like the work you do here and i sure appreciate it. :-)

[Marcela Peral]

Thanks for sharing all those concepts and thoughts... I feel so limited writting in my basic English that is nice to read others personal comments so nicely expressed. 

[De Villo Sloan]

Hi again TIC TAC. It is great working w/ you again. My Jackson Pollock homage is on the way. (I know you're multi-lingual and English is not your second or third - I don't think - so thanks for dealing with translation.)

 

The "favorite artist" theme was Cheryl's. I was a little skeptical, only I know she is very good at creating concepts that will engage people. I probably would have gone with vispo narrative, and that's why I'm thrilled to see you explore that.

 

"Pet poem" is my favorite by the way. Yes! TIC TAC and Irony! You are an Ironist. You are not literal by any means. And in "Shortstores" there is Eye-rony. You use Eyes a lot.

 

This project is definitely exposing contributors to visual poets outside their regular circles. I know the US visual poets best, of course, and it seems like such a broad field. Yet it's small in terms of the world. And there so many ideas & appraoches out there. So I like this a lot.

[Ptrzia (TICTAC)]

Thank you DVS for kindly and beautifully blogging my hommage to Brossa. Brossa was a genius and a multitalented artist. Glad you enjoyed it.

[De Villo Sloan]

Glad you could stop by TIC TAC. My favorite part of writing about you is seeing your thoughtful comments about the work. That adds a great deal.

 

Brossa's great. I always learn something from you. You showed me how to alter text when we did that piece from Chapter 7 of Raymond Chandler's "The Big Sleep." Well, you did most of it.

 

I think you are St. Vispo. Thanks again!

[De Villo Sloan]

Hi Cheryl, these editions are looking good! We are both thinking along the same lines with TIC TAC's work I tinited the pages a little in the scanner adjustments just so it was really clear this was on paper & not just a blank abstract space. I can't even begin to articulate it as you have, but it seemed important to do that.

 

Marcela! my favorite Sand Poet of Argentina. Your chapter appeared in my mailbox on Friday! I am very excited. I like Brasso's work a great deal. I hope we can help more people discover him through the project.

 

Greetings Rebecca, I'm looking forward to your chapter. We tend to do a bit of theorizing with these projects. I thought vispo would be a challenge because current understanding is a bit sketchy; but people have taken to it instinctively. And in the end - don't worry about theories.

 

Hi again Angie, it's raining cats & dogs today.

[cheryl penn]

Great blog for sure - for wonderful work. I found this work interesting in terms of the use of the paper as an exhibition space for textual print versus the politics of poetry as a form of literature.   As the likes of Ian Burn and John Baldessari used a traditional painting surface for linguistic statements - therefore taking on the persona of a page, so here the page becomes part of a bigger form - the book which is the home of narrative.. I hope that makes sense! I just see an interesting juxtaposition of a variety of ideas here :-) X

[Katerina Nikoltsou (MomKat)]

Beautiful pages, beautiful blog. TicTac does a wonderful job honoring Joan Brossa!

And I especially enjoy the fine humor of the falling letters from the spoons! Fantastic, TicTac!