Received: Bifidus Jones' chapter for Cheryl Penn's "The Crimsoned Giant" mail-art project (St. Paul, Minnesota, USA)

[De Villo Sloan]

October 24, 2010 - Bifidus Jones' chapter for Cheryl Penn's ambitious "The Crimsoned Giant" project needs no introduction for many here at the IUOMA. I'm blogging it myself hoping a few more people might see it and also so I'll have it in my own archives. I'm very glad to have this because it is one of the finer examples of mail-art by Bifidus I've seen thus far. IMHO. These pages have already been examined by many of us and its terrain seems familiar, including fhe near-legendary envelope that I believe was compared to Pandora's Box - I think that was from Cheryl Penn. The Gertrude Stein quote has already been revealed as an essential key to the chapter. How I would love to discourse upon Bifidus Jones' masterly invocation of Stein. But, given my two previous blog posts, I fear trying the patience of IUOMA friends. Another statement = in symbolic value to the one above is found on these pages:

I haven't gone back to the earlier discussion and can't recall if Bifidus or anyone else noted the statement above (can't possibly be a coincidence) is very close to the famous statement at the beginning of Samuel Clemens' (Mark Twain) "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" that warns readers not to attempt to find a moral or plot in the story. Otherwise, the consequences will be dire - ultimately a warning to critics that was not heeded.

I also really liked the envelope this came in. In fact, I thought I was receiving mail-art from Marie Wintzer at first because it reminds me of her style and materials she uses. I think this perhaps is an example of the positive impact of influence at IUOMA - many ideas circulate and they circulate quickly and help in the evolution of mail-artists' work:

And on the other side:

I know we have not heard the last of "The Crimsoned Giant."

More along the lines of what I should have submitted for "The Crimsoned Giant."

[cheryl penn]

Hey De Villo - thanks for blogging this - as usual, both comprehensive and succinct. I was driven by Bifidus' entry to add another section which will be posted to you shortly. I told Bifidus that his pages whispered to me, then they called, then they started yelling for attention - the only way to keep the symbols quiet was to answer them... Feel free to do the same with the above entry!! That's the wonderful thing about books pre-binding - there's always room for more!