RECEIVED: Cheryl Penn Running on Empty in "Verbs" Mail-Art Book (Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa)

[De Villo Sloan]

Mail-art by IUOMA member Cheryl Penn (Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa)

 

July 4, 2011 - Cheryl Penn and I are working on a collaborative mail-art book using a single verb as chapter themes. When we're done, every letter of the alphabet will be covered. (Did I once write: Beware the alphabet?) Chapter "Empty" arrived in New York a few days ago. I was astonished that the Dread of Durban aka Big Sister aka Groot Suster aka CP-SA had chosen the path of pure minimalism, a confrontation with the void - Cheryl is rarely at a loss for words or images. Each chapter has eight pages. Here are two and three:

 

 

 

Marie Wintzer (Japan) has pioneered mail-art holes, another invocation of emptiness. Marie and Cheryl are currently collaborating on the amazing "Ether" book: Is it possible Cheryl has been inspired by Marie's flirtations with nothingness? Here are pages four and five sideways:

 

 

 

Somewhere in the past I must have posted somewhere that "The Whiteness of the Whale" is my favorite chapter in Herman Melville's Moby Dick. And Herman Melville's Moby Dick is by far my favorite novel ever, so I'd like to think I'm acquainted with whiteness - of a particular variety. Pages six and seven:

 

 

A stunning close with page eight:

 

Sure, the old-timers are saying: "We've seen all this before." Indeed we have; maybe even on a famous album cover. But it's fun and perhaps even profitable in some way to dust off the old act once in a while to find out how close you can get to the big emptiness and come back to tell the tale. Take a little time and gaze into the void again courtesy of Cheryl.

[De Villo Sloan]

Gazing into the void again. The absent places in your mailbox may be what speaks most :) Cheryl, I agree that among us CB is the Mistress of Gaps and Silences - she brought it to awareness. Ether is not empty.

 

CB - you're the ether itself these days - flitting in and out

[De Villo Sloan]

Ok, wow, I was looking at this blog as a b-side. But I just posted this entire "Empty" chapter in the IUOMA gallery. I think it looks fantastic. There's just this constant competition in cyberspace to fill in every available space with some sort of LOUD image trying to get your attention.

 

[cheryl penn]

Wanted to say -  the gaps/silences in Marie's work are inspirational - for sure!  DVS - like the new screen, miss the jam though.  Tell D.W. when you see him that there REALLY was a fire.

[De Villo Sloan]

Glad your have responses to some seriously conceptual art - even Kat. Like John Cage's silence work - it's nice to have a break from the unending assault of visual images. I HAVE meditated on the CP-SA blankness here. I asked, "How did those bits of crunchy peanut but get there?" I cleaned my monitor screen. Cheryl's empties are great when you clean your screen. Empties - kinda like that.

 

Hi CB, long see no time.

[Marie Wintzer]

Stunning close :-))))) nice blog...

Empty also has its shades, for sure. Cheryl's work is always thought provoking, that's something you can count on.

[Katerina Nikoltsou (MomKat)]

There is meaning in the void....

This reminds me of Sloan's contribution to "Windmills": Circles of Your mind:

nada, nothing, τίποτε....sigh.

[cheryl penn]

Jeepers!!! What happened??? Temporary loss of semiotics, dissemination, meaning, language - just general desolation???? OK - I'm laughing - thanks DVS!