RECEIVED: DharmaDaDa's Al Hansen Trashpo Tribute (Germany), YES from Carina Granlund (Finland) + Jim SantAmour Asemics (USA)

[De Villo Sloan]

 Mail-art by IUOMA member Erni Baer (Hamburg, Germany)

 

April 19, 2012 - Good friend Erni Baer (aka DharmaDaDa), for me, is one of the great current masters of all that is found art, DaDa, and Trashpo. I have been saving this masterpiece for a rainy day and cannot, in good conscience, keep it to myself any longer. First, this piece is MASSIVE by mail-art standards, so I have ramped up the scan size to try to convey its powerful impact and PRESENCE.

 

Flattened aluminum cans are an Erni Baer trademark. This work is a variation on that theme. From what I can reconstruct about the piece above, DharmaDaDa found a cardboard container for Beck's beer in the streets of Hamburg. (We call these beer containers in the USA 6- or 12-packs). The piece has been flattened and writing added. Then it was mailed as-is and made it fairly well through the postal system. I've had it on display, perched on cardboard box, for a long time.

 

Erni took the opportunity to creat a tribute to a Fluxus artist whom we both regard highly: The late Al Hansen. Of course, it is not Hansen Beer. Al Hansen is the grandfather of post-punk, avant rock star Beck (Hansen), a performer widely known. When you are aware of his background especially, I think it is easy to locate the influence of Fluxus and experimental music in Beck's work. I did not know that beer inspired Beck's name. 

 

Erni's art was hard to fit in the scanner and this detail should help:

 

 

Erni makes reference in the piece to the Beck song with the lyrics: "I'm a loser, baby, so why don't you kill me." It was a big hit - thus the gold? In reading about Al Hansen, I learned he was very involved in the Punk music scene when he lived in Los Angeles, so that connection runs in the family. Here is the reverse side that (barely) fits the scan, but I think you can get an overall impression:

 

 

I apologize for the blurriness in places. I believe Erni Baer gathers his material using a principle of harmomic randomness. You can sense a human presence, even in his most seemingly randomly collected work. I imagine the discovery of some particular thing discarded triggers a thought or concept, even if highly intuitive, that the selection of that object will add to the unified vision that his entire body of work represents. This Beck piece clearly shows the presence of associative thought: from beer, to Al Hansen, and then - what I appreciate most - to me!

 

And I do treasure this piece. As always, many thanks DharmaDaDa! If you like this DharmaDaDa work, then you will surely want to check out:

 

http://iuoma-network.ning.com/group/erni-bar-fan-club

 

 

Emphatic YES from Carina Granlund

 

Mail-art by IUOMA member Carina Granlund (Petsmo, Finland)

 

Carina Granlund is a new friend from Finland and we have just completed our first mail-art exchange, which I think was very successful and enjoyed very much.

 

I am always eager to have friends from Finland because (1) Satu Kaikkonen is from Finland. I do not like rankings, but I have to say Satu is on my top-ten list for favorite visual poets in the world. So I like to see what others are doing in Finland. Perhaps it is like Portugal in terms of talent. I am also a fan of the U.S. literary critic Edmund Wilson who wrote To the Finland Station. Somehow that book has created a conditioned response in me concerning Finland. Just one of those strange things. I perk up for some reason.

 

I believe Carina is primarily a visual artist; however, whether by chance or intention, she sent me work that is language-oriented, such as the one above. I like the piece very much because it works for me as poetry as well as pure image. You have the intense, if not absurd, repetition of a well chosen line. Things like this can actually be found in DaDa and Fluxus works. When read aloud, if you can give yourself to the repitition, these poems can create a deep awareness of the rhythms of language, word meanings, word relations, and other related things. It's not too far from the mantra principle. (On the other hand, there is "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" in Kubrick's The Shining that offers another explanation for extreme word repitition. I'll stick with the Fluxus concept.

 

I doubt Carina meant her work to be read aloud or intended anything I just wrote about, but I still note the comparison. Especially with the blank space, the typing suggests concrete poetry, although the b&w typewriter picture (below) fits perfectly in that space and I suspect belongs there, although it's moveable. The graph paper is great. I see asemic writing done on graph paper. In addition to understanding the practical reasons, the delicate lines, grids, geometric uniformity make a great material and add to visual impact. I always like stamp overlays. Here's more of what she sent:

 

By now, it's clear that writing (or typing) is part of the theme. I like the red threads streaming out from the typewriter keys. If you place the photo on the graph paper piece, the threads can become intermixed with the words and images. This entire mail-art package is very interactive if you arrange the work in different ways and consider the different possibilities. Carina's reference to Dean Marks (France) and Vizma Brun (Australia) further indicates she was thinking about creation, process, and (interactivity). I find myself wanting to move the pieces around. The reverse side of the photo has a note:

 

 

The "YES" - made with tape - is the reverse side of the envelope that held everything. I had seen this in other pieces by Carina Granlund posted at the IUOMA and was, of course, very impressed with this use of tape, seeing some asemic possibilities, and liking the stark b&w. I think Carina means Ray Johnson with the "RAJ"? That would explain why she seems to understand mail-art so well, even if she has not actively participated. And the front:

 

I can tell Karina is an artist. A sense of aesthetics is operating in this piece. Nor is much left to chance - a principle of organization and overall concept governs. So I found this a very intriguing piece that still pulls me back to re-think, reconsider, and find more.

 

Many thanks, Carina! I look forward to more exhanges! You can see a whole lot more of Carina's work at:

 

http://www.carinagranlund.com/

 

Eco-Asemics from Jim SantAmour

 

Mail-art by IUOMA member Jim SantAmour (St. Petersburg, Florida, USA)

 

Moving mail-art from an area here in the Overlook Hotel that is an organizational disaster to archival safety, I found this unblogged work by Jim SantAmour. By now, Jim's work with visual poetry isn't news. Most friends at IUOMA have been treated to beautiful work he has made combining text and image. This piece, however, uses asemic writing. I haven't seen much of that by Jim. I really like the concept: He produces symbols from tree forms.

 

The Asemics 16 project generated many discussions about the origin of symbols and the fact that nature is filled with asemically suggestive shapes. We even gave that pursuit a name: Eco-Asemics.

 

Jim Santamour is a fantastic photographer and seems to have access to an incredible photography archive. He puts that to good use here. The tree photos, I think, are amazing and the presentation subtle, in his distinctive collage style. They certainly capture a multitude of expressive shapes and forms that are, simultaneously, translated into an alphabet. I am further amazed by the way he is able to do this in a very small space:

 

Definitely a little piece of asemic history that needs to be documented. Definitely a piece that deserves a close look. Many (belated) thanks Jim! And welcome to the Postage Due Club. I'm sure you and Diane Keys (major offender) can find a lot to talk about.

 

Jim now has a blog! Check this for more of his work:

http://santamour.blogspot.com/

 

 

 MAIL-ART PSYCHIC

 

 

http://minxuslynxus.wordpress.com/

 

Minkeys.

 

Repeat X 5 = "The minkey stole my woekie."

 

Minnkeys = Minnesota monkeys

 

Dianekeys = Species of Chicago monkey (?)

 

That was Peter Cellars, Ray.

 

Are you Finnished?

 

More substitute substitute.

 

Purple.

 

A shriner's convention or "We all shrine on..."

 

GS: "What was the question?"

 

Seriously folks: Thoughts go out & wishes for a speedy recovery to Tom Clark in Oakland.

 

No relation to Dick Clark or Max Baer.

 

Magic Christian

 

or ice fishing, as in walking on thin ___

 

[Katerina Nikoltsou (MomKat)]

YES YES YES SHE SHE SHE HER HER HER...

Hershey from PENNsylvania? Named after William PENN, relative of Cheryl PENN, oh, YES!

[De Villo Sloan]

Hershey Chocolate headquarters are in Hershey, PENNsylvania, BTW. I think they have a theme park.

[De Villo Sloan]

Definitely, Cheryl. Now that I've looked at Carina's website more, I see a presence of language that seems consistent. I notice Carina's "YES" reflects the "Yes" in Al Hansen's work. How many words can you make by re-arranging "Hershey"? "Yes" is in there. "Harmonic randomness," I thought that was good too.

 

Thanks for the link, Erni. Al & Beck - it's a whole world & I wonder how it all happened.

[cheryl penn]

"gathers his material using a principle of harmonic randomness" - nice phrase. Carina sends wonderful mail art - I too am Very pleased to be exchanging with her - the presence of text is in all her work to me - as I said somewhere else, her card is in my inspiration slot this week.  Jim too is a pleasure to receive from - a well written about  haul :-) X

[De Villo Sloan]

My favorite Al Hansen pieces remain the ones made with Hershey candy bar wrappers. Is this not Trashpo?

 

 

[De Villo Sloan]

The better pics are most welcome, Erni. Your work has been displayed on a cardboard box so long it became part of the room. I was tentative due to my scanning limitations. Well then, we've done something to remember Al Hansen. Gold is prominent in this work of yours. I don't consider it "poor card made from cheapest material." It is gold.

 

I thought you'd appreciate these, Diane. Especially Erni's work. Mailing a beer carton - such a simple concept, but who thought of it before? I suppose this is the genius of Trashpo. And the variety we're seeing in Carina's work is already impressive. And of course Jim - this one was a great pleasure indeed.

[DKeys]

wow wow and WOW!! you hit the motherload here. Fantastic work from Carina--it's great seeing her style emerge with the ephemera and subtle editorial. Erni's trashpo is great too!