RECEIVED: Kerri Pullo's Haptic & Asemic Mail-Art (Arizona, USA) + Austin Wills James (Texas, USA) & Cuan Miles (South Africa)

[De Villo Sloan]

Mail-art by IUOMA member Kerri Pullo (Tucson, Arizona, USA)

 

February 17, 2012 - New mail-art friend Kerri Pullo has sent me two FAB envelopes of mail-art that I am long overdue in blogging. Kerri is a visual artist who creates wonderfully textured pieces that are also highly tactile and thus haptic. Unlike something found in a gallery, this work is meant to be touched; so it operates on a level beyond the strictly visual. The scan above is a postcard-size piece that was inside a larger envelope.

 

I am a big fan of work that incorporates textiles, so I appreciate this one in particular with string. (I think of Marie Wintzer's (Japan) thread and string asemics.) All the work Kerri sent led me to think about Object Poetry. Her work uses themes of secrets and concealment, like murky, buried memories. The string suggests I should open it, that there is something inside; but I do not believe there is, and I do not want to damage it. Yet that desire to interact with the work, to dig in deeper, is key. Here are two other amazing, small painterly works Kerri sent:

 

 

The art on the left is titled "Suffering a Severe Head Injury." The right-hand piece is called "Age 8." While I see this work as painting, I can see a connection to visual poetry. Kerri has developed a complex visual language. At times there is interplay with text and words, yet it remains, to me, highly encoded work regardless. This seems to fit well with Cheryl Penn's Symbolist School of Subtle Aesthetic Obscurity. Or perhaps, as with many artists, when you become familiar with Kerri's work you learn the code and how to appreciate it. She included a beautiful note:

 

 

Other side:

 

 

I could not agree more. I like the notes and letters as well as the art. When people handwrite them, well, I think that is even better. Notes like Kerri's are really part of the mail-art when you have a sequence of material. Her beautiful, ragged message is a kind of Object Poetry. The text itself can be reproduced, but the paper, shape, colors, hand-writing are one-of-a-kind and meant to be experienced together. Something is lost without them. She also sent two pieces that I gather she considers more conventional mail-art:

 

 

The piece on the right clearly alludes to the secret theme. Very clever to use asemic writing and overlays for purposes of obscuring the secrets. A post-it note on the back reads: "Note to Self. Do not tell secrets to strangers." So we have purposeful self-concealment at play here too? Perhaps. The piece on the right is "Life Lines" and something that attracted me to Kerri Pullo's art to begin with: She is an instinctive asemic writer, which she seems to do effortlessly and with complete accomplishment. Here are the envelopes:

 

 

Many, many thanks, Kerri. I hope our correspondence continues! AND Kerri Pullo has a fantastic website where you can see some truly, truly great work:

 

http://annetrixiemona.posterous.com/

 

Recently I was pleased to annouce the spectacular return of Austin Wills James to mail-art. So I am including another piece I received from him, as promised:

 

Mail-art by IUOMA member Austin Wills James (Dallas, Texas, USA)

 

This uses Austin's patented musical inspiration method; however, all the new work shows a wider range and a new-found complexity, IMHO. Previously, Austin relied on his considerable drawing skills; that is powerful in itself. Now he is moving into concepts and a much broader range of images, more interaction with text. He seems to be embracing a larger global and historical perspective. I am enjoying the work more than ever, and I was already a big fan. Here is the reverse:

 

 

Again, great to have you back in the network, Austin. Something on its way to you. 

 

Here is a very welcome surprise:

 

 Mail-art by IUOMA member Cuan Miles (East London, South Africa)

 

According to his IUOMA profile page, Cuan Miles creates cartoons for a South African newspaper, and he is also a collage artist. I have been admiring this postcard-size piece he sent me for a while and thought it was high time to post it.

 

During Asemics 16, we encountered this method of (what I will call) cross-cut cut-ups used by several artists. You can produce great asemics with it, yet it is surprisingly hard to do. At least I had to abandon my experiments in despair. I think Cuan achieves it beautifully and masterfully.

 

I assume he is a card-carrying member of Cheryl Penn's South African Correspondence School? Note to Spell Chick: Contact Cheryl concerning this case immediately. The reverse side also has some great textual work:

 

 

Many thanks, Cuan! He has a very good blog:

 

http://curiouscollage.blogspot.com/

 

Sometimes she frustrates us, but we all love our Spell Chick:

 

 " I before E except after C!"

 

save this

[Kerri Pullo]

thank you all for the awesome comments! DVS....I would open it :)

[De Villo Sloan]

Brain Shell acknowledges the genius of MinXus.

[De Villo Sloan]

OMG Marie... that is sooooo cool! I am thrilled. And he picked the ones with the crowns! That is great!

[Marie Wintzer]

Can you see it?

Brain Cell has figured out that MinXus and SSSAO are strongly connected. Cohen also chose MinXus Marie and MinXus South Africa among those I have sent him. (and Katerina is there too).

Only one person between cp-sa and MW on the address list. Quite cool I thought.

[Marie Wintzer]

I love what you do with the records, Dw. I like the layer of dirt on that one and the desperate attempt at any kind of repair.

Hang on... got something for the SSSAO - MinXus files

[De Villo Sloan]

And Austin, if you're doing music, I'd say throw CDs in with your mail-art. Getting people to download off the net is a problematic for a lot of people.

 

There was a zine called "Photostatic" that had a music wing; all the back issues have gone online - must have been a huge project for someone. They did a lot of sound collage & industrial music. They included the music with the zine and it got fairly good exposure being passed through the network. I always tell people you can do the market yourself thing & have a website, etc. etc. But passing stuff through friends in the network who might be interested can be better.

[De Villo Sloan]

please stand so we can sing together the "MinXus International - God Save Empress Marie:

[De Villo Sloan]

Cheryl, I'm sure Marie will appreciate that.

 

As for the other issues, I accept that MinXus is counter-revolutionary & apolitical. That is its nature.

 

Whether MinXus has ended or whether it continues, I do think it needs some sort of International Museum of MinXus Art & Ephemera. I'm not sure how that would happen.

[cheryl penn]

Minxus is alive and well in Glen Anil. The crown was slipping a bit, but I've used Ether backtracks and we're back in business :-) X!

[De Villo Sloan]

Austin, MinXus music is just Dw painting things on old 45 rpm records & calling it asemic music. You bring up a really good point, though.

 

Although you don't see it here at IUOMA, the network has been used to connect musicians & music. For instance, it was a big conduit for alternative music in the 80s before it broke into the mainstream. Seattle was a big center, and you know what happened there. You can post music videos in the video section at IUOMA. People have music there.

 

The music connection is strong probably due the Fluxus presence. Grand Daddy John Cage was an experimental composer. A style - Drone Music - came out of it. That wasn't commercial. But a lot of the musicians who started it began combining it w/rock in NY: Billy Name, John Cale, and a guy named Lou Reed (you know that one). The Velvet Underground emerged from an earlier group called Dream Syndicate (not to be confused with a later punk band). Lennon's work with tape collage (Revolution #9) & backward tracking are connected to the experimental music he was exposed to through Yoko. So the roots run.

 

I was just reading about some guy - Bon Bon someday - who was connected to Neoism & mail-art that used a lot of pranks. He & friends formed this fake band & went around acting like rock stars and talking about their music that didn't really exist. It eventually led to a lot of media coverage, such as a spread in People magazine, and there was no band that actually performed. It was some commentary on celebrity culture. It's hard to know what's real & what isn't with Neoism but the band prank seemed well-documented.