RECEIVED: Mail-Art Words to Consider by Cheryl Penn (Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa)

[De Villo Sloan]

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

 

February 8, 2011 - Cheryl Penn is an excellent mail-art correspondent. I truly admire the way she constantly thinks about the future of the book and language itself, and this effort is reflected in her constantly evolving work. Somewhere back in time she sent me this piece that deals with the subject very directly. The image above is beautiful in its own right, but I think you need to look at all four panels of the piece to receive the full impact:

We depend so much on words. Like us, they have thin skins. Sometimes they are us. Sometimes they take on a life of their own. But trying to make them obey is an extraordinary difficulty. They have an extraordinary power to create entire worlds:

Drifting into the ether now, I recall someone or other who knew saying: "Modernism is about the failure of language." Wow. So by the time we arrive at postmodernism, we don't have a prayer. Everyday life, I'm afraid, bears the proof. Too often, words fail us entirely when they are all we really have to rely on. However, I don't think it is all doom and gloom when I see artists like Cheryl Penn doing exciting work in this area. I deeply appreciate this thought-provoking piece. And South Africa also has really nice stamps:

Many thanks, again

[De Villo Sloan]

Yip, really DH. Gives new meaning to the phrase "carrying a spare tire" (getting plump around the middle). Or maybe he was just tired that day. I think after that he re-tired. Yeah, watch it with ladders and pianos - fluxy territory. We might be crazy. Those people were nuts.

[cheryl penn]

No WAYS!!!! Tha'ts Dick Higgins???? Ok, I'm surprised - for the first time today - AND its late...

[De Villo Sloan]

i looked at your vispo ladders again and the crossbars work. no worries. luggage was supposed to = baggage - the emotional kind we carry around that prevents us from whatever. it didn't work very well. no roadkill intended, but check this out. i was looking for another pic of ladders and came across this pic of Dick Higgins doing a performance piece - no joke. i didn't know what the guy looked like. and i think this might be the first recorded case of Fluxus meets roadkill. Doing that in heavy traffic, the guy was begging to be roadkill:

glad to see your back 

[cheryl penn]

De Villo Sloan - back in the saddle I see :-)))) Has luggage become a victim of R.K too?

[De Villo Sloan]

I think it must be a Fluxus thing - like when George was strung out on the violin strings. You know I was thinking about ladders and holes. And I thought, there must be another way to look at this. I think it said "illegible." Katerina had to translate your handwriting for Erni, KHRD? GDFW!

[cheryl penn]

o my word - :-)) I DID have Cross bars, but I suppose they were EXTREMELY horizontal....  I hope that guy didn't break anything!  What was he doing??? He obviously stopped doing it mid-stride. Linearity I cant help it! I think its a book thing.

[De Villo Sloan]

I did want to point out that when you're working with ladders it's not always as linear as you might think. Yes, up and down is the usual assumption. But you need to open your mind here. This would be an example of ladder non-linearity. What would you do without me to draw your attention to these things?

[De Villo Sloan]

peace rains again across the network. 1 more = please come and claim your baggage. run over by a bus

[cheryl penn]

Ok back to back but back  stop arguing already. It was time for peace to grow a thick skin - its a tough world out there.

[De Villo Sloan]

'dw i see your back' thats not my back