RECEIVED: Psychedelic White Rabbit Mail-Art from Vaida Sirusaite (Radviliskio, Lithuania)

[De Villo Sloan]

Mail-art by IUOMA member Vaida Sirusaite (Radviliskio, Lithuania)

 

July 30, 2011 - This mail-art by Vaida Sirusaite (aka Vaida Adiav) displays her incredible talent and attention to detail. The red circles are intricately stitched thread; the black paper circles can be rotated with your fingers. The drawing is fluid, precise, and beautiful beyond my ability to describe it.

 

Vaida's choice of the psychedelic theme brings smiles for many reasons. This is a reference to the song "White Rabbit" by the Jefferson Airplane (and later when the airplane crashed the debris became Hot Tuna and the Jefferson Starship). 

 

And might a few of us be interested in Vaida because she is one of the very few mail-artists we know from the country where George Maciunas was born? Highly likely.

 

Somewhere back in time, a few of us did a small revival of recycling psychedelic art in mail-art. Austin Wills James (Texas) was involved. I became interested because I was researching Japanese psychedelic art for some pieces I was making for Marie Wintzer (Japan). Grigori Antonin (Minnesota) had done some earlier work for Marie using Japanese rock star photos that sparked my fancy for some reason.

 

The death of Owsley Stan generated some nostalgia too around that time. I think Vaida's work is a contribution to that effort, which was great fun. Here's the reverse side:

 

 

The black circles have been painted white. We have a lyric snip from the famous song. "Psychedelic Pillow" is perfect to identify the theme and probably refers to the Airplane classic album "Surrealistic Pillow." Here's a pic of the Jefferson Airplane from that era:

 

 

Vaida also included a second card that is a fine example of her unique style:

 

 

And the reverse:

 

 

Many thanks Vaida, I look forward to more mail-art exchanges! She has an interesting blog where you can see more work:

http://vaida-adiav.blogspot.com/

Here are some vintage Japanese psychedelic posters that surfaced during the revival:

 

 

 

 

 

[De Villo Sloan]

Yip, Vaida is special indeed. Thanks for your comments.

[Jen Staggs]

Really amazing and delicate work.

[Marie Wintzer]

I'm a big fan of Vaida she is so unique. Amazing work.

And the posters, great!!

[De Villo Sloan]

[Thom Courcelle]

me three...  Wow to the 3rd power.  You're pictures or scans of Vaida's thread work are really clear and great, D. I've been admiring her handiwork in posts, but these give such a particularly nice detailed view.

[Nancy Bell Scott]

I was going to say that.