RECEIVED: U.S. Mail-Art Compilation from Kerri Pullo (Arizona), Skybridge Studios (Indiana), Nancy Bell Scott (Maine)

[De Villo Sloan]

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

 

November 11, 2011 - Scans of Kerri Pullo's work I have seen in the IUOMA gallery reveal her talent for collage, a subtle and deeply refined sense of color and texture, an interest in the interplay between text and image, and a tendency toward conceptual art.

 

The first mail-art she sent me (above) is a relatively large (5 x 9 inches) piece that emphasizes asemics. I recognize this approach from the Asemics 16 collaborative book project. Mim Golub Scalin (Virginia, USA) used it notably. Symbols and shapes are cut-up, thus fragmented, to create the asemics. As a background, Kerri Pullo uses her wonderful textures to enhance the work and further meld language and image.  The reverse side is equally stunning:

 

Mail-art by Kerri Pullo 

 

All the elements mentioned above are present in this piece, but they produce a very different result. Running your fingers over it, these asemics feel as if they had been painted on fabric. Yet visually, to me anyway, the grey-blue sections look like prehistoric symbols inscribed on stone, a petroglyph.

 

As Asemics 16 also revealed, many writers and artists who create asemics invoke the archaic, as if seeking to return to the primal roots of writing. Kerri Pullo certainly manages to restore the mystery, magic, and wonder that most of us lose in the the daily inundation of signs and their systems. The work came in a beautiful, painted, green envelope: 

 

 

And the reverse, giving us a marker in time:

 

 

Marie Wintzer's (Japan) recent forays into visual poetry and her admiration for Les Brumes as well as Cheryl Penn's (South Africa) recent semiotic excesses have led to the establishment of The Arthur Rimbaud Symbolist School of Subtle Aesthetic Obscurity. This school certainly has many positive qualities. Kerri Pullo's art supports this contention. I am absolutely thrilled to have received her mail-art and look forward to more exchanges. She has an excellent blog where you can see more of her work:

 

http://annetrixiemona.posterous.com/

 

One great thing about mail-art is that on any given day you can receive a masterpiece for the ages or just a great message from a friend who is thinking about you. The next piece is the latter.

 

Before Asemics 16 was ever conceived, I considered Skybridge Studios a friend and admired her art. Having gone through the project with her, I developed a respect on a new level. Her chapters and her service on the Asemic High Council as well as her incredible research ability - well, she is an amazing person.

 

Recently Skybridge Studios sent me a great vintage card. I could take the low road and describe it as Kinky mail-art, but I won't. NOTE TO SPELL CHICK: Please delete the previous sentence. Here is the postcard's front:

 

Mail-art by Skybridge Studios (North Manchester, Indiana, USA)

 

Wow, those guys are the Kinks? Skybridge knows (thinks) I am a Kinks fan. I used to listen to a great version of "Sunny Afternoon" she had linked on her blog. For all the Punk Mail-Art folks: The punk rockers in the U.S. adored the Kinks during a time when it was not d-kool to like anything that had a connection to dinosaur rock.

 

What appears to be my admiration for the Kinks is actually ambivalence. Back in the days of Beatnik Glory, a love-of-my-life girlfriend was an adoring fan of Ray Davies. As if a gift from heaven, Ray appeared in a local record store to autograph albums and generally mix with the public. So said (ex-) girlfriend went to meet him. There was a terrible indiscretion between the two of them in the store - for the world to see, so to speak - that resulted in my total humiliation. I know Ray reads my blog regularly, so I just want to say: "No hard feelings, Ray. That was long ago and far away." Anyway, here's the reverse side:

 

 

So even if on a bad day thinking about the Kinks might still rip my guts apart, I appreciate this great card from Skybridge.

 

Skybridge has been steadily upgrading her blog, and it is becoming an impressive hub for much good work, definitely worth a look (The Kinks link is gone):

http://skybridgestudios.blogspot.com/

 

Nancy Bell Scott's art incorporates many mail-art movements. She creates tremendous asemics and has embraced Trashpo and the D-Kult. Some might go so far as to see Trashpo as standing in theoretical opposition to asemics and visual poetry, especially if one focuses on the core issue of found art. Nancy Scott Bell disproves this with her work that provides a synthesis of many concepts. Here is the front of recent mail-art she sent me:

 

Mail-art by IUOMA member Nancy Bell Scott (Old Orchard Beach, Maine, USA)

 

This is a panel of a fabric and cardboard, commercially produced book cover, bearing the emblems of years of use (and abuse). Stains or some sort of mistreatment have formed lines. Apparently someone used the book as a coaster, and it left light circles.

 

Applying Trashpo concepts, Nancy has identified found asemic structures. This is a tremendous gift of the artist, to find wonder in the mundane world and to share the wonder with me, the lucky recipient. Certainly, this is asemic Trashpo. In her work to better integrate the tribes, Nancy Bell Scott has also done some fantastic work with aesthetic Trashpo. Here is the reverse side:

 

Thank you, Nancy. I love this piece. What a great concept! Nancy Bell Scott has a fantastic blog where you can see more of her work:

http://nancybellscott.wordpress.com/

 

And thanks again to Kerri Pullo, Skybridge Studios, and Nancy Bell Scott for this mail-art!

 

MAIL-ART PSYCHIC

 

Don't bother opening it: It's a polaroid from Grigori Antonin.

 

Your imagination is in overdrive. Tap into the purple spots.

 

Evils is just Elvis with the letters moved around.

 

Whino.

 

Pigpen.

[De Villo Sloan]

Hi-jack away, Skybridge. Those are beautiful images. We'll have a "Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover" show in no time. Excellent point about the alteration of the art in the postal system. Yes, the Kinks card brought back memories for all sorts of reasons.

 

Kerri - thanks for your comments. It's always nice to hear the artist's perspective. I'm also interested in that part of mail-art involving the interpretation and response of the receiver because the relationships are so one-and-one and dialogs between artists evolve, sometimes over long periods of time.

[De Villo Sloan]

y is dk in that pic w/ kinks?

[Kerri Pullo]

Thank you everyone for the positive comments. Nancy ~ I feel like I need to clarify my statement of "being new to art in general..." I will admit to spending about 8hrs a day studying and practicing multi-media techniques over the past few months. I was a chronic doodler in my youth...so I guess that counts as art. Art started as a therapeutic practice for me and I never thought I would let anyone see it, as obviously I lack technical skill I was embarrassed and I'm super self-conscious. Well...that again is obvious. ok blah blah blah. I do greatly appreciate all the encouragement :)

[Nancy Bell Scott]

p.s. Totally forgot to mention the mail-art psychic segment! Excellent, funny, love it.

[Nancy Bell Scott]

I didn't know the Kinks were at fault, do they know? I do know your incredible imagination demonstrates every day that there is nothing to the rumor that you suffer from absence of imagination. Who's responsible for that rumor? I'll track it down.

"Don't judge a book by its cover" with the book missing definitely has something going for it.

I really do love that thing, and am amazed that even a green book cover looks good with the green backdrop in your photos. Everything does! Why is that.

 

[De Villo Sloan]

[De Villo Sloan]

Hi Nancy, I'm glad you were able to check in.

 

I would apply multi-faceted to your work too. Yes, I appreciate the asemic book cover. The lines and circles make it unique, and it's pretty much a readymade. I've been considering if there was any wordplay on "Don't judge a book by it's cover." And the book is missing. Absent. Kerri does a lot with absence in her other work. She did an altered book cover in fact.

 

Do the three pieces in the blog have anything thematically that justifies them being together? Maybe it's the concept of absence. Especially since Nancy thinks the Kinks have something to do with my absence of imagination.

 

Hi Svenja, I'm becoming a bigger fan of your work every time I see a new posting. I'm glad you like this blog.

[Nancy Bell Scott]

Very impressive work here by Kerri. I've been an admirer since she arrived. Especially amazing is that she says she is new not only to mail art but to art in general. Keep it up, Kerri. Skybridge is known to be extra-multi-faceted, and I won't pretend to be able to judge the veracity of your complex involvement with the Kinks, DVS, but do want to offer some friendly advice re: your ex-girlfriend: she actually may have humiliated you because you don't demonstrate enough imagination. Time to work on that?

Thank you for blogging one of the few found objects that I have really loved *and* managed to leave alone. It was here for at least three years, and every day I carried the heavy burden of fear that I would take this thing I loved as is and do something to it. When it recently told me that it is asemic trashpo, I figured you are the one who could give it good shelter. Thanks for taking on that responsibility, DVS, and I'm glad you like it!

[Svenja Wahl]

Great works and a wonderful blog, thank you DVS!! 

[cheryl penn]

Dark Wall! Go back inside and eat your ice-cream, the grown ups are talking! :-) X