RECEIVED: "Windmills" Mail-Art Chapter & "Antipodal Trashpo" from Marie Wintzer (Saitama, Japan)

[De Villo Sloan]

Mail-art by IUOMA member Marie Wintzer (Saitama, Japan)

 

April 5, 2011 - A small group at the IUOMA discovered they were all fans of the song "The Windmills of Your Mind" and by extension the two versions of the movie The Thomas Crown Affair. The result is a collaborative mail-art book incorporating the song lyrics.

 

This chapter I received from Marie Wintzer seems to me a wonderful blending of image and text that capture the song's intriguing circularity as well its undeniable ability to trigger the stream of consciousness. Marie's "Windmills" chapter consists of 8 pages; 6 of them involve transparencies and overlays that create dreamlike abstracts based on photos. As a result, my scans aren't exactly linear. The two pages with lyrics on incredible textured paper (above) is a center section inside the chapter. Below is the chapter's opening:

 

 

This (above) shows the overlay with drawings and the photo beneath. It has an incredible depth of field. Marie's images echo all the over-lapping circular shapes in the song from the small to the infinite: apples, clocks, seasons, earth, moon, carousels, rings, and more.

 

The chapter is organized so that you can interact with it by experimenting with different page pairings. You can even look through the transparent pages and see your own environment through the lens of her images; I tried it. The wonderful paper she uses makes this a very tactile experience too. Below is a scan of both overlays. I never tire of praising Marie's photography, and I wonder how she got these shots. If anything, maybe I should call them impressionistic? They strike me as being very evocative and reflective, again matching the song perfectly.

 

 

I always gripe about the inadequacy of scans. This is yet another case. "Windmills" adds to a body of excellent work Marie Wintzer is producing. Her use of and success with abstraction here I think also represents a step forward. Accompanying the chapter, was a very interesting note with what I think I would call found material:

 

 

Marie did explain that, in addition to the note which is self-explanatory, the written material is from her lab. I wanted to know, but now I almost wish I did not know because it was so much fun trying to find meaning in these lists and especially the diagram. The list of names? Was Marie starting her own mail-art movement? No, but the statement about the work being "antipodal to trashpo" does appear to be a position on a burning issue of the moment. Here's the other side:

 

A lost artifact of the Monkey Purge? Only in my imagination. This was a wonderful mail-art package to receive. I gather it was sent just before the disaster that is causing such terrible tribulations and suffering in Japan still. I'm so glad Marie is alright and her mail-art activity is moving back toward normalcy. Many thanks for "Windmills"! And do not forget to visit Marie's Mailbox for the best of the best in Antipodal Trashpo:

 

http://www.mariesmailbox.blogspot.com/

 

[De Villo Sloan]

My favorite part of this is your photos. I had to look up antipodal - great term, from math apparently.

[Marie Wintzer]

Great blog as usual, thanks Sloan. This was one of the three windmills I have posted on the actual day of the earthquake. They all made it quite rapidly to their destination.

I see you like the word antipodal ;-))