Trashpo True Confessions by Lucky Pierre (Charleston, South Carolina, USA)

[De Villo Sloan]

Mail art by IUOMA member Lucky Pierre (Charleston, South Carolina, USA)

January 24, 2016 - With this single, shredded postcard Lucky Pierre has re-confirmed for me that she is, indeed, a Trashpo All Star. This was a wonderful message to receive at the beginning of a new year.

I assume this is one of those slips of paper or cardboard we all use to make notes, usually when talking on the phone. The piece is kept for a time and eventually discarded (although they can linger on for years). Whether this is trash generated by Lucky Pierre or someone dropped it is unclear; so authorship is indeterminate. We have to accept that as a condition of the work. A voyeuristic appeal holds much of the attraction, regardless of the origin.

Often the memory of what the notes and numbers signify becomes hazy. With a discerning and anti-art eye, Lucky Pierre realized its value as Trashpo, giving us a new variant on the ubiquitous shopping lists (Listpo) that inhabit Trashpo history like a compressed century’s worth of inconsequential sonnets about cats or flowers.

I am beginning to think that the best and most accomplished Trashpo communicates qualities of effortlessness and spontaneity: “First trash, best trash.” Unaltered, found material – then – becomes primary. Of course, different approaches are successful. It’s just that Lucky Pierre makes it look so easy and natural yet smart.

As I have already suggested, much Trashpo seeks to present discontinuous text where conventional meaning has been subverted for various purposes. Ripping, shredding and deconstructing material becomes central.This piece by Lucky Pierre is a little different in that so much of the content references Christian religion. Unless it is a complete accident, Mark 11-23 is a fantastic biblical passage concerning language; but I will leave it to Tenderfoots to pursue that further, should they be interested. The point is, the piece is thematic beyond a list of vegetables, dairy products and meat. It has a philosophical depth.

Many thanks to Lucky Pierre!