Visual poetry by Luc Fierens (Weerde, Belgium)

[De Villo Sloan]

Mail-art by Luc Fierens (Weerde, Belgium)

June 25, 2013 - I am absolutely thrilled to have received this visual poem by Luc Fierens, as I have been a fan of his visual poetry and collage art for some time. Luc Fierens is an innovator in the visual-textual area, and I hope you will explore the links to his work in this blog. I place him among my favourite artists who are doing such extraordinary work in Belgium. This includes Thierry Tillier, Little Shiva, Benoit Piret and of course our own Guido Vermeulen.

Here is a link to Luc Fierens' blog where you can see many examples of his work:

http://lucfierens.tumblr.com/

In this postcard-size piece, Luc Fierens focuses on the textual by constructing a poem from language appropriated from the mass media. Indeed, much of his work seeks to reveal and destabilize systems of power and control. I think an excerpt from his artist's statement that appears in the online publication Kolaj is particularly useful in understanding the concepts that inform his work:

"As artist, I [Luc Fierens] started as poet, an experimental poet influenced by the Belgian avant-garde (Van Ostayen). But after a while I turned to visual poetry. Now, since the nineties, I dedicate myself to my re-poesia visiva. Poesia Visiva was an Italian movement of visual poetry that was known in the 60s-70s to be very political and anti-POP because of its activity of semiological guerrilla (cfr Miccini/U.Eco). I don’t think I repeat it, but I think it is still CONTEMPORARY. The majority of today’s political events have a strong likeness with the sixties. The protest, the social changes, the crisis (also in the 80s), the power of the mass media… only the names of the multinationals changed, but the rich are richer and poor are poorer. Therefore, the poet must try to change the world. This utopian vision is part of mine to conceive/to make art, as provocation through means of collage. Visual poetry goes beyond the collage. Therefore, visual poetry is an instrument/my way of art/life to attack the truth (by detournement). In my visual poems, I use the written word. The word interrogates the images and makes the layers visible. Of signs to read or to see."

I also like Luc Fierens' photostream at flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23777629@N05/

The "Secret Archives" exhibition featuring Luc Fierens, Thierry Tillier and Benoit Piret is also well worth some exploration:

http://benoitpiret.canalblog.com/archives/2012/03/18/23790148.html

Many thanks to Luc Fierens! I look forward to more exchanges.

[De Villo Sloan]

Definitely. Hard to explain how or why these things happen. Synchronicity?

I was watching John Held Jr.'s historic (1977) interview with Ray Johnson, and it was interesting to see the emphasis RayJo put on randomness & chance in the network rather than being systematic. He also said: "Mail-art is not about the postal system." I take that to mean the network is about connecting people & art rather than making a fetish out of mailboxes. etc. you know, not about nostalgia for obsolete technologies.

[DKeys]

the middle finger has entered the collective unconscious of the eternal network it seems. I like how he depicts hands that have to the power to create and the power to communicate