Cheryl penn's Blog (159)

ZULAP

The constant state of FLUX in which the Letter Z exists.  This term also indicates the operation of Z as a fractal – ie a self-similar pattern – ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ (to infinity)

Situate in :The World of Emphatics

Fluxus Word given by Ruud Janssen (Netherlands) Meaning determined by Cheryl Penn (South Africa)…

A collage from Switzerland - Pieces of that northern country reach here in their own composite universe, a universe of displaced images from Janine.

There is a theatricality to Erni’s collages – from the envelope to the inside, they are an epitome of  double gesture – cut and paste.…

From Nadine  Wendell-Mojica and John Held Jr.

RCBz has been a sort of Custodian of Mona, since I started the Mona Lisa mail art call.  He submitted Medi-Alert Mona and then the Not the Dulwhich Gallery image where he had digitally assembled all the  Mona Lisa’s off my blog. ( http://cherylpenn.com/wpb ).  As every good gallery should have, RCBz created a card rack. The Cards From the Rack series were created by RCBz from the works that had not fitted on the gallery walls.  R has sent me the whole…

If you know people in high places, they can get you your own planet.  At least I think that’s how I got mine.  Or it could have been involuntary expulsion from earth because of a game considered too dangerous for 3 year olds.

What I think is dangerous?  WHAT higher postal powers are accountable to Dean which allowed this piece to make it through the post… Its quite unearthly.  Most postcards I receive have bite marks – not dean marks. Did Erni, The Valentine, Marie or The Inseine Guy…

ZALO

ZALO – the mathematical letter value of FLUXUS words.

A= 29, B = 48, C = 2, D = 17, E = 21, F = 34, G = 47, H = 98, I = 49, J = 88, K = 75,  L = 66, M = 65, N = 60,          O = 35, P = 77, Q = 9, R = 3, S = 52, T = 8, U = 11, V = 21,  W = 56,  X = 1,  Y = 12,  Z = 4. 

ZALO therefore has a numerical value of 134.

Situate in :  The World of…

Nadine sends the most wonderful characters on her envelopes - we KNOW people like them :-) 

The back of her envelope reads - I hate puzzles. Well, I'm puzzled I confess.

Inside was a beautiful boekie - It reads:

Dear Cheryl,

This is from an old 50's cube where hip people put pictures in and set it on a coffee table, or perhaps a curio…

Its a very dangerous business trying to smuggle arty-facts. You could wind up in a smelly prison-like-room without your own loo and a guard with a VERY large wart. So the best thing to do is send said articles as a belated birthday wish.  Somehow they buy that. Even if they're two years belated.

I know this because Dean was potting in his near vicinity and came…

I don't know if it because its the beginning of the year, or we're getting old-ER!!! Or its just serendipitous, but I had a rush on the subject of time.  David Stafford sent me a calendar which included some of the DeskTop images from an old project - well its not ttthhhhhaaaaat old! Pink Floyd - Ticking away the moments. That make up a dull day. Fritter and waste the hours. In an off-hand way. Kicking around on a piece of ground...…

More incoming :-) - I think I'll begin with the one that isn't REALLY Mona Lisa - from David Stafford.  The contents of the envelope are the MOST wonderful calendar - but I'll blog that separately - this was on the envelope :-))!  OF COURSE I asked David for a Mona Lisa....!!

From TICTAC (Germany) - again, the quirky interpretation is just wonderful! - Dolly…

From Ruud Janssen - a new FLUXUS word - which brought me to the question of language - YES I KNOW - AGAIN!!!

I read somewhere that language can be seen as the ‘signature’ style of conceptual art.  From the late 1960’s there was a  breakdown in distinction between the space of the publication and the space of exhibition.  Words flew from books, publications and the…

Latest arrivals :-) - I have printed more to send out if anyone would like a set (one to keep and one to return altered). A reminder - I took photographs of desk tops in the art department. They are abstract paintings, made on the move, without guile and unbeknown to the creators. 

From Marcel Peral (Argentina)

From Lauriana Glenny (South Africa)…

I received mail from Thom Courcelle and Ruud  Janssen in the same week. They seem tied together in some way – so Thom – your work has informed the meaning I have ascribed to Ruud’s new FLUXUS word.

 ZAPIL:

Time is short, soon there will be ZALOP of it left.  Use every minute wisely – its an un-renewable resource.

 Thank you for the accompanying…

I OFTEN quote The Waste Land – its one of my favorite poems by T S Eliot – and yip, I’m doing it again in light of the FAB work I received from Marie.  It’s the new year you see, and when Marie is not sending out dragons, she sends out mail like this. And here I have an extra  reason to use FAB too - even SCIENTISTS use FAB! 

Burial of the Dead.…

This is my  January In box so far.  MANY thanks for all the  mail - I will be replying to EVERYONE as you know :-)

Mail on its way - INCLUDING 14 copies for VISPO book 2 from John Bennett and I

I think Vispo is in the air - so from…

An artists book from FLUXRUS

 As I said on the plagiarist blog, I have waited a long time for this mail to arrive which Svetlana, a Russian Fluxus artist had posted as far back as September last year.  This is her contribution to my The World is a Town call, based on the dissemination of a book I made of the same title, words of an unknown inhabitant of Novgorod which echo the plight of the post modern condition.   The original idea was based on the Novgorod Codex.  Svetlana  titled …

The Plagiarist Continued:

From Svetlana Pesetskaya - FLUXRUS fame. I have received her contribution to The World is a Town call AND she has returned The Plagiarist

It is always interesting to see stylistic convergence in a successful artists work. Layering, textual anomalies, overwriting, attempts to disguise the plagiarists  real intention -theft.

I think…

In Memorium of Robert Limpid Lacklustre Lewd.

RCBz sent me this set of "Mourning Cards" - which he said were based on a dream I sent him - well, a mail art dream - lets not get our wires crossed!  Dream 4 to be exact.  

Being generally of sound mind and senses I asked him to send me an interpretation of the work - that would be the one on my blog - (…

Hello :-) -I just wanted to say that I have received ALOT of the most wonderful mail art - I apologize for not blogging - OR always saying thank you - but rest assured, I WILL return you something - sooner or later. Here follows a selection - thank you all!!! (I am not being held responsible for spelling - the spell chick is still living with Nancy the last time I heard :-)

Two beautiful watercolors from Judith Heartsong (USA).  A tangled Ball of Thoughts (I am intimately acquainted…

A book: An object filled with pages bound by a cover. Thats what the dictionary says anyway.  Could that be a suitable description? No, I'm certain its too finite.  Books  are living spaces to become immersed in, multifaceted creatures, each holding within a complex set of codes, structures and textual and/or visual experiences.  To me they are perfect art vehicles – no matter their form, medium, function or visual presence. “Boekies” is a term we have come to know well at IUOMA – it is an…