Ilya Semenenko-Basin's Blog (485)

This spring, the mail-art stream has become very shallow, but it has not dried up. Mail from some European countries still reaches Moscow, and there is also correspondence within Russia. Recently I received artifacts from Vlada Lapteva from Yekaterinburg, from two artists from the UK: Mail_Art_Martha and Kevin Gillen from the UK, from Lutz Anders from Germany, Luís Filipe Gomes from Portugal and Silvia Dubois from Belgium. The exhibition catalogue from Spain has arrived. At the same time the…

It's about Mail Art again. This time it's about using someone else's work in a return message. Some Mail Art artists allow themselves to take the work they receive in the mail, cover it with paint, glue something on, and return it to the author in this form. There is another way of working together, a pure exchange of gestures, a subtle dance of meanings. Akiko Shinmura, a Japanese Mail Art artist who lives in Aioi, Hyogo prefecture, gives an example.

Last year, I sent Akiko a…

Since 2014, Rome has hosted the annual EcoFuturo festival dedicated to eco-technology. At the same time, EcoFuturo is an Italian network of companies, professionals and researchers working on new technological solutions to energy and environmental problems.

On the occasion of the edition of EcoFuturo in May this year, a special…

In the summer we reminisce about the past winter.…

According to philosophers, one does not simply perceive works of art, we always open up the possibility of a kind of co-creation and leave room for the viewer. Our viewer "recreates" the artwork in a certain way at the moment of perception.

Consequently, we always open up the possibility of a kind of co-creation and leave room for the viewer.

As the Borderline Grafix aptly put it in the comments, "The spectator completes the creation”.

Thanks to Ana Kawajiri who sent me an envelope decorated with collage from Brazil. Inside I found an exquisitely crafted A4 sheet and the artist's postage stamps. I photographed the whole A4 sheet and also took pictures of fragments of it. You can also see a photo of Ana's stamps, varying the famous Marcel Duchamp theme. I really like this art.…

A magnificent collage by Ana Kawajiri received in the mail.

The internet is working, I can go to the IUOMA website. I remember when Mail Art from Josh Ronsen of Austin TX came to me last winter. Thanks Josh!!!…

I am writing this post on days when the media brings bad information. Nevertheless, we are not silent. In the winter I received a Mail Art from Jeff Bagato (Texas, USA). Thank you Jeff!!!…

I received this piece in the winter mail from Anja Mattila-Tolvanen in Finland. Thank you!!!

Last winter I received a nifty piece from Raphael Nadolny in Poland. THANK YOU! By the way, I'm now reading Mickiewicz's poems in Russian translation.

Ryosuke Cohen! I received the mail from Japan. …

An envelope from Ed Giecek arrived in the mail to me, lots of interesting stuff. Thank you!!!…

I received a Mail Art from Ifé Niklaus from Switzerland. Thank you!!!

I received a painted plate in the mail from Jean-Charles Boilevin, who lives in Montbazon, France.

Today is the 22nd of March. I can connect to the Internet from my room and read the IUOMA website. That in itself is a good thing! I received two pieces from Flying Adventures Weesp (Jurriën Wouterse). Jurriën lives in Weesp in The Nederlands. Thank you!!!…

I received a post from Heide Monster in Houston, Texas. Thanks!…

In January I received a post from Ray Haley. Thanks!!!…

I've decided to diversify my genre presence in mail art, and in addition to collage-meditations, I'm also making less time-consuming, faster-to-make collage postcards. They can be sent out without envelopes.

Meditation collages are made slowly, in a certain concentrated state, with part of the white background left blank. The collage postcards will be distinguished firstly by having the entire surface of the A6 sheet completely filled in, and secondly by having the surface…

Beautiful work from Silvia Dubois in the outgoing year.