THE DECADENCE OF TRASHPO (Part I) featuring Theresa Williams' Trashbook Epic + Diane Keys, Richard Canard, Nancy Bell Scott, PrettyLily (xUSA)

[De Villo Sloan]

"For Ancient Text Call" by Diane Keys (circa April 2011, Elgin Illinois). Considered the first known Trashbook (photo courtesy of the International Union of Mail-Artists)

 

May 18, 2012 - Many current discussions of Trashpo involve aesthetic issues. Trashpo is evolving and moving into different genres. A burning question emerges: Has Trashpo lost its roots? Has it entered an era of decadence spelling its demise? This two-part series will seek an answer by exploring the rise of the Trashbook and its current situation.

 

Invention of the Trashbook: Evidence indicates Diane Keys invented the first trashbook in April 2011 (see top photo). In a little more than a year, the Trashbook has evolved at a staggering rate. 

 

Diane Keys apparently felt it necessary to provide an explanation of Trashpo and Trashbooks as interest swelled:

http://iuoma-network.ning.com/group/all-things-trashpo/forum/topics...

 

Here are some observations on the first, prototypical Trashbook:

 

Anti-art: Diane Keys' original book was anti-art. The "Ancient Text" label suggests a parody of the Classical tradition. Indeed, the burned content of the book might suggest, via Ben Vautier, a radical rejection of artistic and literary traditions.

 

Haptic & object poetry: Diane's first trashbook cannot be read in any conventional or linear way. It is object or haptic poetry.

 

Materials: Trashpo uses discarded materials destined to become in one form another an environmental hazard. Thus, and this is probably the single most important unifying concept, Trashpo is a form of RECYCLING, taking what is considered waste and recycling it into living culture by culture workers. Trashpo has always seemed to resist commodification and thus has the characteristics of:

 

- Protest against consumerism & consumption

- Protest against environmental destruction

- Protest against corporations, governments & institutions that perpetuate consumerism & waste, including the Art Establishment itself, which is a major offender.

- The early Trashbook was a form of Social Realism.

 

Richard Canard(Carbondale, Illinois, USA) sent Diane Keys a piece of mail-art very much in keeping with the original concept of the Trashbook. The envelope is made of hammered aluminum, indicating alternatives to paper and cardboard should be considered. Scrap metals, of course, have a symbolic place in the current global economic situation.

 

Hammered aluminum mailing envelope by Richard Canard (December 2011). Courtesy of International Union of Mail-Artists (IUOMA)

 

Rise of the Aesthetic Trashbook

 

The original prototype of the Trashbook was quickly altered. Mail-artists began producing texts that had various aesthetic elements and were not anti-art. The records of the TrashPo Litzer Prize and Landfill of Fame indicate Cheryl Penn (South Africa) and Nancy Bell Scott (USA) created the first known Aesthetic Trashbooks.

 

Untitled Trashbook by Nancy Bell Scott of Old Orchard Beach, Maine, USA (2011). Considered the first aesthetic trashbook, as documented in Marie Wintzer's TrashPo Litzer winning blog "A trashbook without trash": http://iuoma-network.ning.com/profiles/blogs/trash-book-without-any...

 

Indeed, Cheryl's and Nancy's work was so influential most Trashbooks being posted now are Aesthetic Trashbooks and the earlier prototypes are difficult to find. The shift to the Aesthetic Trashbook did require, when you consider the evidence, adoption of new materials. These include collage and studio scraps that were previously destined for the dumpster.

 

Also included in the Aesthetic Trashbooks are materials from destroyed books, magazines, and journals, many of them with a cultural focus. These are not commonly found in the street. The commitment to recycling remains intact, but the content widens the field from street trash. Work that uses contrived trash for the purpose of achieving an artistic effect is fake or representational Trashpo. The content shift very likely changes meaning in many contemporary Trashbooks, moving them away from political and social commentary and toward aesthetic concerns: art about art.

 

Litterature, Meta-Trash, Postmodern Trash or TrashPo Mo

 

The potential of Trashpo to attain its decadence has already been foreshadowed in work by PrettyLily (Virginia, USA). She was awarded a TrashPo Litzer Prize for her book that was identfied as "meta-trash" or trash about trash. From PrettyLily's meta-Trashbook: 

 

Pages from Untitled Trashbook by Prettylily (Sue Bowen) (2011). This book earned Prettylilly a TrashPo Litzer Prize.

 

 

PrettyLily, brilliantly I might add, used a government-issued booklet about litter in public parks to build a thought-provoking work. Yet a nagging question remains: If the collective belief becomes that trash can only refer to itself and the purpose of the Trashbook is only to present trash about trash, is its impact and significance lessened? Will it ultimately have a purpose or an audience?

 

Theresa Williams' Trashbook Epic

 

One of the most stunning Trashbooks I am aware of is shown in the scans below. Theresa Williams (Bowling Green, Ohio, USA) is the author. I am thrilled to be the recipient (and have had it for a while).

 

Although the work reflects the D-Khaos of earlier Trashbooks with torn pieces and differently sized pages (the main image on the cover is upside-down), this is a stunning achievement in the area of the Aesthetic Trashbook. This is also an incredibly sustained work.

 

While a certain degree of randomness was probably incorporated in the composition, the success of this work - to me anyway - is achieved through formalism: image pairings, juxtapositions and sequences; repetition of a variety of elements (eyes, animals, colors, etc.), text (including asemic writing) - material was selected and arranged with an aesthetic eye.

 

The formal structure is built in a masterful way so that many possibilities for meaning are built into the text, one of the central ones being, I think, a meditation on the relation of the Trashbook to the larger currents of culture. But I think it is best for you to dig into the work and reach your own conclusions. I hope you will:

 

Cover of Trashbook by IUOMA Theresa Williams (Bowling Green, Ohio, USA)

 

Trashbook by Theresa Williams (2-3)

 

Trashbook by Theresa Williams (4-5)

 

Trashbook by Theresa Williams (6-7)

 

Trashbook by Theresa Williams (8-9)

 

Trashbook by Theresa Williams (10-11)

 

 Trashbook by Theresa Williams (12-13)

 

 Trashbook by Theresa Williams (14-15)

 

Trashbook by Theresa Williams (16-17)

 

Trashbook by Theresa Williams (18-19)

 

Trashbook by Theresa Williams (20-21)

 

Trashbook by Theresa Williams (22-23)

 

Trashbook by Theresa Williams (24-25)

 

Trashbook by Theresa Williams (26-27)

 

Trashbook by Theresa Williams (28-29)

 

Trashbook by Theresa Williams (30-31)

 

Trashbook by Theresa Williams (32-33)

 

Trashbook by Theresa Williams (34-35)

 

Trashbook by Theresa Williams (36-37)

 

Trashbook by Theresa Williams (38-39)

 

(Trashbook by Theresa Williams - 40)

 

And don't miss Theresa Williams' amazing Letter Project!

 

http://theletterproject.wordpress.com/

 

Many thanks to the artists who appear in this blog. "The Decadence of Trashpo" is

 

TO BE CONTINUED in a second blog.

 

 

MAIL-ART PSYCHIC

 

"No! I prefer MinXus!"

http://minxuslynxus.wordpress.com/

 

[De Villo Sloan]

Cheryl! Sooo glad you arrived!

 

You & Nancy are given credit for inventing the aesthetic trashbook. Where is your original that started it all? I know you did one months ago. I think someone blogged it. I would love to use some excerpts in Part II.

 

I don't think we've seen the demise of the Trashbook, didn't mean to suggest that. Can't draw conclusions until Part II.

[cheryl penn]

AGO!!!! URG!!!!

[cheryl penn]

Ok - this is a goliath. I have sent you a trash book - last week - so there is no chance it has disappeared under the car seat. DO NOT BLOG. I am not willing to be held responsible for the demise of original said trash book.  Great work by Theresa and the rest.  Funny how a year go can appear as ancient times :-) X!!