Deconstructive Asemics by Wendy Rodgers (Maryland, USA) & Richard Canard (Illinois, USA)

[De Villo Sloan]

Mail art by IUOMA member Wendy A. Rodgers (Maryland, USA)

 

May 30, 2017 - The art of Wendy A. Rodgers is known primarily through the Eternal Network, and she has garnered many admirers.  I have written about her work before, focusing on pieces that integrate the decomposition of material “art” and the process of decay. This recent piece, in the form of a large postcard, is more text-centered than previous work. Essentially, I believe Wendy A. Rodgers has presented a brilliant variant on my concept of “Deconstructive Asemics” that was explained early in Asemic Front:

https://asemicfront.wordpress.com/2017/04/01/deconstructive-asemics...

 

 

I will not speculate about how Wendy Rodgers achieves decomposition in her work. This is not, strictly speaking, Gustav Metzger’s Auto-Destructive Art. Instead, I have compared Wendy Rodgers’ work to the aesthetics of Japanese Gutai; Gutai is well-known in the Eternal Network. Rodgers arrests or suspends the process of decay so that we may contemplate it.

The piece being displayed here functions on a tactile as well as visual level. It has raised contours and appears to be extremely weathered and distressed. As a result, the text has become distorted. That is the center of asemic interest. The art, though, is not crumbling to bits. Here is a view of one side of the card:

 

 

Here are some detail shots that more clearly reveal the textual distortion through the literal decomposition of the text:

 

 

 

 

Veteran mail artist Richard Canard produces an impressive amount of visual poetry, poetry and asemics. I have also previously written that while Richard Canard is currently recognized as an authentic practitioner of the styles and sensibilities of Ray Johnson’s New York Correspondance School, Canard’s post-avant literary contributions should not be overlooked. I will close with a wonderful example of decomposition by Richard Canard that complements Wendy Rodgers:

 

Mail art by IUOMA member by Richard Canard (Illinois, USA)