DOCUMENTATION: Asemics 16 Edition #4 Chapter from Cheryl Penn (Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa)

[De Villo Sloan]

Mail-art by IUOMA member Cheryl Penn (Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa)

 

September 6, 2011 - Among other types of work, Cheryl Penn has produced visual-textual narratives that are both complex and highly self-referential. I interpret her fourth chapter contribution to the Asemics 16 collaborative book project as an application of her distinctive style to the area of asemic writing and forms of visual poetry to which it is inherently connected. 

 

This meditation on visual forms employs retro-images to produce fully realized and self-contained post-literature. Four pages of her chapter are transparencies with inscribed images, enlarging possibilities for layering effects. Above is the opening page (right)  and the final back page. Next are pages two and three:

 

 

On page two (upper left) is a square suggesting Jackson Pollock's action painting. This might seem out of place until we realize Penn is referring to the artistic climate of an era when concrete poetry first began to gain the attention of writers and artists involved with the avant garde. On the right is a strip of conventional concrete poetry overlain with asemic writing - a theme that runs throughout the chapter.

 

Tones of black, white, and grey are pronounced throughout the chapter: A reference to the eras when concrete and visual poetry were most commonly presented in black and white. The approach, I believe, is similar to a filmmaker who chooses to shoot in black and white for particular chronological and expressive reasons. Pages four and five present a spectacular display of asemics:

 

 

Cheryl Penn often works with organic, circular, and integrated structures. In comparison, this chapter is far more geometric and compartmentalized, referencing concrete poetry structures, especially grids.

 

Squares, rectangles, and grid forms provide the foundation for an asemic syntax that is explored in the chapter (and will be further developed in Edition #5), addressing the question: If there are symbols devoid of meaning, then can there be syntax devoid of meaning? The answer in Cheryl Penn's chapter is yes. This is a fascinating approach: Asemic syntax is created in a practical, material way relying - more than anything - on formal elements of the visual arts. The "blocks" of asemic syntax are combined to create an asemic narrative or an asemic fiction.

 

This is also  a reference to the era of printed text that gave rise to post-literate forms and the industrial repetition of standard fonts that define most concrete poetry. Yet integration and synthesis are not lacking in this work. They are located in the layering technique. In the case of pages four and five, we see a superb synthesis of asemic writing, symbols, and concretism. Here are pages six and seven:

 

 

These are beautiful pages providing a compare and contrast of asemics and concretism, ingeniously united with a grid structure. The realization of a post-literate text is apparent here. Narratives and meaning can be read, but not in any conventional sense. The "writing" is entirely composed of symbols and structures from the realm of post-literature - a kind of discourse with its source in literary and artistic tradition but also a departure from that tradition. Here is the final page of the chapter:

 

Another interesting aspect of the chapter is the use of the large grey asemic symbols. These also provide formal coherence and seem to be a reference to earlier work by Cheryl Penn, a symbol system she constructed that could possibly refer to her personal journey through forest of signs. I blogged this piece in September 2010:

 

 

 

We have come a long way. As ever, many thanks Cheryl.

More work from Asemics 16 can be found at http://cherylpenn.com/wpb/

[De Villo Sloan]

Marie, I'm going to trust Dw's "Treaty of Alsace" vispo to contain all necessary terms. And I think Cheryl explained Pollock so we understand.

[Marie Wintzer]

Yes DVS, check out that section again. We need it to be air-tight. You might also want to double-check what it says in "special instructions on arguments with absent opponent" and "limitations and restrictions to the use of self-proclaimed wins" and "the looser always gets a slice of kugelhopf".

Soooory, that was way too early for a hijack. Back to Pollock!

[De Villo Sloan]

That is a reasonable explanation, Cheryl. The "Pollock" (I realize it's not his work) is one piece that doesn't fit with everything else in the chapter, and I doubted you'd make a random choice.

[cheryl penn]

My thinking in adding the 'Pollock' was that he paintwrote - OK I'm copy writing that! He used his brushes like sticks - or writing tools as opposed to painting tools and I think  'wrote' more than painted.  We know he tapped into his unconscious.  His drip paintings are like asemic palimpsests - recognizable image (text) was eliminated and we cannot 'read' the work, but it sure looks like something we recognize  - sound familiar? Like an intricate textual web :-) X

[cheryl penn]

I DO have more to say on Pollock - when I get a moment to breathe!!! :-) X

[De Villo Sloan]

Testing the fine points of The Treaty of Alsace already? I'll have to re-read the "Argumented Discussions" section to make sure.

[Marie Wintzer]

Well, the treaty doesn't say that we can't have " argumented discussions" ;-)) hopefully we will. I'm sure Cheryl will have more to say about that.

[De Villo Sloan]

And Marie, Cheryl can talk about her work better than I can. I took a real stand here and gave a pretty consistent reading of what I think it means, such as explaining why there's a Jackson Pollock reference in it. I'm VERY surprised she didn't come back with a firmer statement about her intention. She usually does. Maybe The Treaty of Alsace is making a kinder, gentler world for everyone.

[De Villo Sloan]

Nice to have you back on board The Titantic, Marie. The Treaty of Alsace certainly does offer the possibility of "peace in our time."

 

I contend everyone uses asemic syntax. Can the knots and breaks in your work be read as a kind of syntax? Probably. I like Cheryl's grids too because a lot of painters use grids.

 

Yes, the handwriting. I was sure, late last night when I was putting the blog together, her message said "Asemics 5." So we have real writing you can't read and imaginary writing you can read. And now she's experimenting with writing backwards. Yip, back to business as usual.

[Marie Wintzer]

I don't think anyone could analyze and talk about Cheryl's work better than you do, DVS. Ever so impressive, both of you. You really get to the core of it. Tackling asemic syntax, where do you start? I didn't think it was even possible. But this is such a rich work.

Cheryl's handwriting? Forget about it. Even SHE cannot read herself :-))