DOCUMENTATION: Asemics 16 Mail-Art Book Chapter (Ed. #1) by Diane Keys (Elgin, Illinois, USA)

[De Villo Sloan]

Mail-art by IUOMA member Diane Keys (Elgin, Illinois, USA)

 

July 26, 2011 - Diane Keys' contribution the Asemics 16 collaborative mail-art book project delves into organic form and beyond to what I can only think to call bio-chemical (from biopoetry?) or perhaps better: alchemical. This could be considered a study in transmutation, or at least it might provide a useful metaphor. The opening page is on the right (above), and on the left is an asemic note designating the edition.

 

Somehow, and I hope she explains how, Diane Keys achieves a startling three-dimensional effect as well as a remarkable melding of content, a cohesion that I daresay could well be the Holy Grail of visual poetry. This is a bit hard to articulate: The work in the chapter has an ethereal quality that is paradoxically as solid as street art inscribed on a wall. Notice the appearance of the word "Found" on the opening page that is revealed to be "Foundry" at the chapter's end. Here are pages 2-3:

 

 

During the darkest days of the discussions about asemic writing in our IUOMA group, someone protested that abstract art is not asemic writing. This position was never clarified and, although taken under advisement, you have to consider individual cases such as Cy Twombly. A close look at Diane Keys' chapter reveals ghostly letters from the alphabet, fractured letters, partial words, asemic symbols, and shapes suggesting unknown languages and structures all blending together (hard to see clearly in the scans they're so subtle). I also believe I see a nod to connections between language and primal, biological forms - places where these elements intersect. Pages 4-5 are the showstoppers for me:

 

 

This is the first example of anyone in the project (my opinion) working in the same territory as David Baptiste-Chirot (Milwaukee, Wisconsin). Through a basic process of chalk rubbings on paper, Chirot translate images taken directly from his environment into asemic-vispo masterpieces. Diane Keys achieves the same thing - although her method of composition is unknown to me - and, like Chirot, it tends toward the visionary far more than the formalist, or considered from another perspective, a found-art super-realism ingeniously inscribed on the page. Here are pages 6-7:

 

The sudden appearance of a torn slip of paper with letters and handwriting is unexpected. This might work as an idea to incorporate more into the pieces for future projects. Then page 8:

 

 

Harkening back to the opening pages ("Found"), we can clearly see "Foundry" - suggesting found art, language as raw material from the environment, a foundry where metals are wrought together as they are in the chapter (irony?) - a brilliant coherence built on two words that are nearly identical.

 

An extraordinary chapter (IMHO) DK. Many thanks!

 

The Asemics 16 collaborative mail-art books are coordinated through the Asemic Writing for Mail-Artists group at the IUOMA. Cheryl Penn (South Africa) is co-founder and partner with me on the editions. More documentation can be found at:

 

http://cherylpenn.com/wpb/

[De Villo Sloan]

Thanks Diane, you achieved an effect in the pages that I've never seen before. You used rubbings - that's a great technique and an old one. David Chirot does wonders with this. The process you added with dye and drying is what creates that "ethereal" quality I wrote about. David's work doesn't go there; it remains direct. You really added something of your own. It just seemed to me that "Foundry" had to be a rubbing. I think this is really tremendous, Diane. You might actually have made a step forward in vispo with this. David is participating in the project, but he's having some serious medical problems. I really need to get a hold of him. And, yes, John Bennett has one of the really distinct styles of asemic writing, IMHO, and taking some of those ideas, exploring them, taking them further - that's a kind of progress too in addition to your own creativity. Thank you again because I really want to document this for my own archives, etc. I hope you continue to pursue what you've done here along with all the other things you're doing.

[DKeys]

Thank you for the nice comments. The asemic pages were much harder for me than originally anticipated. I had planned to do all originals, but It was a long torturous process to get these 8 to come out the way I wanted. I started with the rubbings as we live in a very old time and there are many vintage street grates. Then I used wet paper and repeatedly dyed them and dried them, often folded.I dry them by 'cooking' them in the microwave. I use the microwave more for making paper than food.The alphabet paper was synchonistic as it was a found on one of my trash picking journeys, which , thanks to Nancy Bell Scott, I will call 'previously owned' or 'pre-loved'. I definately think John Bennett's style influenced me since I look up to and admire his work and when I think of asemic writing and abstraction he is who I think of. Thanks for your encouragement.

[De Villo Sloan]

Yes Skybridge! Nods to the vispo heroes are present here - those do show pay some homage to the JMB style. I really want to know how DK did this, as I'm still sticking with the Chirot connection too. DK - not just about roadkill anymore. Thanks.