Mail Art in the Era of the Trump Regime

[Thom Courcelle]

I've been remiss in posting received mail art of late... Guess I've been preoccupied with recent events. I've also been busy furiously knitting (literally and figuratively) pink hats for the rebellion. It's taken up a lot of free time, but the time is ripe for activism. So, dear friends, please forgive my tardiness...

But in light of current changes in the U.S. national executive administration, I'd love to share some Mail Art I've received that touches on commentary about or activism inspired by or free expression fomented by the new Trump administration (and its terrorizations and horrors).

 
Jack at Cascadia Mailart actually send me this piece during the election cycle...before the vote went "ooopsie." Still it shows just how macabre and twilightzone-ish the whole affair was...and possibly how fake and fickle the candidates were that we had to choose between...
 

 

 
Karalie Vest sent this hand painted piece in response to a "Souvenir of the 12016 Election" that I sent to her by means of an introduction (also during the election season)... At first I wasn't sure Karalie necessarily appreciated my sense of political impishness. In the U.S., we are often divided, after all, by those who want less government and those who believe more government is ameliorative to human charity and egalitarianism. But now that Donald Trump and his cronies are pulling executive strings, it sort of feels like Karalie's found quote is relevant dependent on whose foot the shoe is on...so to speak. Karalie's quotation of Paine (considered a "founding father" of the country) feels much more pertinent now than it did before... In other words, I didn't feel Paine's words were necessarily relevant during the previous Obama administration... but NOW I think they're more relevant than ever.
 

 
Katerina Nikoltsou and I had been playing throw and catch with a trash boekie late last year, and the last "throw" back at me included this sticker collaboration from "the Sticker Dude," Joel Cohen and Mike Dickau. It tickled my fancy...
 

 
Jon Foster sent a New Year's greeting with his classic sense of wit and dry humor. Have you ever seen two people so excited about starting a new year and diving into a new plutocratic regime headed by a pathological narcissist?
 

 
Ti Ar Raden also send a response to one of my "Souvenir of the 2016 US election" mailing:
 

 
The Turkish Agent (California Bureau) send an amazing package-envelope full of goodies. I loved several of the enclosures, but related to the election (possibly not on purpose) was a miniature notecard with a saying that placated my recently devastated soul after the November election... Words of hope...
 

 
Carl Baker, who lives in Canada (lucky bastard), sent this prescient mail art funny-money with an Orwellian message...
 

 
Vikki Johnson sent condolences and some of her campaign detritus from the Clinton campaign. I am actually honored to have received these things, and they'll be housed probably on a personal altar symbolizing the things that "could have been"...
 

 
Melissa Wand send an envelope (previously documented) during the election cycle with cartoon clippings that warned of the impending devastation as well as a couple postcards...one with a cartoon about the historical presidential election between Bush and Gore, and another depicting the defamation of women (or so I designate it visually)...
 

 
I think that gal needs a p_ssyhat!!!...
 

 
Funnyman David Stafford just pretends like everything is hunky-dorey with his hand-drawn-painted ironic white-middle-class family with 2.4 children... Ummm..David, don't you know that the new paradigm is having at least three wives, one of whom is an immigrant playboy model, and children by all three spouses who grow up to be slick-haired tycoon narcissists in the mold of their father?? The Leave-it-to-Beaver trope is sooooooo passé...
 

 
And then there's this gem of a piece of mail from "RCB3" who I could probably identify if I stuck at it and thought about it harder, but for now remains "Mr/Ms. Anonymous" to me. Hey...some "Anonymous" folk in history have had some significant impact when it comes to uncovering corruption in politics. This visual rebellion and commentary is brilliant!
 

 

 
And finally, my dear friend, Sally Wassink in San Francisco sends an envlope with the following imprint and message, which seems the wisest and most prudent thing to say of all...
 

 
Artists make art, and artists are the commentarians of injustice when it rears its ugly head. Artists have traditionally been some of the first to be censored or silenced during dark times and villainous regimes. So in some senses, it is our time... our time to make art, make noise, make visual testimony. Find your voice with your paintbrushes, pens, and sketchpads...your handmade rubberstamps, your envelopes, and your artistamps. Make visual noise. To arms, my friends...
 
 

[Thom Courcelle]

Right you are, Kat. Although I worry that there are too many "illiterate" types in my country who aren't able to read the writing. (Or maybe they're more like blind ostriches with their heads in the sand.)

Hopefully, protest crowd sizes will start to help sway others to realize things are NOT okay...

15,000-to-20,000 in Montpelier, Vermont last week...

[Katerina Nikoltsou (MomKat)]

This time, Thom, we see the writings on the wall,

...and "ΟΧΙ ΠΙΑ" ...ΠΟΤΕ ΠΙΑ..."nο more...never again"