New Directions in Trashpo (IV): Working Classpo by Thom Courcelle (Seattle, Washington, USA) + DKult stamps & poem for Valentine Mark Herman

[De Villo Sloan]

Mail-art by IUOMA member Thom Courcelle (Seattle, Washington, USA)

July 5, 2013 - I am late in documenting this extraordinary mail-art from Thom Courcelle. Now that I have, I am including it in my ongoing "New Directions in Trashpo" series. The contents of this envelope is full of fun, wit and also some amazing innovations in Trashpo.

Thom Courcelle focused on workplace trash for this mail-art. This is a relatively unusual approach; it adds a new dimension to Trashpo as social critique as well as anthropological field study. Thom even included Trashpo he generated. I am still pondering whether to call this Working ClassPo? CuPo (cubicle poetry)? or something else? In the office environment, post-it notes are more common than flies and often more annoying. Has post-itpo already been established? Thom Courcelle integrates it into his work.

Contemporary office environments are often presented as pristine models of efficiency, deeply committed to recycling and social responsibility. I believe many who have worked in these environments (correct me if you disagree!) find with me that they are in actuality incredibly inefficient and wasteful, especially in the area of paper and cardboard. What a tremendous area for the undercover Trashpoet!

Thom sent all this amazing found office material, which I have spread out on the scanner. This is Trashpo at its most elemental and basic. We are used to seeing Trashpo that presents the marketing side of consumer culture: soft drink cans, candy bar wrappers, marketing brochures, etc. Office Trashpo reveals another facet of the consumer culture, which in some aspects is more human, yet not completely humane because it reveals people working within a hierarchy usually responsible, in ways great and small, for the maintenance of that system.

Trashpo by Thom Courcelle (Seattle, Washington, USA)

One of the many things I like about this mail-art is that Thom was actually engaged in the process of creating the Trashpo and recognized the fact. More often, Trashpoets collect discarded material and recycle it into mail-art. Thom's work displays a self-referential or self-aware quality. Most of us, I am sure, engage in work activities outside of art. How do we reconcile the different aspects of our lives? Fluxus calls for a unification of life and art. How can that be achieved? I think Thom both raises the hard questions of existence and offers some answers. 

Thom Courcelle's poem for Valentine Mark Herman

Poem by Thom Courcelle

Included with the Office Trashpo was this very interesting, somewhat concrete, poem by Thom. I really like it for the calligraphy and shape. In a nod to St. Empress Marie Antonette (Saitama, Japan), this work also includes Holism. 

A very nice poem indeed!

Thom is also a recognized stamp master, and this wondrous envelope also contained some great stamp material:

DKult stamps are among my favs, so I really appreciate it. Here is a close in:

True mail-artist that he is, Thom Courcelle never fails to provide great envelopes:

And the reverse:

Truly wondrous! Many thanks to Thom Courcelle.

[vizma bruns]

What does that say on the other stamp, Corn Dark Wall?

What does the poem say about Val?

What does K.E. stand for as the a.k.a.? So many questions!!