RECEIVED: Carl T. Chew's Homage to Man Ray for the Collaborative Visual Poetry Mail-Art Book Project (Seattle, Washington, USA)

[De Villo Sloan]

Mail-art by IUOMA member Carl T. Chew (Seattle, Washington, USA)

 

"The chance meeting of a sewing machine and an umbrella on a dissecting table."

 

February 16, 2012 - Chapters for the two collaborative visual poetry (vispo) editions Cheryl Penn (South Africa) and I are coordinating through the IUOMA are arriving in mailboxes across the globe. I am familiar with Carl T. Chew's superlative stamp work, but his chapter is a delight beyond anything I imagined.

 

Cheryl and I invited 15 artists for each edition to contribute a chapter that is a visual poetry homage to a favorite artist or visual poet. Carl's work will appear in Edition #2. He is in stellar company. Other contributors include Reed Altemus (USA), John M. Bennett (USA), Angie Cope (USA), E (France), Rosa Gravino (Argentina). Lisa Iversen (USA) Samuel Montalvetti (Argentina), Marcela Peral (Argentina), Svetlana Pesetskaya (Russia), TIC TAC (Germany), Svenja Wahl (Germany), and Nancy Bell Scott (USA). Some of the contributors are Asemics 16 veterans and all can be relied upon to produce innovative and interesting work.

 

http://iuoma-network.ning.com/group/collaborativemailartbooks/forum...

 

 Carl T. Chew's chapter (as the top scan indicates) features complex, subtle, and beautifully produced vispo, revealing what can be achieved through the digitial medium in the hands of a master. Text runs throughout the chaper too:

 

 

Carl uses what seems to be cut-up but generally coherent text from a catalog or book that puts Man Ray in the context of the historic avant garde. His theme and variation work with Man Ray imagery and integration with text works for me very effectively as visual poetry.

 

This two-page spread is my favorite.  In the text is embedded the Lautreamont (don't do accent marx) quote that provides such a useful perspective on both DaDa and Surrealist practices: "the chance meeting of a sewing machine and an umbrella on a dissecting table."

 

The wordplay in "Man Ray deconstructed" is, I think, outstanding, managing to make a connection between deconstruction and rat poison as well as a nod to Ray Johnson. However, I would point out to Carl, deconstruction is an unholy offspring of surrealism. Would the surrealists object to the "dissection" of Derrida? Probably not. They exist now through symbiosis. Moving on:

 

 

I love the discontinuity between the "plate" references in the traditional text and the numbered figures accompanying the visual poems. I believe this mirrors a larger theme of coherence vs. discontinuity that is central to Man Ray's powerful work. An underlying concept of Carl's chapter might well be: "the chance meeting of a sewing machine and an umbrella on a dissecting table."

 

During this project, we did not have the intense discussions that were such a necessary part of the Asemics 16 process. All the work I have seen so far seeks a middle ground combining text and image; visual poetry does not necessarily require words.

 

As the Martha Stuart School of Asemic Wallpaper Certificate Program in Vispo Greeting Cards (offered in conjunction with the books) illustrated, the poetic issue of words and images is an important area of consideration. For me, Carl uses a poetics of image complemented by language that reveals the beauty of its visual representation (? ;)

 

 

 And onward the stunning final page:

 

 

 Even the envelope is a work of art:

 

 

I have not dug into the other chapters much, but if they prove to be like this extraordinary work by Carl T. Chew, we are going to have an instant classic! Carl has a great website where his work and career is well-documented. He is a very interesting person, and I hope you will learn more about him:

 

http://www.ctchew.com/

 

MAIL-ART PSYCHIC

An asemic version of "Actress shoots Antonin"

 

burlap

 

The German

 

87/2/1

 

Ray said Rain Rien gave you fare warning

 

Neo, Postneo, anti-neo

 

The colors that most dominate your closet are (a) neutral & dark hues (b) reds & brilliant hues

 

Russian space station

 

 

 

 

[De Villo Sloan]

You all make me think too much. Another Lautremont quote (pitched via Belgium way) was bandied about here last year at some point: "All the water in the seas cannot wash away the blood of intellectuals." I like it but Cheryl got a serious thistle in her jammies over it for some reason, as I recall.

[De Villo Sloan]

I meant Fu Man Chew & a refresher on Man Ray & Sir Eeel Ism - the focus here is so DaDa I get rusty on the other one.

[De Villo Sloan]

"luminous flux per unit area" love that, Alicia. Carl's work is luminous flux indeed.

 

Thinking of Fluxus: A core idea is art (maybe better sidestep art & call it activity) that anyone can do or participate in. Despite the defining & theories that go with all these strange forms like haptics, asemics, vispo - there's an underlying truth that anyone can do it. It exists on a highly intellectual level but also on a level children can enjoy like play. One mission of Fluxus appears to be to eliminate the former & restore us to the latter.

 

I saw this statement by Ron Silliman online recently where he said - and I'm not twisting this - that it is not possible for poetry to be funny. I am not Ant-I-Ron-ic (I-Ron-Man not I-Ronic) by any means; nor is he a Sillyman as some say. I don't believe everything is or should be a joke either, but could we allow for some play & humor> It seems part of the creative process.

 Hi CB, yeah, that quote is a good cheat to write on your hand when you go to take the exam. I had to do a crash course on Man Ray & Surrealism thanks to Choo Man Chu. I need to write a disclaimer about accuracy with folks like Dw & Spell Chick being my support team. I hope I didn't embarrass myself too badly.

 

Hi Lisa, Chewy indeed, although I think of it as a beautiful piece of luminous chewelry.

 

[Marie Wintzer]

Great blog and very interesting chapter! I like the sewing machine and umbrella quote a lot, perfect to build up on.

[Alicia Starr]

illuminance |iˈlo͞omənəns  | noun Physics:

the amount of luminous flux per unit area. 

illuminatingly?

Carl. T. Chew's vispo knocked my socks off. and praises to De Villo for another insightful blog and for helping me understand  the meaning  of 'vispo'. Looking forward to seeing what everyone does.

[De Villo Sloan]

Thanks for what turns out to be a blog homage to Carl T. Chew. When gazing upon this work, I confronted the root word experience of the meaning of the word AWE & AWEsome more. I was speechless but went ahead any way. Glad to see we're dealing with deadlines - am scrambling a bit on that one myself.

[cheryl penn]

O - I also wanted to say - thank you to everyone in this project - its great to be working with you all - some of you again - and again - and De Villo for tackling the enormous blogging task and co-coordinating :-) X

[cheryl penn]

Great blog for great work. It has been a treat for sure to receive Carl's work - as with all the other contributors. This is proving to be a wonderful collection of work. 

[Nancy Bell Scott]

Very powerful and complex work by Carl. As we've seen in his mail art, his imagination seems to know no bounds. I'm thrilled to have these pages of Carl's (and the several great others for Vispo 2 I've received). Excellent blog, DVS.

[prettylily]

Wow!  I have not been following this vispo book but must make time to check it out.  As usual, De Villo, you have said it all.  This chapter is a beauty.