Received: Meta-mailart from "Fluxus Angie" Cope (Wisconsin, USA)

[De Villo Sloan]

August 16, 2010: In email messages prior to sending me this piece, Angie Cope stated her intention of pushing the boundaries of the collage style she has developed, particularly with an eye toward Fluxus. We both share an interest in Fluxus; and IUOMA has among its members many practicing Fluxus artists from whom we can learn and have dialogues. In this piece, I see not only some Fluxus-derived elements but also styles and tendencies represented among the diversity of mailartists at IUOMA:

Here you can see the prominent image she chose: trailers, box houses stacked, a reference (among other things) to mass-production, monotony, repetition, conformity. Yet doesn't each one have some characteristic that makes it unique? Angie also gives a strong nod to vispo with fairly complex layering of text and images. A surface layer of tape or plastic wrapping has been stapled on. This was something I immediately found myself drawn to touch, in order to feel the contours. You can't get that from a scan, and to me it's a very important part of experiencing this piece. She also added other elements:

On the front of the card, the trailer images have been screened, suggesting to me a classic existential dullness: the emptiness behind everything seeping through the images. Angie Cope adds little "doors" you have to open to find colorful and sometimes cryptic images (reminds me of pop-up books). You have to interact with the piece to experience it. There are also some nice free-floating image letters, a stamp art reference. All in all, Angie has managed to make an astonishing number of mailart references in a very small space. That's why I'm calling it meta-mailart - very self-referential. I think there's a personal narrative here, but it's largely overidden by the piece of art itself speaking when I explore the piece. For someone else, it could be completely different. An artist taking inventory of modes, styles, forms available and checking them out. Really wonderful piece I enjoy. Thanks so much, Angie.