RECEIVED: MinXus-LynXus Mail-Art from Marie Wintzer (Saitama, Japan)

[De Villo Sloan]

Mail-art by IUOMA member Marie Wintzer (Saitama, Japan)

 

November 21, 2011 - In the wake of the phenomenal interest in Trashpo, does MinXus have a prayer of gaining a respectable market share in the mail-art world? Marie Wintzer believes so, and she clearly believes in MinXus. A few days ago I received this wonderful postcard-size piece from her. Marie recommends, "Buy, buy, buy!" I reply, "Hold and hedge."

 

Marie's subtle aesthetics are apparent in this piece as well as her propensity to use interesting material she finds in Tokyo. Dark wall's (New York, USA) MinXus stamps, which launched the movement, are incorporated prominently.

 

As a theme for the mail-art, Marie has reworked JF Chapelle's (France) classic "No! I Prefer Fluxus" message that has had such a huge impact in recent months. (This raises the question of the relationship between Fluxus and Minxus, which will be addressed later).

 

The "Let Them East Aesthetics" scrawl is not only a key to MinXus but yet another clever reference invoking Marie Antoinette and thus one of Marie's network nicknames: Marie Antonette, the decadent, roiled partner in crime and chaos of Grigori Antonin (Minnesota, USA) and his mythic legion of bio-engineered monkeys. Would any of this make sense to more than a very few? Not sure. But as Gertrude Stein wrote, "The difference is spreading."

 

Regardless, Marie writes me wonderful notes in a gorgeous script. I am thrilled to be able to add this to the collection:

 

 

Well, the card is meant for Dark wall. But I am keeping it for myself. He uses my PO Box as a collection source for some of his schemes and scams, now including MinXus, and I exact tolls.

 

So what are we to make of MinXus? How could one participate in MinXus mail-art if one so desired? Here is my impression: MinXus is a sort of homage to Fluxus in one sense but not Imitation Fluxus. MinXus is not a parody of Fluxus nor is it anti-Fluxus. Indeed, my title for this blog, MinXus-Lynxus, is a play on Fluxus-Luxus. MinXus exists in an ever-changing relationship to Fluxus, mostly because it is better to be in relationship to something rather than nothing. You don't want to be too intimate with nothing.

 

Practitioners of MinXus seek to produce aesthetic beauty in their mail-art. They do not ascribe to anti-art. They believe in the subtle rather than the spectacled and spectacular. The rise of the Aesthetic Trash Book in recent weeks might well be a manifestation of MinXus. MinXus tendencies can be seen in work by Nancy Bell Scott (Maine, USA) and Cheryl Penn (Durban, South Africa), to identify two notables.

 

That is as much as I dare to guess about MinXus at this point in time. Thankfully, Dark wall has provided me with a diagram that he claims explains everything anyone needs to know about MinXus. The concept here is a sewing pattern for a dress. Each patch of the dress corresponds with the numbered chart at the bottom. According to Dark wall, if the elements are sewn together properly, you have MinXus:

 

Is MinXus yet another enclave of the elite? We shall see. I certainly plan to chronicle and document MinXus however it evolves. Many thanks to Marie Wintzer for this wonderful mail-art! "Marie's Mailbox" is one of my personal fav blogs anywhere; it's just, ya know, subtle:

http://mariesmailbox.blogspot.com/

 

MINXUS RUMOR CONTROL

 

MinXus DID NOT end at 11:59 p.m. on November 18, 2011.

 

MinXus DOES NOT stand for Minnesota Fluxus - Min(nesota Flu)xus. Not true!

 

 http://grigori-nojohnrays.blogspot.com/2011/11/marie-wintzer-minnes...

MAIL-ART PSYCHIC

 

Fur-niture or haptic MinXus

 

Peep-toe pumps, Dw

 

Take three

 

Neo = One, Trudy. Sell the rabbits

 

Bonnie or Nancy - in for a ruud awakening

 

Currency of Iraq

 

You are both shy and not accustomed to screaming cheese.

 

I know, I know & Ray is really pissed off about it

 

Psychic geller or spoonerism

 

Kael (vegetable) meets Duncan Doughnuts- but Bonnie & Clyde?

 

penn-etration state (snicker, snicker). Domino theory, sugar.

 

 

 

[Marie Wintzer]

Naah... Shreds are so 2011.

[De Villo Sloan]

Wow, the Shroud of Alsace is born. It just sorta happened on its own. 

 

You know, seriously. That is a great concept for a performance piece. You sit with scissors and cut your clothes into shreds. I'm scoring it.

[Marie Wintzer]

Pas de chemise pour toi Dw.

Nancy ;-)) I'm slowly chopping it up but still wearing it. This is all true. You'll get a piece.

[Nancy Bell Scott]

Marie! You're "still"using an old shirt for mail art? Who knew? Save a piece for me? Do you have any pockets?

[De Villo Sloan]

Cerisier mon cher s'il vous plaît gardez vos vêtements.L'impératrice doit avoir des vêtements.

[Marie Wintzer]

Well, I'm willing to send Dw a piece of shirt if he promises not to use it for the DKult. I can't see why he couldn't do good aesthe, multi-talented as he is.

[Marie Wintzer]

Done that! Well, I didn't exactly sell it, but I used an old shirt of mine for mail art. And still using it:

But mailing pieces of clothes is more of a DKult thing I think, so I won't go down that road. (kill)

MinXus will just quietly go its own way, no drums and trumpets.

[De Villo Sloan]

So what's next for MinXus? Do you have any old shirts Dw can cut up and sell?

[Marie Wintzer]

Thank you for the hijack, Katerina! Your flowers add the fragrance dimension to MinXus, which fits very well.

"The difference is spreading" :-)) I like. Very soon mail artists of the world will have a daily diet of Aesthetics.

[De Villo Sloan]

King Igori, I think.