Received: Text/ural mail-art from Marie Wintzer (Saitama, Japan)

[De Villo Sloan]

September 29, 2010 - A long-anticipated piece of mail-art arrived in New York from Marie Wintzer about a week ago. I follow Marie's blog and have seen her postings here at the IUOMA, so I knew what I was getting. But nothing really substitutes for the original work itself. The central, post-card size image (above) is rich with layering, text/ure, and is made meticulously (remember anti-art) in a way I can't even fully comprehend. I think some of the text/ural qualities that draw my attention are due to differences in paper composition and quality, compared to what I'm used to. Then again, she's very conscious of this element of art in her photography, which ranges from unbelievably subtle (I'll call it) masking to the most brilliant clarity. Mostly, Marie is subtle, introspective, and possibly under-stated; if you don't look closely, you'll miss it. If you do look closely, there is a great deal of complexity. Indeed, you can keep coming back to it and finding more and more. The piece has incredibly ornate and delicate (I think) stamping overlaid with collage. Marie was thoughtful enough to include a hand-written note on the other side:

Marie, please, it's Sloan, without an "e." And that letter at the end of the previous sentence makes me think of a word someone used here at the IUOMA to describe Julian Grant's work: edgy. Because after making the case that Marie is all about subtle aesthetics, I have to reverse course somewhat and say what I'm truly drawn to here, and why I appreciate receiving this work so much, is because of the raw urban quality I see that might indeed be concealed by the aesthetics. These seeming opposites can coexist without the work appearing to be in a state of suspended implosion. The urban quality of which I speak is that strange human tendency to want to imprint everything around us with signs and symbols; and where many of us gather, the signification becomes more dense. The paper looks uniformly distressed and there is a genuine "found" quality to the fragments (as compared to contrived). This was good timing for both of us because Marie is going through a phase where she's using a lot of text as raw material, and I have the vispo preoccupation going. The exteriors are popping with color and images:

A final pic to complete documentation of the package:

And the result, I think, is a great piece of mail-art I'm so glad to have received from an IUOMA friend. I look forward to trading more; and I feel somewhat better connected too through Marie's excellent blog:

http://www.mariesmailbox.blogspot.com

[De Villo Sloan]

Marie, you're much too hard on yourself. And it's like Wayne's World: "I'm not worthy! I'm not worthy!" You're worthy. I saw your messages about The Minnesota Situation and just didn't want to feed into what amounts to, in my estimation, a negative feedback loop. GA is not the one in St. Cloud. Two different people completely. I'm just dropping the whole thing and moving on to more positive things. Like Cheryl's book. I think you're in on that too. Could be a lot of fun.

[Marie Wintzer]

oh noooo, I miss-spelled your name? What an idiot. Sorry sorry sorry. Good that I wrote is correctly on the envelope, which spares me another embarrassment. Gosh... And I didn't even add my best regards? Terrible. I'll try to do better next time.
This post is so well written Sloan, I didn't know there was someone who could write so well about something I have sent. I don't think I deserve all these compliments, but this is so heart warming, thank you so so much....