RECEIVED: The Spirit of Post-Neo-MinXus in a New Stamp from Marie Wintzer (Saitama, Japan)

[De Villo Sloan]

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

 

March 28, 2012 - A message in this beautiful package of mail-art from Marie Wintzer warns me that this material is meant only for the mysterious Dark wall.

 

Unfortunately, he has been fretting, pacing, and brooding for the last several weeks because he is deeply concerned about MinXus - a mail-art project he, Marie, and Cheryl Penn (South Africa) worked on together until those terrible words "creative differences" (always an allusion to something that is never clearly stated) suggested that the spirit of MinXus had vanished from the face of the earth.

http://iuoma-network.ning.com/profiles/blogs/received-cheryl-penn-s...

 

I feel I must post this material on behalf of Dark wall because it proves beyond a doubt that MinXus is alive, well, and evolving. Of prime importance is this missive that contains a new MinXus stamp created by Marie for Dark wall. I have no doubt that many friends will see it often in the days and weeks ahead. (Tales that Dark wall was abducted by an angry skinhead band from Britain are untrue). The stamped image is included in this great letter from Marie: 

 

 

MinXus is about many things, but especially stamps. Although it is not exactly this simple, it is helpful to apply a general rule that anything with a MinXus stamp is MinXus art, and anyone can make MinXus art. You probably make MinXus art and do not know it. Sometimes it is good to give things a name so you can talk about them. Here is a close-in on the new stamp:

 

 

The story of MinXus has been told elsewhere:

 

http://iuoma-network.ning.com/profiles/blogs/received-dispatch-from...

 

Now, has Marie created Post-Neo-MinXus? I think not. I think the original spirit of MinXus remains intact and through its generosity, kindness, and creativity will always be with us as long as the eternal network endures. I think MinXus endures in Dark wall's heart; he has had to dig a bit to find it. This stamp gives it back to him.

 

Yet, if you are really interested in mail-art, you might profit from an investigation of Neo and Post-Neo. As I have often written to friends: "These are very ancient trade routes we travel today. You might be surprised to discover who traveled them before you." And to give a predictably cryptic answer to a question that has not been asked: "Yes and no." Marie also included visual-textual work that I think is derived from her amazing tryptychs:

 

The poem on the far right is great. I have not had the chance to check if it is by Gertrude Stein or rather something in the spirit of Tender Buttons. Here are the reverse sides of the piece:

 

 

What is MinXus? The work above is MinXus. This work with the older MinXus New York stamp was also included:

 

 

One side of the envelope includes a set of the original MinXus stamps:

 

 

And, finally, here is the front of the envelope:

 

 

I think this mail-art leaves no doubt that MinXus is alive and well. To rephrase a line from William Faulkner's Nobel Prize acceptance speech: "I believe MinXus will not merely endure, it will prevail."

 

And the Dark remains in Dark wall...

 

 

[Marie Wintzer]

Janine, merci, trop sympa.

The pip is certainly never out of assaults. If Neo involves inventing stories of events and even people that never existed along with things that really did happen, than he has already been doing Neo for ages (cf the comics etc). So maybe that was Pre-... or In-...

[De Villo Sloan]

And about Neo - part of it involved inventing stories of events and even people that never existed along with things that really did happen - a strange postmodern questioning of narrative, history, and identity itself. There are some who will claim there never was a Neo at all. But there was.

[De Villo Sloan]

Janine, thank you for your comment! I have enjoyed seeing pictures of your work space. You have also been receiving some great mail-art.

 

Marie, I know you are humble & I did disobey your instructions. But it is a wonderful stamp, along with the work. I think it is clear our friend the Pip has been driven to distraction by the MinXus project. I can assure you the cryptic message is that MinXus lives, and as MinXus only.

 

I might have mentioned elsewhere that in my mail-art research I came across all this material on a movement called Neo and then Post-Neo that followed. Indeed, John Bennett was in the thick of some of these things. I think Jim Leftwich continues to do what he considers Post-Neo Absurdism. Like Fluxus, all these things are still engrained in what we do & I was just throwing in references because the names are kinda funny.

 

Yes Marie, MinXus lives & I am sure the Pip is launching a new assault. Remember: "It ain't real unless it has the seal."

 

So thanks. One member of our party is still absent, so let's hope eventually, one by one, all the crows come home to roost, or whatever they say and the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

 

[Marie Wintzer]

Great blog, as usual. Although I see you have once again rummaged Dw's bag, arrrggg. Maybe I was wrong he is more dark than wall? Or maybe he's just dark wall after all. Is Minxus neo-post or post-neo and has it vanished or is it still around? Only time will tell... Great new pieces btw!

[De Villo Sloan]

If it don't have the seal, it ain't real.

[De Villo Sloan]

Many thanks AJW for your kind words & your work. I know you are a Marie fan. Dw is working overtime on the D-Kits and the Elgin Shroud shreds. You're on the list & I'm sure one of these new stamps will be included; should be on the way soon. Regards, DVS