RECEIVED: THIS is Visual Poetry from Carl Baker (Peterboro, Ontario, Canada)

Mail-art by IUOMA member Carl Baker (Ontario, Canada)


December 13, 2011 - Canadian visual poet Carl Baker (aka ACME) recently sent me an envelope brimming with examples of his work, and it is a pleasure indeed to have it.


Carl's work first caught my eye over a year ago when good friend Karen Champlin (Illinois, USA) posted work received from him here at the IUOMA. The work above (dated 2011) is for me a beautiful example of contemporary visual poetry, integrating language, asemic symbols, colors, and geometric shapes into a highly unified composition.  Might we also see the influence of Jasper Johns here?


I am relatively new to writing about visual poetry. That admitted, in an unpublished essay I have written about the visual poetry of David Baptiste-Chirot (Wisconsin, USA) I discuss the need for the presence of some form of visual syntax to differentiate vispo from collage or other related forms. Visual poetry does not require language (text); it can be a structure of images. I am partial to Carl's approach that is still essentially text based. Here is another piece he sent me:


"Nietzche's Brolly Broadsheet 86" - "FRAME" - by Carl Baker (October 2008)


Carl's considerable talent is built on a solid foundation of awareness of concrete and visual poetry. I see many vispoets today who do work in both color and black and white. (David Chirot published two editions last year in Russia: one color, one b&w). This choice, I think partially, draws from the eras of typewriter concrete poetry (Emmett Williams for example and its heavy use of repetition) and the Age of Xerography that has produced an extraordinary body of work barely explored.


Carl's work is uniformly governed by geometric structures (so is classic concrete poetry for the most part). The work above, I believe, reflects the linearity of text. You can't discount the effective use of minimalism either. Whether Carl's work is ultimately formalist could be debated. Even if so, it seems largely to escape the sterility that excessive formalism breeds


In contrast, especially in visual poets involved with the IUOMA, we have recently seen what I believe is an exploration of organic forms. Here is a representative piece by Cheryl Penn (South Africa):


Page from Asemics 16 (Edition #3) by Cheryl Penn


This, now practically classic, asemic-vispo work by Cheryl represents the less formalist, more organic approach. (Much of the work in Asemics 16 would probably classified as asemic-vispo hybrids). I think it presents a nice compare & contrast to what Caryle is doing. Speaking of whom, more Carl Baker:


By Carl Baker (2011)


This is an even more striped-down visual poem firmly grounded in concrete poetry and asemic writing; a cut-up approach is also incorporated. The piece is deepened, I think, by a use of archaic and/or symbols of indigenous cultures that add many possibilities for interpretation and thus elude the pitfalls of formalism or complete Semiotic Self-reference Syndrome (SSS). And a classic Freudian would point out the pronounced phallic presence. Caryl included some smaller pieces:


Mail-art by Carl Baker (2011)


These pieces are good examples of works created by visual poets on a smaller scale that lend themselves well to mail-art. The bottom two, if not specifically intended to be, work as ATCs (Artist Trading Cards). Here's another concrete-vispo piece by Carl:


By Carl Baker (2011)


A great b&w piece that has the gritty feel of the litzines of the Age of Xerography. (I think we can be confident the art produced by this particular technology will outlast the corporate entity itself; so maybe something good came of it.) I will conclude this lengthy tome with a final, beautiful concrete-asemic-based work by Carl:



Many, many thanks to Carl Baker for this mail-art package of great work. An addition to the collection for sure!


Views: 464

Tags: Sloan, asemic-writing, vispo

Comment

You need to be a member of International Union of Mail-Artists to add comments!

Join International Union of Mail-Artists

Comment by De Villo Sloan on December 15, 2011 at 10:52pm

Cheryl, I haven't checked in much today. That is SO extraordinarily beautiful. More later. Great work, Boss.

Comment by Marie Wintzer on December 15, 2011 at 12:50pm

"Which is where of how". Great!!

What should we call it when a blog is put back on track after having been hijacked?

Comment by cheryl penn on December 15, 2011 at 11:56am

Just because you thought you would not see VISPO here again - SURPRISE :-)))!

Comment by Marie Wintzer on December 14, 2011 at 10:41pm

Martens are vile creatures. They feed on some cables inside your car, and next morning you can't start the engine.

I did practice the Annie Lennox (fab) version, but it is only a cover. Ended up singing the Ash's version, which I think is the original one. It's a good song.

OMG is that Dean Marten on the floor?? :-)))

Of course Mink Fest will have to include karaoke performances. So maybe it should be held in Tokyo after all.

Comment by De Villo Sloan on December 14, 2011 at 9:42pm

documentation of historic minxus performance

Comment by De Villo Sloan on December 14, 2011 at 2:37pm

Oh, and will there be Dean Marten karaoke at MinX Fest?

Comment by De Villo Sloan on December 14, 2011 at 2:31pm

Oh geez, I did a search and you performed a Eurythmics song. Marie Antonette as Annie Lennox? This is not art; this is MinXus.

 

Any hope of discussing vispo here is lost. Cheryl posted a great comment further down the stream about not worrying about definitions. I like that. We are dealing in mixed-mixed-media after all.

 

I fear the visual poets will abandon their careers when they discover the possibilities of karaoke, Oh well, the Law of Unintended Consequences.

Comment by De Villo Sloan on December 14, 2011 at 11:55am

in what language do you present your karaoke performance?

Comment by De Villo Sloan on December 14, 2011 at 11:53am

It's amazing that in mail-art you wind up learning so much about rodents. A marten is apparently different from a mink. I'm concerned particularly that they climb. I thought all these things were pretty much extinct. A pine marten:

Comment by De Villo Sloan on December 14, 2011 at 11:46am

It was something like strangenews.com or something.

I did a search for "mink attack December 13, 2011." This story came up and also a bunch of stories about humans attacked by minks. I think MinXus needs some non-violent manifesto.

Really, Karaoke is an ultimate performance art for our time. I personally think it would be wise for MinXus to embrace it. Isn't Grigori an Elvis impersonator? On top of being a RayJay impersonator?

Support

Want to support the IUOMA with a financial gift via PayPal?

The money will be used to keep the IUOMA-platform alive. Current donations keep platform online till 1-july-2024. If you want to donate to get IUOMA-publications into archives and museums please mention this with your donation. It will then be used to send some hardcopy books into museums and archives. You can order books yourself too at the IUOMA-Bookshop. That will sponsor the IUOMA as well.

Bewaren

Bewaren

Bewaren

Bewaren

Bewaren

Bewaren

Bewaren

Bewaren

Bewaren

© 2024   Created by Ruud Janssen.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service