Why I am leaving IOUMA

[Em]

I have been a mail artist for quite a few years.  I am sadly leaving IOUMA.  There is a certain style of art I usually see here, and a style that I usually receive.  It is a mid century-collage based cut and paste look, which I admire and enjoy, but is NOT what I do.  I just got a comment that said my art was not hand-made, because I started with a print of a watercolor.  This is not a photocopy, and even if it were, who is someone (across the globe, I might add, for which I spent $3 on postage to get my work there) to tell me they are sad and disappointed in what I did?  I feel like people here impose their rules on others, that if you don't cut and paste in a collagey style, then you are not congratulated enough, or let into the club.  This is exactly the OPPOSITE of what free expression and the love of sharing should be.  I have worked for 20 years to develop my own personal style as an artist, I am proud that it is different from what the club does.

Long live free expression.

Long live personal style.

Long live sharing art with no expectation of return or personal gain.

I now participate in Free Art Friday -- I leave works of art in public for anyone to find and enjoy.

I love mail art and will miss this place, but criticism about what I do is ridiculous when my art is given freely.

Best of luck to all.

--Emily

www.etstudio.net

[Em]

Actually, I am glad we opened this conversation.  Mail art is such an amazing idea -- the free sharing of personal expression, sent across the planet to other artists. . . . I have a box with 15 years of these amazing gifts, and if I get depressed about humanity, opening this box and pouring through these postcards lifts me.  I know that letting one naggy comment would be a silly reason to stop. . . . 

In life, gratitude is so much better than criticism, so in that spirit, I will use this event as a chance to help my own attitude improve.  It can feel devastating when a gift freely given and from the heart is rejected.  I hope I never do that to anyone.

[De Villo Sloan]

OK, OK, comment withdrawn. I don't want to throw gasoline on yet another IUOMA riot. I'm outta this thread, but Em - please consider staying.

[Mail Art News]

I've seen a lot of sloppy mail art in my mere 6 months of doing mail art, but I've also seen some remarkable work that keeps me interested. It's like sending someone free food in the mail. On the one hand it's a free food (for thought), so don't complain, but on the other hand you might not like the ingredients or the brand or whatever other reason someone doesn't like something.

I have made some enjoyable connections so far, and also some odd ones that I don't care to keep up any further. 

But it's also an expression of the general information, emotional overload with a hint of dissociation and disconnect. On some of collages, that comes through pretty clearly. What I get in the mail gets stored in a box for archival purposes. Some people I have an ongoing conversation with. Other items I send out just to send out like: "hey take a look at this." Not sure what it all adds up to, or why one would pursue mail art with too much fervor, since the goals are not very clear. It seems like impulse, compulsion. Creative exploration is more like it. Even though it's "fluxus" or "experimental" please, I wish there was more sense of composition on some of these. That's why I prefer mail art minimalism because it cuts down on the potential for jumble. People TUNE OUT jumbled confused messes of information.

[De Villo Sloan]

I agree completely, Em. Well-stated. I put aside my own personal revulsion for what has happened here because I refuse to be driven out. By leaving, Em, you're granting consent to the mediocrity as well as the thug tactics used on anyone who gets out of line. I wish you would stay & represent what you believe in & not become yet another X-IUOMA on FB complaining how lame the Ning site is.

Yes, I learned on FB that one of our "New Generation" mail-artists has taken it upon himself to send work back to people or letters anyway telling them it's crap & not mail-art. I've been biting my tongue. I think his name is Bidet & he is a real Dick, if you catch my drift. 

[Em]

Thank you for sharing that, VMH -- I have appreciated your work and your sending it to me over the years.  It's just. . . . 

Well, I feel like I don't "fit in" here, and that's a crazy way to feel when it's supposed to be all about personal expression.  Communities are built on commonality, and even if that commonality is rebellion and anti-establishment, it feels so weird to me if everyone is rebelling in the same way. . . does that make sense?  Does anyone else feel this?

[Valentine Mark Herman]

DON'T GO!!!!

I strongly believe that  each and every very artist, mail or otherwise, should respect the work and artistic aspirations of every other artist.

COME BACK. Please

[Em]

Moan - don't you feel like there is a certain "style" to most of the work? Originality doesn't seem to be rewarded here. Just my opinion.