Mail art

Mail artists rely on their alternative "outsider" network as the primary way of sharing their work, rather than being dependent on the ability to locate and secure exhibition space.

[5][6] Artist Edward M. Plunkett has argued that communication-as-art-form is an ancient tradition; he posits (tongue in cheek) that mail art began when Cleopatra had herself delivered to Julius Caesar in a rolled-up carpet.

Johnson's work consists primarily of letters, often with the addition of doodles and rubber stamped messages, which he mailed to friends and acquaintances.

[10] In a 1968 interview, Johnson explained that he found mailed correspondence interesting because of the limits it puts on the usual back and forth interaction and negotiation that comprises communication between individuals.

[10][11] In the 1970s, the practice of mail art grew considerably, providing a cheap and flexible channel of expression for cultural outsiders.

In Canada, the artist collectives Image Bank and General Idea have been heralded as instrumental to the early history of networking and social interaction as art.

[17] Correspondence Art was particularly widespread where state censorship prevented a free circulation of alternative ideas, as in certain countries behind the Iron Curtain or in South America.

Among these events were the Inter Dada Festivals organized in California in the early 1980s[20] and the Decentralized Mail Art Congress of 1986.

CrackerJack Kid, David Cole, and John Held Jr. crafted a statement asking Cohen to step down as the panel moderator.

[24] The excluded works were ultimately added to the exhibition by the staff of the Franklin Furnace, but the events surrounding it and the panels revealed ideological rifts within the mail art community.

Simultaneously fanning the flames and documenting the extent to which it was already dominated by a small, mostly male, coterie of artists, the discussions were transcribed and published by panelist John P. Jacob in his short-lived mail art zine PostHype.

While contributions may be solicited around a particular theme, work to a required size, or sent in by a deadline, mail art generally operates within a spirit of "anything goes.

[8] The original contributions are not to be returned and remain the property of the organizers, but a catalogue or documentation is sent free to all the participants in exchange for their works.

Although these rules are sometimes stretched, they have generally held up for four decades, with only minor dissimilarities and adjustments, like the occasional requests to avoid works of explicit sexual nature, calls for projects with specific participants, or the recent trend to display digital documentation on blogs and websites instead of personally sending printed paper to contributors.

[32][33] Mail art has been exhibited in alternative spaces such as private apartments, municipal buildings, and shop windows, as well as in galleries and museums worldwide.

[3] Mail art shows, periodicals, and projects represent the "public" side of postal networking, a practice that has at its core the direct and private interaction between the individual participants.

Mail art is widely practiced in Europe, North and South America, Russia, and Australia with smaller numbers of participants also in Africa, and China.

[35] Parody art movements like neoism and plagiarism have challenged notions of originality, as have the shared pseudonymous names Monty Cantsin and Karen Eliot, which were proposed for serial use by anyone.

Various essays, graduate theses, guides and anthologies of mail art writings have appeared in print and on the Internet, often written by veteran networkers.

Certain materials and techniques are commonly used and frequently favored by mail artists due to their availability, convenience, and ability to produce copies.

[41] Many notable artists were featured in the review including Jas Felter, E.F. Higgins III, John Held Jr., Michael Leigh, Chuck Welch, Vittore Baroni, and H.R.

[2] Ubiquitous 'add & pass' sheets that are designed to be circulated through the network with each artist adding and copying, chain-letter fashion, have also received some unfavorable criticism.

However, Xerography has been a key technology in the creation of many short-run periodicals and zines about mail art, and for the printed documentation that has been the traditional project culmination sent to participants.

[citation needed] In addition to appropriating the postage stamp model, mail artists have assimilated other design formats for printed artworks.

[2] Small assemblages, sculptural forms, or found objects of irregular shapes and sizes are parceled up or sent unwrapped to deliberately tease and test the efficiency of the postal service.

In the 1960s, when correspondence art first began to blossom, most artists found the postal service to be the most readily available – and least expensive – medium of exchange.

– Chuck Welch[34]The purpose of mail art, an activity shared by many artists throughout the world, is to establish an aesthetical communication between artists and common people in every corner of the globe, to divulge their work outside the structures of the art market and outside the traditional venues and institutions: a free communication in which words and signs, texts and colours act like instruments for a direct and immediate interaction.