Mail art from the token traditionalist

"Tribute to Klimt," Austria,  http://postkunstgustavklimt.blogspot.co.at/2016/04/088-deborah-dendler-usa.html

"World Theatre," Portugal

"Trees," France

"King Lear," UK

When I first heard about mail art*, I thought it was complete nonsense, just for amateurs. Nothing to do with me.  I'm a serious artist.  A few years went by without any change in my opinion. And then I looked at a mail art show online and was totally blown away. True, some of the submissions were actual crayon drawings from elementary school kids. And some of the others weren't much better.  But there were some that were refreshingly original, witty, and unique. On a postcard. I was intrigued.

It happened that right then I had a dense crop of unpleasant medical scans, tests, and labwork that had to be done, which involved a lot of waiting around, which felt like wasted time, when my normal work routine was totally disrupted. I couldn't concentrate and I wasn't getting anything done. But I remembered a mail art show that sounded interesting. So while I was waiting around, I did a drawing on a blank postcard, sent it off and that was that. Except that it wasn't. I felt so overjoyed, uplifted and good about getting something started, finished and sent off into the world in less than a day that I did another mail art entry. And another. So that's what I do lately while I'm waiting for labwork, tests and scans - mail art.

Here's why. From beginning to end, a finished sculpture takes me about a year. The time from the initial sketch, to detailed drawings, to a small maquette is about a month. From the maquette to a full size sculpture is at least three months. From that to a cast or fired, patinated, and mounted sculpture is another one to six months, depending on my schedule and the foundry. So I love the idea of picking up a pen and a blank postcard and drawing, and then addressing, stamping and mailing it. One hour, maybe two, and I’ve completed and exhibited a new work. 

Plus there’s no waiting around for another year for exhibition: photographing, submitting to a show, packing and shipping, publication of the catalog. Instead, I mail it, and it’s released into the world, free as a bird, to find its own place. Maybe in the recycling bin. Maybe on a gallery wall.  Either way, it’s not my problem anymore. Wikipedia says that "Mail art is considered art once it is dispatched." So there. 

The second reason, overflow, is that I have more ideas than I can possibly execute in my lifetime.  Some of them aren’t sculpture, some of them aren’t good, and lots of them will just never make it into permanent sculpture materials. So the overflow is perfect material for mail art shows. 

Third reason is that I draw all the time. I can’t help it. In elementary  school, I got into a lot of trouble for drawing instead of doing math. By high school, I had perfected my drawing-disguised-as-note-taking techniques. Imagine my delight when I went to art school and I got to draw on purpose, as much as I wanted, without recrimination! But to this day, all paper and writing materials are fair game for drawing. The backs of envelopes, post-it notes, bills, grocery lists are all just waiting to be drawn upon.

And the final humdinger of a reason to participate in mail art shows is the amazing work that appears in them. I’m assuming that whatever I submit will be among the most traditional and least innovative.  I’m totally on the classical end of the art spectrum, but that doesn’t mean I don’t get my socks knocked off by what’s on the other end. Good stuff. I also like to feel I’m upholding the traditional, classical end of the art spectrum. I’m the token traditionalist. Somebody has to do it.

I'm amused to find that just like the spectrum of thank you-note-writing for gifts, some curators of mail art shows don't respond at all when you send some an entry, while some, who have obviously been well brought up, respond with an email, or even a letter.  One even sent me a photo of my drawing in the center of a wall of wildly eclectic work.  It was so cool:  it looked as though my very traditional portrait was an anchor to a whole world of portraits spinning off around it.

But I gotta go - I have a PET scan. I'm thinking about drawing with metallic markers for that mail art show in Greece. Maybe Ulysses...

*  Mail art -  "populist artistic movement centered on sending small scale works through the postal service...Media commonly used in mail art include postcards, paper, a collage of found or recycled images and objects, rubber stamps, artist-created stamps (called artistamps), and paint, but can also include music, sound art, poetry, or anything that can be put in an envelope and sent via post. Mail art is considered art once it is dispatched. Mail artists regularly call for thematic or topical mail art for use in (often unjuried) exhibition.^[1][3]

The mail artist community values the interconnectedness of the participants and promotes an egalitarian ethos that frequently circumvents official art distribution and approval systems such as the art market, museums, and galleries. Mail artists rely on their network as the primary way of sharing their work, rather than being dependent on the ability to locate and secure exhibition space.^[4]The community embraces this outsider or alternative status, and refers to itself as "The Eternal Network" or just "The Network."^[5"    Wikipedia

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