Hyperallergic Mail Art Show

 

_Preparing the package_

One of my tic tac toe projects surfaced in Brooklyn yesterday at the opening of Presents: Mail Art Show sponsored by the blogazine Hyperallergic.   Who doesn't love getting mail art?  Editor Hrag Vartanian and co-curator Kate Wadkins liked it enough to begin a mail art feature that documented their packages over the course of the last three months. Friday night's exhibition featured 125 works ranging from postcards to art in plastic liter bottles, with over 100 artists represented.  I occasionally send out the little carved seal stamps I make as exchange with other artists for mail art received.  Back in April I carved a couple for the Hyperallergic folks; mostly just because I love their writing, coverage and insight into the art world.

_Crowded opening at the Brooklyn offices of Hyperallergic_

I had a chance to talk with editor/curator Hrag Vartanian about their ongoing feature and the development of mailart in general. Many credit artist Ray Johnson with bringing the practice into widespread recognition as an artform in it's own right, although as Hrag pointed out there have been great examples circulating as long as there has been mail.

_Couple playing with the tic tac toe stamps_

When I got to the opening I found that my piece was actually place on a small table with a couple of chairs available for people to sit and play with the work...just as intended.  In fact from an article Hyperallergic published they had taken the time to review my website and blog for more info about this ongoing project and learned that the actual game play is integral to the work and that I do performance based work with them.

_Shadow Theater still_

I could see from looking over the art at the opening that plenty of research went into the project. Many works included instructions for assembly, performance etc; one referenced a video of the packing of the box that contained the URLof the video.  I included not only the tic tac toe stamps but also references to other ongoing projects such as the Kali projects I collaborate on with Susan Shulman and Ria Vanden Eynde and an "analogue mountain climber" group blog. 

_Susan gets the Blues - from Analogue Narratives_

My last look at the art - (backwards..I knew that ;-)