Melanie Reed from Seattle loves to produce hand-crafted media that reveals the three-dimensional process of its creation. Her excellent paper collages Meeting of Minds and Ship of State II reached me, while I was reading a book about Max Ernst who developed the three-dimensonal techniques grattage (scraping the surface layers of paint) and frottage (incorporating the structuresContinue reading “By Chance”
Author Archives: Gerald Jatzek
A Package to Russia
The Arnolfini Archívum’s challenge no. 58 for Mini[e]MailArt is “packages”. And although this motto leaves ample possibilities for artistic interpretations, I felt that the Russian assault on the Ukraine could not be ignored. This is why: Russia’s supreme Leader Vladimir Putin calls the war on Ukraine a “special military operation”. Thus, he continues the traditionContinue reading “A Package to Russia”
Last Home
This large card is a work of Raphael Nadolny, who lives in the small Polish town of Mosina. The picture shows a catholic priest visiting a jewish cemetery in 1946. Nadolny calls the photocopy with colored gravestones an archeology of culture.
Mit Leidenschaft
Den Thomas Nemec kenne ich seit, also das ist gar nicht mehr wahr, wie man in Wien sagt. Getroffen haben wir uns in einem wunderbaren, unterirdischen Etablissement namens Club Hoffnungslos. Das war ein selbstverwaltetes Refugium in der damaligen Ödnis Floridsdorfs, das auch Leute aus der Umgebung anzog, weil in der Brigittenau und der Donaustadt damalsContinue reading “Mit Leidenschaft”
Dadaistic Card
The postcard from the French mail artist Zack leaves much space fore interpretations. E.g., the text on the right side says: 20h combattimento. La théorie du cygne noir. In English: 20:00 fighting. The theory of the black swan. Other crumbs of text refer to a young conductor and to the story of Tristan and IseultContinue reading “Dadaistic Card”
A Bag of Quotes
What is Mail Art? (2) “Mail art, also known as Postal art and Correspondence art, is an oddball in marketing terms. The whole movement values creating art, but in a sense it insists on not being taken particularly seriously by the established art world.”Xamou Art “La carte postale d’artiste est une œuvre indépendante, elle n’estContinue reading “A Bag of Quotes”
Yesterday’s News
Sometimes yesterday’s news can be quite exciting. While searching for children’s songs I stumbled over the recordings of an excellent choir from Germany. I checked their playlist – and found one of my poems that has been set to music by the composer Claudia Nicolai. Of course, I knew the song. But I had neverContinue reading “Yesterday’s News”
Night Sky
It was a very nice surprise to find a letter from Canada on my return to Vienna. Inside a found a drawing by Awyn in the mail . I looked at it and a poem by Paul Lawrence Dunbar (1872-1906) came into my mind. I only had a vague memory of the text, but whenContinue reading “Night Sky”
Delay…
Jay Block’s Collage reached Vienna some weeks ago, but it was only after my return from Crete that I found it.
A Little History
What is Mail Art? (1) So, you want to learn about mail art history. Here are two starting points: Angie Kordic’ story How Did Mail Art Develop into a Global Art Movement? (Widewalls) regards the mail art movement “as the anticipator of the cyber communities founded on the Internet today because of its spirit andContinue reading “A Little History”
Fascinating Cooperations
Sharon Silverman is an artist and an art instructor. She regularly combines forces with other visual artists to produce books that show art in conversation. In these volumes she responds to works of other artists, an approach that gives the reader / viewer the opportunity to understand her analysis of the works in a direct,Continue reading “Fascinating Cooperations”
Add & Pass: This Flight
Here are three some details of an add&pass project that was started by Keith S. Chambers (USA). The other participants are Margaret Jeddry (Canada), Gerald Jatzek (Austria), Luís Filipe Gomes (Portugal) and Gabriele Müller (Austria).
A Great Envelope
Thank you, Sylvia Dubois, for your art and for the fantastic envelope and the photos!
Music from Norway
Gunn Nordheim Morstøl sent a very nice letter and and a collage that includes a guitar player. I wish I still had hair that long and full…
From Russia With Stamps
Russia may as well be a synonym for poetry: Pushkin, Yesenin, Mayakovsky, Akhmatova, Mandelstam, Blok… Not all of them fall into the category great Russian soul. Vladimir Maykovsky, for instance, says in his epitaph for Sergei Esenin who commited suicide in the hotel Angleterre, writing his last poem with his own blood: “…maybe, if thereContinue reading “From Russia With Stamps”
mail your art 