In my latest issue of Eulipion Outpost, I write about Arte Povera. Some aspects of mail art also relate to that art movement. I wrote the following in a previous issue of Eulipion Outpost, but only recently thought of it in terms of Arte Povera:
Receiving all this correspondance3 art has been a kind of “immersion” learning process in an art practice that has its roots and influences in Dada, Oulipo, Pop Art, and Fluxus—but it also seems to be a wide-ranging and tricksterish art movement that I’ll probably never know in depth. So I’m just starting at a little corner and sort of nibbling on that.
There are a few aspects of mail (or correspondence) art that I gravitate towards, and they are:
- art that, at its basis, is about community, gifting, and sharing (as opposed to monetary and patron-centered)
- art as play and even choreography and “dance” (Ray Johnson’s “correspondance”)4
- art that is subversive and anti-elitist, operating (mostly) outside mainstream art institutions
- art that relies mostly on the material at hand, transforming it and circulating it as artistic expression
- art that anyone can do, and does not require a lot of expense (i.e., framing, gallery and promotional costs, membership fees, etc.)
- art as both relational and flexible, beginning one-on-one, but potentially expansive to a great degree; it can be utterly simple, or quite complex.
Jean Vengua 