Here comes mail art …
About a month ago, I went to my home mailbox to retrieve, well, my mail and lamented that all I ever receive via snail mail is bills, solicitations for donations, wedding invitations and junk mail. More interesting or personal mail never comes through snail mail anymore — courier, sometimes, email, often, but never the US Postal Service. But seeing that is 2011, I didn’t keep this observation to myself and broadcast it via tweet in an effort to find a camaraderie with others whose life was just as junk mail filled as mine but instead of finding people to commiserate with about the state of mail I found something else.
My twitter buddy @lunapark suggested it’s a case of getting back as much as you give out to the universe — oy, she’s probably right, I don’t really send much in the way of interesting mail anymore.
But then, to my surprise, a number of artists on Twitter offered to mail me things. And then it occurred to me, I had forgotten about the pleasures of Mail Art — an art form I’ve been a big fan of for decades (and something I’ve dabbled in myself years ago). Leave it to artists to spice up the mundane.
So, starting today if you’d like to mail us something, please do and we’ll post our favorite pieces along with the packaging porn shots we take as we unveil your creation.
To kick things off, today we feature a work sent to me earlier this month by artist Jonny Gray, whose work inspired all this.
And in response to your tweet, Jonny:
Yes, I got awesome mail art. Thanks, Jonny!
Send any and all mail art to:
Hyperallergic HQ
181 N 11th Street, #302
Brooklyn, NY 11211
Click the above to enlarge
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