What is Mail Art?
Correspondence art (Mail art) Term applies to art sent through the post rather than displayed or sold through conventional commercial channels, encompassing a variety of media including postcards, books, images made on photocopying machines or with rubber stamps, postage stamps designed by artists, concrete poetry and other art forms generally considered marginal. John Held Jr.
When I tell people I’m a mail artist, I’m invariably asked that question. I always have trouble explaining exactly what it is, just as I would have trouble explaining what “art” is. Mail or Correspondence Art, though, is a bit easier to nail down because, by definition, it must be sent through the mail. Getting past that, and looking past some obvious exceptions such as internet art and art which is hand-delivered, in essence Mail Art is noncommercial art created by an artist and sent directly to the audience. The advantage for the artist is that there is no marketplace or dealer to compromise the vision, and the advantage for the audience is that the art is free and usually specifically tailored for them personally. Given that, mail art takes a few primary forms (but keep in mind, these are by no means the only forms): 1- Decorated Postcards or envelopes. This is the simplest and cheapest form of mail art, and perhaps one that most people have done from time to time on their own. This
• Don’t expect a definition about mail art that is adequate. Every mail artist has his own definition. Sometimes they might sound the same, but the views a mail artist has about his artform depends completely on what he/she is doing in the network. • Lots of books are already there. Telling about what mail art is. But it is always a view from someone. Nobody can write MY view about mail art. Another reason for me to write the things I think. • Is mail art the same as networking? In my eyes NOT. Mail art is networking, and networking can be mail art, but the two things are not the same. In networking the art-part can be completely gone. But there is a common basis. Both things have to do with communication. WILL MAIL ART EVER END? • Some think that Internet and E-mail will gradually make the ‘snail-‘ mail obsolete. But I don’t think it will ever happen. The 3D-pieces just have to be transported. The digital form still isn’t suitable for the transport of goods that are material. E-mail i
Mail art can be just about any type of art including painting, water color, pencil, marking pen, collage, rubber stamp, or photograph on an envelope, postcard, package, or other medium. It can also be a three-dimensional piece. Any piece of art that is itself stamped and addressed. Normally, the art is not enclosed in an envelope or package, but rather is on the envelope or package. Ideally we can hang the piece on the wall or display it on a shelf just as it arrives through the mail. You can also design your own postage stamps, perhaps for a country that you make up.
From: Mimi Holmes Mailartisaccesstoanothersoulthroughaslitinyourbox. ****************************************************** WHAT IS MAIL ART? From: Crackerjack Kid Correspondence art vs mail art was a big issue in the early 70s which caused a real split between those who pioneered early one-on-one private efforts and those who made “correspondence art” a PUBLIC manifestation. Art critic David Zack first coined the word “Mail Art” when he wrote a landmark article defining the form for “Art in America”. That was back in 1971, I think. Fluxus artists like Ken Friedman did much to make correspondence art an international phenomenon…they were also early proponents of the idea of “networking mailart”. Feminists by and large dislike the term “mail art” because it sounds sexist. An alternative to that “problem” is Postal ****************************************************** WHAT IS MAIL ART? From:Julie Hagan Bloch Mail art is making whatever it is you need to make, then giving it into the h
