An incomplete mail art archive.
This is a very incomplete archive of mail art pieces I sent out durning May - December 2020 to subscribers. If this archive were complete, it would have about 30 pieces in it. What’s pictured below is from the collection of Mike Lindgren, and both of our addresses are redacted. A brief description is below each piece.
From July; an artist’s book about my burgeoning houseplant collection.
From August; a collaboration with Jeff Quattrone from Library Seed Bank. In each envelope was a set of seeds that were said to be the same type (species? breed?) as those developed for the Campbell’s Soup Company at the time Warhol created his soup can series. The envelope is labeled “NOT mystery seeds from China” because we were all living through this weird thing where people were getting strange seeds they never ordered sent to them and I’m not sure if we ever figured out why.
Not sure what happened to the envelope, but this is a small artist’s book about the concept of Psychogeography, as explained by the Situationists. In it, maps are made based on memories and feelings, and I shared one of my neighborhood. Some subscribers responded by sending me homemade maps of theirs.
A book on the idea of Mutual Aid, a topic which I became involved in deeply as relief efforts to people in need started up.
For the week of Halloween, everyone got two envelopes mailed to them at the same time — one labeled “Trick” and the other “Treat.” The “Treat” one contained a story about a strange organism that somehow had popped up in the news; the “Trick” one was a reminder to vote. (I considered it a “trick” because I always tried to keep the mail art pieces upbeat and silly, and of course the election was quite serious.)
An “activity book” that contained recipes, a color-by-number, and an impossible craft project involving a paper zoetrope.
Created during the Seattle autonomous zone, this was a tiny flag that subscribers were encouraged to use to declare their own zones of independence and freedom.
A response to the BLM uprisings. As much as I tried to avoid politics, this one was impossible for me to look away from. Contained stickers with the names of Black people killed by the police over the last few years; subscribers were encouraged to post them in their neighborhood.
“Field guide to the flora and fauna of Jersey City’s West Side,” including our massive feral cat population and the raccoons who really run things around here.
This one was made around the time of my birthday in August and this pic doesn’t really explain it. It was a tunnel book based on Grand Central Station, which is where I like to go on my birthday. So you would pull apart the two ends of the book and peer through the hole in the middle and (maybe) feel like you were visiting the station.
A fanzine for the artist Ruth Asawa, who was honored with a USPS stamp this year.
Part of the Halloween mailings — I made fake “spirit photography” based on grainy iPhone pictures in my neighborhood.
A “pandemic song book” with lyrics to a made up song about washing your hands and wearing a mask and generally not getting sick.