MinXus Mail Bag: Mail-art minus the heart from Susan McAllister (Berkeley, California, USA)

Mail-art by Susan McAllister (Berkeley, California, USA)

Here at MinXus-Lynxus, we think Susan McAllister is a wonderfully talented and original artist who is also a faithful correspondent. We deeply regret that the trash-and-pass piece which she sent to us has not found its way back to Berkeley. We can only hope that it will.

This correspondence art recently received from Susan exemplifies why we like her work so much: She tends to make collages that often reveal street art and popart influences, but those possible influences are integrated into a highly individualized style. Sometimes her work has textual elements that qualify as very interesting vispo and/or asemics. We also note Susan does wonders (as in this piece) with red, black and white.  We also greatly enjoy the meditation on induction/deduction that is overlaid and woven in the piece, giving yet another dimension to the piece. Susan McAllister’s message on the reverse side enhances the theme:

We never solicited a heart for DVS from Susan, but somehow she deduced there was a need, even if she was not induced to engage in the onerous task. This makes us think of the Tin Woodman in The Wizard of Oz. Susan’s work might not contain a heart, yet it clearly has heart, which lets us appreciate it all the more.

As ever, many thanks to Susan McAllister of Berkeley!