MinXus Mail Bag: Asemics and much more from Kerri Pullo (Tucson, Arizona, USA)

Mail-art by Kerri Pullo (Tucson, Arizona, USA)

Kerri Pullo – aka Miss Kerri A Rose Con Pollo – is as fine a correspondent as you will ever find. She has been a faithful MinXus-Lynxus contributor since the uncertain early days of our founding and was a star participant in Solar Festival 2012. She recently sent us this wonderful mail-art package that is a perfect blend of nostalgia and new directions. The postcard-size piece above is a muted portrait (what can the significance of this be?) of none other than our dear correspondent. Here is the reverse side:

Kerri Pullo is a very versatile artist, and here we see a suggestion of Trashpo. She also included a stamp she made of her award-winning submission to the MinXus-Lynxus Can YOU Draw the Mink? Famous Artist Talent Scout Contest (which preceded the Who Has The Best Hair Contest). Her iconic mink is worth a close-up:

Through her mail-art involvement, Kerri Pullo has emerged as a highly praised asemic writer (subject to some controversy as the result of her encounter with Australian poet Pete Spence. (( Oh well, welcome to the Poetry Wars, Kerri)). To our delight, she included some new asemic work in this package to grace the MinXus USA archives:

Stunning! Kerri Pullo’s work is influenced by Islamic/Arabic art. It’s interesting how many veteran visual poets these days, Karl Kempton for example, are expressing admiration for Arabic calligraphy. And of course Brion Gysin’s asemics, which many consider the beginning of the modern era, are derived from Arabic (and Japanese) characters.

Here is another piece included in this wonderful package. Kerri Pullo also seems to be influenced by abstract art, and this piece reveals the connection between her painting and asemics. Here is the reverse side:

After some thought, we conclude this (above) is Kerri Pullo’s asemic signature; she uses it often.

Here is a strip of canvas bearing her trademark asemic calligraphy.

The reverse side shows another iteration of her signature.

And to make this a perfect mail-art package, Kerri Pullo enclosed some cryptic, found material. Here is the envelope:

And the reverse:

Kerri Pullo’s mail-art is always thoughtful and fun. We deeply appreciate receiving new work from her. We also appreciate the reminders of some truly great times we’ve had through the mail and online. Kerri seems to be taking a bit of a hiatus from mail-art, as so many of us do from time to time. We sincerely hope we can stay in touch. And deepest thanks for this phenomenal envelope of wonderful material.

MinXus Mail Bag: Fan Stamp Kit from KDJ (Orlando, Florida, USA)

Mail-art by KDJ (Orlando, Florida, USA)

Our dear friend Miss KDJ, currently of Florida, sent us a very useful package of stamp-related material to help us promote DKult and the Naughty List Bitches (NLB) musical group. Of course, the MinXus Lexicon tells us: “MinXus is the opposite of Trashpo.” While we might have some aesthetic differences with the Trashpoets, we always look forward to mail from our Trashpo and DKult friends.

As for the Naughty List Bitches, even if we might find them reprehensible as individuals, Dark wall tells us they are a very fine musical combo. Their song “Monkey Experiment,” or so we are told, is excellent. We must admit favoring Miss KDJ’s envelope:

And the reverse:

Many thanks to KDJ!

MinXus-Lynxus Who Has The Best Hair Contest: Nominations Announced!

MinXus-Lynxus Who Has The Best Hair Contest – Contestant #25 – Sinclair Scripa (Ludlow, Vermont, USA)

New MinXus Combs by Empress Marie – Who Has The Best Hair Contest Prizes!

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MinXus-Lynxus Who Has The Best Hair Contest – Contestant #19 – Entry #2 – David Stafford (Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA)

MinXus Mail Bag: Artaud Machine by meeah williams (Brooklyn, New York, USA)

Mail-art by meeah williams (Brooklyn, New York, USA)

Contending as we must with hair contests, runaway beatnik girls and monkey diapers, we have been terribly remiss in not sharing sooner FAB work by our Brooklyn correspondent meeah williams. She knows that here at the Mink Ranch we are HUGE fans of the late Antonin Artaud (not to be confused with Grigori Antonin Artaud). She delivered with this amazing work.

In an envelope inside the mailing envelope we found this remarkable series of, we can only call it, vispo that captures with incredible accuracy the nightmare vision that was Artaud’s life and lives in his writing and art. These pieces seem as if they were loose pages of a mail-art zine, which only adds to the effect with another degree of fragmentation.

Here is a beautiful asemic piece, but the series always manages to present the monolithic, spectral darkness that looms like a menacing shadow in all of Artaud’s work. Artaud is Poe and Kafka deconstructed (Baudelaire as well, we hasten to add); that’s why the deconstructionists have always adored him. As visionary, he foresaw the horrors of the 20th century; and he remains a prophet of the 21st. If Artaud did not produce any asemic writing, he wrote about seeing asemic symbols.

These images by meeah williams can be a bit unsettling, but we think she locates the essence of Artaud.

This pulpy piece (above) was placed among the other work that seems far more referential to Artaud, creating yet another interesting digression into the noir.

We think this is just a fantastic, sometimes disquieting, journey through Artaud’s world told in compelling images. Here is the envelope that contained the work presented above:

The reverse:

“Be a saint in any form” – certainly Artaud had his own religious visions and delusions. Here is the outside mailing envelope:

And the front:

Deepest thanks to meeah williams for the fantastic mail-art!

MinXus-Lynxus Who Has The Best Hair Contest – Contestant #24 – Moan Lisa (Des Moines, Iowa, USA)

MinXus Mail Bag: A sheaf of verbal-visual pieces by Carlyle Baker (Peterborough, Ontario, Canada)

“Diagram” – mail-art by Carlyle Baker (Peterborough, Ontario, Canada)

                                              This is Part I of a two-part series

We are thrilled to have received a hefty sheaf of mail-art by Carlyle Baker, which we are sharing with Tenderfoots in two parts. As we understand it, Carlyle Baker is not comfortable with the term “visual poetry” but is more receptive to Bob Grumman’s “verbal-visual” designation. This verbal-visual collection displays Carlyle’s range as well as consistent elements of his style.

His work tends to be language-centered (whereas other visual poets have moved purely into the realm of the image). He frequently uses asemics and has roots in classical concrete poetry: Geometry and repetition (above) provide structure; yet his work as a whole has considerable variance from the classic, using overstriking and allowing for fluidity and organic form. At MinXus-Lynxus we are receptive to the full range of visual poetry today but must admit a subjective preference for Carlyle Baker’s work and similar work still clearly anchored in language.

“Secret Room”

Most of the work in this bundle is black and white. There certainly is a practical element (the high cost of toner cartridges) to sending black and white when circulating work to mail-art friends. Black and white pieces (even b&w versions of color pieces) do have an aesthetic allure as well, which can range from a retro quality to the starkness seen in much conceptual poetry.

“Henry Miller Tree”

This complex and fascinating piece reveals the organic and non-linear elements of Carlyle Baker’s work. Asemic symbols are present, mixed with visual images; and the work is deeply cryptic.

“Artificial Treatment”

This piece explores the territory of grids that have attracted so many concrete and visual poets.

“MEKTOUB”

A tremendous asemic text!

Pre Historic

This piece by Carlyle Baker is far more dependent on visual image and shows the strong connection to collage in certain types of visual-verbal texts.

Deepest thanks to Carlyle Baker! Stay tuned for Part II!

“The Runaway Beatnik Girl” by Dark wall