Mail Art

Mail Art

Mail Art is a cultural movement that involves sending mail through the international postal system. This mail consists of visual art, music, sound, poetry, etc. Mail art is thought of as an “Experience” with roots as far back as Cleopatra’s time and is found in a number of forms including, more recently, internet mail. Mailartists decorate envelops, design stamps and personalize stationary making the means on which a message is delivered more valuable than the content within.

Artist

György Galántai is a Hungarian artist. In the late 70s he started a correspondence with other artists around the world, joining the mail art movement. In 1978, he created an archive for these correspondences and other documents which he collected on Hungarian neo-avantgarde movements and founded the “Artpool Art Research Center” which became one of the largest archives of mail art, artistamp and art journal collections.

Book

I folded a magazine ad into the shape of an envelop to demonstrate mail art. I cut up pieces to create the shape in the back and a collage effect. I also added a stamp that I cut out of the magazine and folded up another ad like a letter and placed it inside.

  

Superflat

Superflat

Superflat is an art movement that was founded by postmodernist Takashi Murakami. This movement found inspiration in anime and seeks to comment on post-war Japanese culture, criticizing the “otaku lifestyle, consumerism, and related issues”. Superflat emerged as a response to the homogenization of Japanese art and media and its broad nature allows it to encompass a wide range of subjects.

Artist

Mahomi Kunikata is an artist who uses the narrative qualities of Japanese comics as a means of creating deep, insightful, original works of art. Kunikata’s work is emotional and sexual often reflecting personal issues such as abandonment, masochism, and depression.

Book

To demonstrate superflat in my book I took inspiration from examples I found with women posed in front of animated backgrounds. I cut one of the models out of the magazine and pasted the cutout on a page that I decorated in a similar colorful, animated, manner.

Relational Aesthetics

Relational Aesthetics

Relational Aesthetics is a mode of fine art that is based off of human relations and social context as a whole rather than the individual private sphere. Art that falls in this category works with the changing mindset of society over time. As culture changes, this art adapts and takes its “point of departure in the changing mental space opened by the internet”. As an art form, these works allow people to come together and collectively participate in an activity.

Artist

Philippe Parreno is an artist and filmmaker from Algeria who currently lives in Paris, France. His work is primarily focused on “the interrogation of the nature of an image, as well as the modes of its exhibition.”

Book

For this week’s book application, I decided to recreate an activity that I used to participate in when I was younger. My friends and I used to dress up little paper dolls in different outfit cutouts. I found an as in my magazine with a model in her bra and underwear which is how the paper dolls used to come and was inspired so I searched around the rest of the magazine for outfits that could fit her. I cut out a number of outfits and took pictures of the outfits on the model. I also created a pocket in the magazine to store the outfits in.

                                               

   

Site Specific Art

Site Specific Art

Site-specific art is art that is created to be in a specific place. The artwork generally reflects that location that it is in, in some form, and is usually permanently attached to that location. This type of art emerged in the 1970s and was first used by a number of young sculptures. Site-specific art can be either indoor or outdoor and varies accordingly.

Artist

Luna Nera is a group of international artists who work together to make site-specific artworks. The organization was founded in 1997 and since then they have exhibited their work in a wide range of venues. The group mainly creates works that respond to urban sites that have fallen into “dereliction”.

Book

I decided to use the spine of my book at the “site” because it is the foundation of the magazine so it is what I consider to be the most permanent part of the book. I created a landscape scene on the spine complete with green grass, blue sky, white glittery clouds, and a flower.