Spring 2020 Mail Art Selections

May 1, 2020 – Los Angeles: One highlight of Artists For A Better World International’s 2020 World Art Day celebration was its tradition of reviewing and featuring selections of Mail Art received from around the globe (see video below).

Spring 2020 Mail Art Selections

Becky Mate is the curator of AFABW Int’s annual Mail Art program. She remarked, “We can inspire others by creating and sharing artwork through the mail.”

AFABW Int President, George Alger stated, “Our Mail Art projects are intended to be fun or inspirational and anyone can participate.”

Included among this year’s Mail Art were two black and white pieces from Macedonia by Vlado Goroski. Mate remarked, “It was as if the top layer of white cardboard had been peeled off to reveal mysterious shapes inside, one of them punched, but not all the way through, with something small and round for texture.”

A number of Mail Art postcards arrived from Germany, Turkey, and Austin, Texas.

Within an envelope from Gillian Lapuz of Canada was a pink package made from folded paper, fastened with sealing wax. Inside, intricate art squares awaited discovery.

From Illinois came a nod to French artist Rene Magritte’s “Ceci n’est pas une pipe.” (This is not a pipe – the title of a painting that clearly was a smoking pipe.) This postcard, by Marlene Russum, had a partial article about Ray Johnson, who is attributed as the first postal “collage” artist. Russum’s Mail Art submission includes part of a clasp envelope and states, “Ceci n’est pas mail art.” (This is not mail art.)

Colorful art inspired by Demon Slayer came from Sara Fang and mixed media art by Emily Pang, both from Fremont, California. Also from the same town, Rachel Silver mailed an enchanting penguin drawing which took us on a visual story from the outside of the envelope, to all sides of the card within, culminating in the little creature flying into the air with a balloon tied around its belly.

Mate concluded: “The more I reviewed the Mail Art we received, which was all over the place as far as style, the more I found myself wanting to experiment, push my boundaries, and try new things. I was not making art for a juried gallery show, nor making art that fit parameters that could sell. No, this was a private artistic communication, whether by postcard or greeting card, between me and a stranger in another city or another country. It was liberating.”

Spring 2020 Featured Mail Art Video

In the following video made for Our Ventura TV, Becky Mate shows off some of this year’s featured Mail Art selections, with a theme of “Celebrate Life!” The segment was broadcast on cable TV the week of May 17 to May 23, 2020.

Spring 2020 Featured Mail Art Creators

Thank you to each of the AFABW Int 2020 Mail Art creators. Mail Art curator, Becky Mate, will be creating and sending a personal and unique Mail Art creation in response to each of the following individuals:

CANADA