The postman delivers modern art

Most people just think of the postal system as a way to get a letter from one place to another, but today it is used for something it was never intended for -- making art.

"Do Not Bend" is an exhibit of mail art and zines created by people across the country and around the world. It is a unique art form that allows for a broad range of human expression uninhibited by cultural boundaries and social norms. This kind of art has been around for many years and has been going unnoticed.

According to Wendy Norris, manager of the Student Center Art Gallery, "It shows an alternative side of American media and it is the grass root of art today. We get pieces from people all over the country and some from other countries," Norris said. This is the first exhibit of its kind at SF State and she thinks that it will do very well with the students. "Many people will question art of this kind, but overall reaction will be good," she added.

Included in the exhibit is a collection of collages and monoprints from three Bay Area students: Patty Picco, Nyree Watts and Ciara Bedingfield. According to Watts, "Experimentation is a key element of my work. It fosters the realization of growth and discovery."

"My work is about the process of healing. It conveys the ongoing search for integration of all parts of my life," Picco said.

Some of the mail art pieces include: a full-size, a half-gallon milk carton with the address label on the bottom, nine postcard-size photos of boys and girls blowing out birthday candles, a full-size toilet seat cover with toilet paper sticking out, a 3-inch, square computer chip board with photos attached on a silver key ring, and an O.J. Simpson sketch with him in denim jeans, a shirt and cowboy boots with a hand with a black glove over his shoulders.

"Zines are encouraged to be read and touched by students, but they not to touch the mail pieces on the walls," Liza Fox, assistant manager at the Art Gallery, said.

Mail art and zines challenge the definitions of art by changing the traditional means of distribution, use of media and the availability of art. It is a way to combat traditional mainstream ideologies in mass media, especially television, print and music. "Basically, mail art is any art piece that are mailed to someone using the postal system. I like the fact that people took time out to mail us their art pieces," Norris said.

"I think it's important for people to look at what they're throwing away, and what is around them ... I always want things to be more than they appear to be at first glance," Johny Brewton, creator of the zine "X-Ray," said.

"Do Not Bend" hopes not only to challenge definitions of art and media, but also to show how their existence is inherently reflective of messages that often go unrecognized or unheard in American society.

Mail art grew out of the efforts of several major artistic movements of the 1960s: Nouveau Realists in Europe and the Fluxus group in Japan both experimented with Marshall McLuhan's famous injunction that "the medium is the message" by creating work expressly intended to be sent via the postal system. Mail art and zines embody the D.I.Y. (Do It Yourself) philosophy that was rooted in the 1970s articulation of a 1960s ethic.

Mail art and zines give voice to those silenced by the traditional hierarchies of the art world. These are books without publishers, paintings without patrons, and taken together they represent a challenge to traditional constructs about what is art and is not art. These ideas and their implications quickly spread throughout the art world. Ray Johnson was credited to the founding of the first formal organization, the New York Correspondence School, dedicated to its pursuit.

The opening reception of "Do Not Bend" is Wednesday, Sept. 11, from 4 p.m.-6 p.m. in the basement level of the student center. The exhibit will run from Sept. 11-Oct. 9, 1996.

Any questions or comments regarding the exhibit, please contact Wendy Norris at 338-2580.

[ Golden Gater Online September 10, 1996 ]

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