Description
Mail art, also known as postal art and correspondence art, is an artistic movement centered on sending small-scale works through the postal service. It developed out of what eventually became Ray Johnson's New York Correspondance School and the Fluxus movements of the 1960s. It has since developed into a global, ongoing movement.
Media commonly used in mail art include postcards, paper, a collage of found or recycled images and objects, rubber stamps, artist-created stamps (called artistamps), and paint, but can also include music, sound art, poetry, or anything that can be put in an envelope and sent via post. Mail art is considered art once it is dispatched. Mail artists regularly call for thematic or topical mail art for use in (often unjuried) exhibition. Read more ↗
Key Artists
Ray Johnson
Recognized as the father of Mail art; founded the New York Correspondence School (NYCS) in 1962 to distribute collages and instructions via the postal service.
Mieko Shiomi
Japanese Fluxus and Mail art pioneer whose international 'Spatial Poems' orchestrated collaborative actions across the globe via postal dispatches.
On Kawara
Conceptual and Mail artist famed for his daily 'I Got Up...' picture postcards stamped with his wake-up time and mailed to acquaintances worldwide.
Ben Vautier
Fluxus artist who used postcards, telegrams, and rubber stamps with humorous philosophical slogans to challenge traditional art gallery networks.
Dick Higgins
Fluxus co-founder and publisher of Something Else Press who championed intermedia and actively participated in the international postal exchange network.
Anna Banana
Prominent Canadian Mail artist and publisher of 'VILE' magazine who created interactive postal networks and artistamps specializing in Dadaist parody.
Famous Artworks
A Book About Death
Ray Johnson · 1963
Art Institute of Chicago / MoMA Library - Unbound mailed leaves and postcards
I Got Up...
On Kawara · 1970
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York - Stamped and addressed tourist postcards
S.M.S. No. 4
Various Artists (including On Kawara and Ray Johnson) · 1968
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York - Portfolio of multiple mail art objects in cardboard portfolio
The Paper Snake
Ray Johnson · 1965
Art Institute of Chicago Library - Bound artist book compiling correspondence
Fun Facts
Mail art operates on democratic, anti-commercial principles: exhibitions are almost universally unjuried, have no entry fees, return no works to senders, and display every submitted piece.
↗ Source: en.wikipedia.org
Ray Johnson tongue-in-cheek named his network the 'New York Correspondence School' (spelled intentionally with an 'a' as 'Correspondance') to mock the institutional authority of the New York School of Abstract Expressionism.
↗ Source: en.wikipedia.org
Shop
