Fluke 19: The Mail Art issue
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Hello and welcome to the Mail Art issue of Fluke, I’m branching out on this one! Since issue 1 in 1991, this fanzine has mainly focused on the subculture of punk rock. While dabbling in Mail Art, I’ve discovered parallels between the two movements.
Aside from the initial sound and energy of punk, the thing that most attracted me to it was the camaraderie of its members. The local bands shared equipment and wore one another’s band tees while on stage. The fanzine editors published split issues together and contributed to their friends’ zines. We put on our own shows and booked our own tours. Out of town bands slept on our floors and couches and we slept on theirs while traveling.
I found the same spirit within the Mail Art community. The sharing of art and ideas, as well as couch space. Friendships that last a lifetime.
For this issue, I did some traveling myself, to interview a few veteran Mail Artists. All of these individuals are stalwarts of Mail Art, participating in the movement since the ‘70s or ‘80s. What does Mail Art mean to them? What has been their contribution over the decades? Where did they go in their travels? This all-star cast of Mail Artists offers a glimpse of that vast network which has spanned continents for decades. So let’s get on with the introductions.
I first became fully aware of Mail Art while exchanging letters with Mail Artist and railroad retiree buZ blurr from Gurdon, Arkansas, 85 miles southwest of my hometown of Little Rock. He introduced me to most of the people featured here, among other Mail Artists. buZ is a wealth of knowledge—just spend an afternoon with him and I leave with a dozen or more names floating around in my head, only to hope I remember them long enough to do my own research. During a trip back to Arkansas visiting family and friends, I interviewed buZ while my kids played with Emmy’s cats in their backyard.
In 2018, buZ and I drove through the desert to Los Angeles, where he participated in an art show. On that trip, he introduced me to his fellow Mail Art compadre Leslie Caldera, who took us to breakfast and drove us to a few shops that sell Fluke. Leslie opens this issue with “A Personal History of Mail Art.”
I then traveled to San Francisco and visited John Held, Jr in his home, where we talked about his life in Mail Art. It’s safe to say that John has the single largest Mail Art archive in the country.
Anna Banana of Roberts Creek, British Columbia has been creating Mail Art for 50 years. Over the decades she has published VILE magazine and her newsletters “Banana Rag” and “Artistamp News.” Anna was kind enough to take time out of her archiving to answer my questions for this project.
E.F. Higgins from the Lower East Side of Manhattan was visiting his sisters here in Phoenix when I took the opportunity to ask him a few questions. Higgins brought along a couple binders full of his beautiful artistamps and envelopes that he mailed to his sisters over the years.
We also have Henry Denander of Stockholm, Sweden, who creates wonderful stamps from his paintings. Henry is a fan of jazz and other genres of music and a lot of his work focuses on those artists.
The married couple Ryosuke Cohen and Noriko Shimizu are Mail Artists from Ashiya, Japan. Ryosuke’s Brain Cell series has been published every eight to ten days since 1985! An extraordinary achievement by any measure. Noriko was a student of the late Shozo Shimamoto in the ‘80s and is the creator of Egoisticker. Rié Saitö interviewed Noriko and translated both interviews.
To conclude the Mail Artist interviews, we’ve included John Held’s 1977 interview with the Father of Mail Art, Ray Johnson.
And lastly, I asked Chuck from my post office a handful of questions about his love of stamps and the subjects that adorn them. I think his response helps to illustrate how underground the Mail Art movement still is. As it should be—the best punk shows are always in the basement! -Matthew Thompson
Aside from the initial sound and energy of punk, the thing that most attracted me to it was the camaraderie of its members. The local bands shared equipment and wore one another’s band tees while on stage. The fanzine editors published split issues together and contributed to their friends’ zines. We put on our own shows and booked our own tours. Out of town bands slept on our floors and couches and we slept on theirs while traveling.
I found the same spirit within the Mail Art community. The sharing of art and ideas, as well as couch space. Friendships that last a lifetime.
For this issue, I did some traveling myself, to interview a few veteran Mail Artists. All of these individuals are stalwarts of Mail Art, participating in the movement since the ‘70s or ‘80s. What does Mail Art mean to them? What has been their contribution over the decades? Where did they go in their travels? This all-star cast of Mail Artists offers a glimpse of that vast network which has spanned continents for decades. So let’s get on with the introductions.
I first became fully aware of Mail Art while exchanging letters with Mail Artist and railroad retiree buZ blurr from Gurdon, Arkansas, 85 miles southwest of my hometown of Little Rock. He introduced me to most of the people featured here, among other Mail Artists. buZ is a wealth of knowledge—just spend an afternoon with him and I leave with a dozen or more names floating around in my head, only to hope I remember them long enough to do my own research. During a trip back to Arkansas visiting family and friends, I interviewed buZ while my kids played with Emmy’s cats in their backyard.
In 2018, buZ and I drove through the desert to Los Angeles, where he participated in an art show. On that trip, he introduced me to his fellow Mail Art compadre Leslie Caldera, who took us to breakfast and drove us to a few shops that sell Fluke. Leslie opens this issue with “A Personal History of Mail Art.”
I then traveled to San Francisco and visited John Held, Jr in his home, where we talked about his life in Mail Art. It’s safe to say that John has the single largest Mail Art archive in the country.
Anna Banana of Roberts Creek, British Columbia has been creating Mail Art for 50 years. Over the decades she has published VILE magazine and her newsletters “Banana Rag” and “Artistamp News.” Anna was kind enough to take time out of her archiving to answer my questions for this project.
E.F. Higgins from the Lower East Side of Manhattan was visiting his sisters here in Phoenix when I took the opportunity to ask him a few questions. Higgins brought along a couple binders full of his beautiful artistamps and envelopes that he mailed to his sisters over the years.
We also have Henry Denander of Stockholm, Sweden, who creates wonderful stamps from his paintings. Henry is a fan of jazz and other genres of music and a lot of his work focuses on those artists.
The married couple Ryosuke Cohen and Noriko Shimizu are Mail Artists from Ashiya, Japan. Ryosuke’s Brain Cell series has been published every eight to ten days since 1985! An extraordinary achievement by any measure. Noriko was a student of the late Shozo Shimamoto in the ‘80s and is the creator of Egoisticker. Rié Saitö interviewed Noriko and translated both interviews.
To conclude the Mail Artist interviews, we’ve included John Held’s 1977 interview with the Father of Mail Art, Ray Johnson.
And lastly, I asked Chuck from my post office a handful of questions about his love of stamps and the subjects that adorn them. I think his response helps to illustrate how underground the Mail Art movement still is. As it should be—the best punk shows are always in the basement! -Matthew Thompson