Mail Art from "Mohammed" to John Evans
Dublin Core
Title
Mail Art from "Mohammed" to John Evans
Subject
[no text]
Description
This work was a very long enduring project that was the result of the desire to make connections. It is a part of a particular Mail Art project started by a Turkish artist named Plinio Mesculium who was based out of Italy. Mesculium, known as an experiential and religiously centered and abstract painter, would have people send mail that contained his letterhead reading “Mohammed Center for Restricted Communication”. As he received the letters, he would add twelve names and addresses on top, color-Xerox them and proceed to mail out twelve copies to the twelve people originally indicated. He would make 15 copies in total, 12 for the address, one for himself, one for Jean Brown (an art collector and pivotal influence) and one for the person who made the collage. There were around 2,000 units sent out via John Held and each piece stated their “unit number”. Recipients therefore had clues about the works origins when receiving the work with the letterhead and the unit number but there was still tense of mystery within the mail, holding true to the origin of mail art. While the front of the works were plastered with names, the “addressee” would only be known to the other eleven according to this back of this piece. This project was very sophisticated in the way that it intrigued people to get connected.
The use of visual imagery was enticing and pleasant. This living room scene provides a kind of spiral downwards focus, drawing the eye from big names down to tiny, printed names that are broken and placed in odd positions. It’s beautiful and jarring. It also makes the viewer wonder who these people are. Many people making the collages and sending in the names to be sent out, which is a very clear depiction of the mail art network in the 70s. It’s not that John Held or Mesculium were mail art pioneers, but they were a part of the overall network, and this large project visually displayed the community on its front.
The use of visual imagery was enticing and pleasant. This living room scene provides a kind of spiral downwards focus, drawing the eye from big names down to tiny, printed names that are broken and placed in odd positions. It’s beautiful and jarring. It also makes the viewer wonder who these people are. Many people making the collages and sending in the names to be sent out, which is a very clear depiction of the mail art network in the 70s. It’s not that John Held or Mesculium were mail art pioneers, but they were a part of the overall network, and this large project visually displayed the community on its front.
Creator
Plinio Mesciulam for the Mohammed Center of Restricted Communication
Source
Archives of American Art
Publisher
[no text]
Date
19--?
Contributor
[no text]
Rights
AGADP
Relation
https://learninglab.si.edu/resources/view/1075206
Format
10 x 21 cm
Language
English
Type
Mail Art
Identifier
[no text]
Coverage
[no text]
Files
Collection
Citation
Plinio Mesciulam for the Mohammed Center of Restricted Communication, “Mail Art from "Mohammed" to John Evans,” Collaborative Correspondence: Mail Art from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art, accessed May 9, 2024, https://collaborativecorrespondence.omeka.net/items/show/40.