I popped into Bridport Arts Centre today to buy some tickets and was told that the postman had said I would have to reduce the amount of writing on the outside of the envelope – it is holding him up on his round reading it! So today I put a little hello to the post people to thank them for the good work they do. Just like I used “gotten” the other day to better fill the space, today I have used “postperson” instead of “postie”, the non-gender-specific term I decided on some time back, because it looked better visually.
As you can see the printer problem has returned with a bang and we have Violet Lines appearing again. I’m going to play with some photos before I make it go away.
I really have little to say about posting No112. The printer didn’t play up as much as I feared and There could have been a disaster with the sealing wax which I have written about on the back:
I’m not referring to the shadow rabbits that have appeared here but the fact that somehow I have managed to magic up a good piece of work even though I have been really down today and barely able to do anything. It took a while to do and longer to find a way in to it and I wasn’t confident I would pull it off but it’s come out well in the end, very well.
Today’s piece was created and posted in Birmingham (although the printed elements of the envelope were prepared yesterday in advance) and the picture above was taken in Victoria Square on the wall of the pool where some words from Burnt Norton, one of the Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot are carved:
And the pool was filled with water out of sunlight, And the lotos rose, quietly, quietly, The surface glittered out of heart of light, And they were behind us, reflected in the pool. Then a cloud passed, and the pool was empty.
But at present the cloud has permanently passed as the pool is drained and the fountains stilled presumably for maintenance:
To look down into the drained pool. Dry the pool, dry concrete
So there is a little touch of inspiration from Eliot and the light-hearted Brummie love of its public art. My picture of the Floozie says it all:
Floozie in the Jacuzzi with seagull and bird dropping
And of course behind and below the Floozie is Gormley’s Iron Man, a little of its magic rubbed off on me I hope, and round the corner is the Museum & Art Gallery with its great collection of Pre-Raphaelites amongst much else, though sadly I don’t think there are any Rauschenbergs there. And, of course, the stunning new library is not far away. I have been reading about Rauschenberg and looking at his work a lot recently. I think if I had become familiar with his work in the late 60s I might have studied painting rather than sculpture or perhaps I might have had the courage to be bolder in my sculpture. It is only today that I am really beginning to understand the very radical nature of his work and the interesting questions he has been asking through his career. His Erased de Kooning Drawing for example is intriguingly complex. Rubbing out Iron Man or TS Eliot is a little more difficult!
When I came to post No107 I was surprised to find the letter boxes at the Post Office had been painted white with no helpful patterns to educate you in how to post a letter.
No107 gets posted in Birmingham
And someone (is there anybody out there?) is bound to want to see the back of the envelope:
No96 gets posted in sunshine but I still missed the post
As you can see from the image of the back I am reading the Owl Service – and what’s wrong with that? Alan Garner is an interesting writer and I am enjoying it despite the slightly dated setting. Great that he references the Mabinogion while omitting Alison’s mother as a character even though she is present in the house. That’s a bit like me ignoring the existence of an artwork at the centre of this!
Waited till the rain stopped before the short walk to the post box to post No90
Hope you were hanging on to the edge of your seats – I know the thrill of seeing another picture of me posting a letter is reassuringly thrilling but this one with the darkness, the glaring shine on the day-plate and the sinister drips of water must be close to adrenalin-overload level!
Anyway I did an artwork and put it in that envolope pictured so what more can you ask?
No88 goes in the box. Do I have to make all the bingo numbers PC?
I’ve done the work, created the envelope, annotated the back, posted it and now when it’s late and I am dog tired you expect me to write witty things or deep philosophies. Give me a break, I’m going to bed.
I am not saying if the contents are in fact the Mutus Liber, but today has been a more encouraging day for my Dorset Art Weeks ordeal. Today saw some people who were really interested in my work and I sold a couple more pictures and another #Letter365. Just a little less tired too and I’m aiming for an early night. Perhaps soon I will be able to do some work on my websites and do some drawing and painting.
I have lots to say about lots of things around this project and art and this day but I am totally spent.
I will just put up this picture of the back of today’s envelope which i have had to seal with scotch magic tape and scribble over because these envelopes are really rubbish.
Well I am going to have to give a clue or two to explain the title! Having opened my house as a gallery for Dorset Art Weeks I have not been able to fit my #Letter365 piece into the day so I am unable to start till after we close. So with limited time available why do I choose something which involves a drying time – a drying time much longer than I thought! And just in case it still had a residual wetness I needed to think about packing it carefully and it happens to be thicker than average so I had to work out a compromise so that it would still be less than 5mm thick and go through the Post Office slot and not cost me more than a normal first class stamp.
Anyway, I still popped it in the box around 10.30pm (serenaded by a tawny owl) so all’s well.
An unfolding artwork created a piece each day for a year
