Customer Reviews

Mail Me Art: Going Postal with the World's Best Illustrators and Designers

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I have been involved in the international network of mail art, as a practising author and chronicler, for over three decades, so I have the habit of checking periodically the Internet to see if any new book on the subject has appeared. I had Di Lieto's Mail Me Art in pre-order long before the publication date, and I had visited the author's website, the Little Chimp Society, so I knew beforehand more or less what to expect. The book is not disappointing at all in its visual contents, since it permits to see what a specific group of authors - illustrators and designers, mostly young and at the start of their career - is able to devise when confronted with the request to regard the surface of an envelope or package as an empty page, and then drop their completed artwork into a mailbox. A few items designed by children or by more traditionally oriented illustrators are mixed here with a colourful variety of images drawing inspiration from the language of comics, from the bold world of Pop Surrealism, the doodles and tags of street art, the cute characters of toy art. With only an handful of established "big names" in sight, these are by no means "the world's best illustrators and designers", as the cover promises, yet the selection is varied and exuberant. It is particularly interesting and amusing to see how each artist has solved the challenge to incorporate the postage stamps, the address and other postal insignia into their piece.

What in the book is really conspicuous by its absence, though, is any real knowledge of over forty years of mail art activities. Even if art by correspondence remains an underestimated and underground art phenomenon, it has been nevertheless documented in thousands of catalogues, art magazines, books, articles (see John Held Jr.'s Mail Art: An Annotated Bibliography, The Scarecrow Press, 1991), and also in many websites. You simply cannot sweep the complex history of correspondence art under the carpet. If Di Lieto had made the effort of a little research into the tradition (and the present) of mail art, he would not have come up with such an inaccurate piece of information as when he states that "unlike regular mail, there is often nothing inside (a mail art envelope)": quite the opposite is true! Since Di Lieto name-drops in his introduction "the late pop artist Ray Johnson, who is often considered the father of the (mail art) movement", he cannot plead complete ignorance. With a little insight into the motivations that lie behind the growth of a planetary "eternal network" of creative correspondents, still involving today hundreds of postal networkers, the author would have found out, for instance, that mail art is traditionally considered "a gift" and not something in need of a price tag (as he requests in his interviews to the participating authors).

The global mail art community is not restricted only to illustrators and graphic designers, but also includes painters, sculptors, performers, poets, novelists, musicians, filmmakers, philosophers, mad scientists, amateurs and people from all walks of life. The aim of mail art is not (only) to produce spectacular images on envelopes. In actual fact, the medium usually tackles a broad range of counter-cultural, social, ecological and utopian issues: as an introduction to mail art theory and practices, see Networked Art by Craig J. Saper (University of Minnesota Press, 2001) and the collection of essays At a Distance: Precursors to Art and Activism on the Internet (The MIT Press, 2005). Mail art works are rarely "art for art's sake", they tend to be part of an ongoing collective dialogue, a process of open, free, anti-hierarchical and interactive communication that long predates the so called "social networks" of the Web 2.0.

Only an handful of works reproduced in Mail Me Art deal with the concepts of communication and postal transmission, even these in a rather shy and mild way. We do not see attempts at challenging the postal medium (for example, by using fake "artist's stamps"), or at projecting art statements that go much beyond the sheer demonstration of wit and pictorial prowess. Above all, these nice pieces of postal art do not attempt to become part of a networking process by requesting in some way a feedback from the receiver, they are "finished" and ready to be framed (though Di Lieto also proposes to buy them and forward them to a new addressee).

In the broader context of the history of correspondence art, Mail Me Art (with its online companion website) is therefore an interesting project, but only shows one side of the multifaceted mail art phenomenon. A few lines of clarification in the introduction would have been sufficient to place the book in a more correct perspective (since Di Lieto's website promises a second book, he will have a chance to set the records straight!). All this said, and partially in defence of the author, most books on mail art are no more in print or are rather difficult to find, though Internet offers huge reference sites like the Artpool Archive or Ruud Janssen's TAM. I still find it amazing that more books are available in the English language about niche phenomenons like ATCs (Artist's Trading Cards), that developed in recent years from the mail art milieu, rather than about the history of mail art itself. It is a gap in the book market that begs to be filled, the sooner the better (but of course, this is another story).

These are gorgeous examples of decorated envelopes... all submitted for an exhibit to be held sometime in the future. Lots of great illustration, very contemporary - but I wish the subject matter and treatments could have shown more variety. I think everyone invited to participate is a working artist of a certain age group - thus the homogeneity of the project. Nice though.

"Going Postal with the World's Best Illustrators and Designers?" I don't think so. If the group wanted to appeal to one kind of audience, this is for you. While I appreciate the effort made on some of the envelopes, I found many of them pedestrian and uninteresting. If the artists had added a comment about why he/she created the envelope and any other background on the piece, it would have given a little insight into the artist. To view some very creative envelopes which would appeal to a diverse audience, look for Graceful Envelopes, sponsored by the U.S. Postal Service every year.

I was blown away by the level of illustration and the print quality. This book has inspirational art on every page. It was a fun project to be involved with and I would recommend this to anyone who loves eye candy.

The Mail Me Art book was an after thought to a very creative idea. Create art on the outside of an envelope or package so that is can be seen by everyone as it makes its transit to a destination. The book is full of full page images of the art- really gives the viewer a chance to see the details in the imagery. A wide variety of media, styles, and subject matter from all over the world.
Bryan Carson bryancarson.com

Thank you Vittore for taking the time to make an interesting and in-depth comment. What you and everyone else involved in Correspondence Art does is absolutely amazing on so many levels; running the Mail Me Art project has been a huge learning curve for me. I am just a humble designer who loves illustration, but I'll try to set the record straight when I get to work on the next book. Please - if you can make it to the exhibition, come and say hello.

I am a photographer, who is branching out into other mediums. I purchased this book as a reference and a jumping off point for new ideas. It's working out well for me.

I bought this for my fiancee for her birthday. I was late ordering it but it got to me extremely quick and in mint condition. Amazing book and amazing dealer.

For me, the fact that this is all mail art is secondary to the wide range and quality of the submissions. It's a gallery of contemporary illustration--not abstract art, but the very best examples of styles we see on packaging and fashion and internet graphics today. Very entertaining, inspirational work is exhibited here. The concept of mail art ties it all together but doesn't limit each artist's work.

I submitted an envelope to this unique project over a year ago. I didn't hear back other than they liked my piece and received it.

Flash forward, I see the book on Amazon and find my name in the table of contents. So I bought the book. This is a book one can thumb through over and over and not get bored. The project this book represents teaches artists not only how to think outside of the box, but how to market creatively, and it engages us in a communal experiment i.e. the resulting gallery show and publication in the book. It also elevates snail mail to an art form.

My book is in a gallery where some of my paintings and prints are being showcased here in the States (Connecticut); it's captured the imagination of art buyers and one is interested in buying my envelope. More importantly, this book is teaching traditional art buyers there's new ways to enjoy art to hang-a great and hip way to bring generations together.

I've also shared this book with a KE teacher at the elementary school where I work-(the day job) and it's captured the imagination of little ones as well.


Suzanne Urban in CT