Mail Art

Sheridan Scifres

Advanced Drawing

Professor Cindy Rehm

May 7, 2018

Mail Art

            For my mail art project I was all over the place, the first couple ones were really random and had no certain format or medium. I started using and pulling things from around me. At first they had actual food stamps of things I ate that day, almost like little diaries of my daily life. I added fun little facts and images, some of random food, others of famous or popular things. Some included glitter while others didn’t.  As time progressed I realized I didn’t like making the object inside the envelope the art, but rather the outside. I drew what came to mind. Which keep in mind was really random, for example: ants swimming in a toilet as if it were a pool. From here I progressed and added small little texts on the inside that were very random and whatever came to my mind at the time being, I really had a fun time with this project with the freedom it allowed.

The artists Liz Climo inspired me with her comic strips of animals usually having some cute conversation. The animals are beautifully drawn in a very minimalist style that I just adore! They are funny in the most minimalist dry way. Her style and comedic twist of adding text to her work really inspired the format and layout of my mail art which also reminded me of Charles Schulz drawings of snoopy, the famous snoopy comic strips. Here is a video of him drawing which is very interesting to see the motions he uses : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEQGG73rwAQ

Lastly, is an artist whom I adore, simply for his very minimalist, tiny drawings. His name is David Rollyn, and his drawings or simple ink pen line work drawings that usually are inspired from the outdoors. They are very minimal and simplistic, which is something I find common in my work. The subject matter is very important to me, and from there comes the form. His drawings inspired the style of my drawings on the envelopes. The simple yet thick lines of his drawing reminded me of one of my favorite childhood cartoons: Felix the cat (My parents raised me on really old school cartoons, and I adored Felix!) This simple short clip perfectly summarizes the humor and design I was trying to embody: https://media.giphy.com/media/th8Dit0hGdFw4/giphy.gif