Rael the Imperial Aerosol Kid

[gurdonark]

Fun mail tonight. I had sent off to mail artist Rael's mail art call for work with the theme "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" some months ago. "The Lamb", of course (who "seems right out of place, Broadway street lights find a focus in his face") is the last Genesis album with Peter Gabriel, the "magnum opus" to which Gabriel seemed always to be pointing, but, alas, never quite reached. Oddly, the first two post-Gabriel albums were Genesis' best, and then Genesis became largely unlistenable thereafter.

I chose to depict a passage from the song "The Carpet Crawlers", and in particular, the line "you gotta get in to get out, out"...using the illustrations from the song such as the "crawlers cover the floor", the "mild mannered supermen" and a world of various religious imagery. I had all but forgotten the call, but now Rael, the sponsor (neat play on words, Rael being the protagonist in "The Lamb") sent me a cool letter with stamps from not only the Netherlands, but also stamps from Russia, Poland, and some other place. Inside, a panoply of really neat drawings. Rael pleased me with his art, or, as the Genesis song says: "something inside me has just begun, Lord knows what I have done...".

Our neighbors, the nicest couple who moved here from Pakistan, just had us over to their house for a few moments. They have the cutest nine month old.

Then I did a crayon picture of alien wildflowers for one postcardx, another picture, also in crayon, of a blue squid with a verse analogizing squids to hearts,
a brief poem about how I feel more connected on a mowed field with blackbirds than in a nice restaurant surrounded by friends (kinda sad, really, but such is the muse), and mailed my book to someone unknown (indeed, a truly random postcardx mailing).

I sure draw good blue squid. I may have a future beyond drawing thistle.

Comments

[corylus.livejournal.com]

how do you give and receive random mail? are you in some kind of club? i would love to be involved with something like that.

what fun!

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

One easy place to start is www.postcardx.net.
You sign up for free, and then when you sign on, a random name generator gives you one of the 1,000 or so folks to send a card, poem, thought, dream or sundry to. Over time, you get postcards at random, also, although the goal is to give not get.

You can also participate in more formalized "mail art calls" by looking at the crosses.net mail art call forum or any of a ton of good places. I think that kiyotei has a cool website with links.

www.nervousness.org offers similar exchanges, tho it also offers more complicated land mail art objects, where bunches of people make changes to the work in progress, or, as often seems to happen, great conceptualization ends up with art in the ether.

I highly recommend postcardx. There's an LJ community for it, very useful, but the main line at the website is the easiest way to go.

Re: what fun!

[corylus.livejournal.com]

thank you so much!! this is my kind of gig!!
woohoo!!!!!!!!

Re: what fun!

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

Let me know when you're up and running, and what 'handle' you use, and I'll make sure to send to you.

Re: what fun!

[corylus.livejournal.com]

right on. and likewise. my handle is
savoy

Re: what fun!

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

of course, I'm Gurdonark, but I think the easiest way to find me is address search under Allen, TX

[http://users.livejournal.com/_riomaggiore/]

blue squid--didn't know they had calamari in Texas. that's another thing i missed--fresh breaded, fried calamari. think i'll get some tomorrow.

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

I think that calamari on the gulf is seasonally available, but squid in CA is always something else.
Of course, I mostly used squid for fishing bait, so what do I know.

[marstokyo.livejournal.com]

So when are you gonna be sending ME some of this stuff-- huh? or do I have to be on a *list exchange*?? It's not polite to just brag about the great mail art you keep getting--unless you have enough to share with the whole class!

well, now, this is proof of synchronicity

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

Well, now that you ASK, I will mention that it is this very day that I am sending you a neat little package, not really art, literature, truth or beauty at all, but just a small package of whimsy. I had to piece back through the "real mail" post you made, which was interesting, and assuming I get it into the mail today, which is a safe bet, I'd guess it will be there next week. I'll send "mail art" as well sooner or later, but I am now perfecting my "blue squid series" (smile) and then beginning work on the Sistine Chapel.

new friend

[sushimonkey.livejournal.com]

I added you to my friends list when I saw your comment in my entry about the Koran, but when I saw this entry of yours I'm extra glad I added you! When I was in the 9th grade I got really into old school Genesis and Peter Gabriel (half cause I totally dug the sounds and half cause this boy I liked taught me the ways of the "Lamb..." Regardless, when I was in the 10th grade in art class we had to choose a song to be inspired by and paint to. So I chose "This is The Picture (Excellent Birds)" from So. I still remember that painting..it was horrible! :)

how nice

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

I've read your insightful comments in other journals for months, so it's nice to reciprocally add you to my friends' list.

I love the photo on the first P. Gabriel album,
much more than the art on So, but the, I liked old Uriah Heep album covers, so we can't judge much about quality from my tastes.

To me, Wind and Wuthering is a nearly perfect album.
I like "genre" groups, like pre-pop Genesis or Madness or Jethro Tull or George Thorogood (i.e., groups that do one thing only, but do it really well), and
"Blood on the Rooftops" and "Afterglow" really do it for me.

Now I'm off to add to my friends list.

Re: how nice

[sushimonkey.livejournal.com]

cool!
Well, I was obsessed with Yes for a few years from the 10th grade and through high school (this was in 1990-93 mind you). My friend Bert handed me a stack of about 15 cassette tapes and I sat and listend to them all one day while painting and drawing (mostly the YES symbol-HAHA!). Then I begged my mom to buy me the Boxed Set when it came out that year. I remember selling it to get some cash when I was in college...sad day. :)

Re: how nice

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

I wish I had the URL to the Jon Anderson random lyric generator. It's hilarious.

I love Fragile and Close to the Edge.
But I'm not a good arbiter of taste.
Heck, I even like early Rush. One of my favorite
songs is "Lakeside Park", a ballad done in that inimitable Rush falsetto.

oh, my goodness, my bifocals must be failing

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

Your picture was inspired by the song, not the album cover (grin). Well, anyway, I recommend that you
paint from old Uriah Heep songs--

"let's all go to the Magician's Birthday
in the forest and not so far away
much to do and so much to say
as we listen to the orchid orchestra play"

I wish I could paint a picture like a song.