Arthur asked me to go through his personal computer archive yesterday to pull images that I might find useful for the documentary or for research purposes. On his computer's desktop he had folders in folders in folders. Everything labelled and well organized. I did not look through every item in every folder but when I found a few interesting images in a folder I copied it in its entirety to my thumb-drive to make sure I did not miss anything. I was surprised at all the files he had saved. Letters, snaps-shots friends had sent him and thousands of digital files of his artwork.
As I peeked around the archive I came across a catalogue called A Brief History of Me: Letters to Art which included Correspondence Art The pieces were part of an international exhibition of original letters and artifacts mailed by and to Arthur Secunda from 1943 – 2013. Apparently in 2000 I sent him the collage above in the mail. I had totally forgotten about it. This collage must have been inspired by the interviews I did with Arthur about Correspondence Art and his friend Ray Johnson.
Ray Johnson and Arthur Secunda had mailed Correspondence Art to each other throughout the years as young adults and adults. At the time of these interviews I did with Arthur, he was interested in doing a documentary with me on his friend Ray Johnson. This documentary never come to be but it did allow me to shoot hours and hours of conversation with Arthur about the subject of Mail Art. Furthermore it inspired me to send this collage to Arthur in 2000. It is composed of some of my caricatures, photographs, and even a short snippet of 16mm reversal film, as well as fragments of a Rumi poem. I was honored that he kept it for so many years and included it in his Brief History of Me: Letters to Art exhibition.
A Brief History of Me: Letters to Art was an international exhibition of original letters and artifacts mailed by and to Arthur Secunda from 1943 – 2013. Featuring over 100 letters and objects expressing influences of the NY Correspondence School, Fluxus, Dada and Surrealism, as well as personal eccentric graphic humorous and historical documents. The contents of this exhibition have been donated by the artist to the archives of the Arthur Secunda Museum at Cleary University.
As I peeked around the archive I came across a catalogue called A Brief History of Me: Letters to Art which included Correspondence Art The pieces were part of an international exhibition of original letters and artifacts mailed by and to Arthur Secunda from 1943 – 2013. Apparently in 2000 I sent him the collage above in the mail. I had totally forgotten about it. This collage must have been inspired by the interviews I did with Arthur about Correspondence Art and his friend Ray Johnson.
Ray Johnson and Arthur Secunda had mailed Correspondence Art to each other throughout the years as young adults and adults. At the time of these interviews I did with Arthur, he was interested in doing a documentary with me on his friend Ray Johnson. This documentary never come to be but it did allow me to shoot hours and hours of conversation with Arthur about the subject of Mail Art. Furthermore it inspired me to send this collage to Arthur in 2000. It is composed of some of my caricatures, photographs, and even a short snippet of 16mm reversal film, as well as fragments of a Rumi poem. I was honored that he kept it for so many years and included it in his Brief History of Me: Letters to Art exhibition.
A Brief History of Me: Letters to Art was an international exhibition of original letters and artifacts mailed by and to Arthur Secunda from 1943 – 2013. Featuring over 100 letters and objects expressing influences of the NY Correspondence School, Fluxus, Dada and Surrealism, as well as personal eccentric graphic humorous and historical documents. The contents of this exhibition have been donated by the artist to the archives of the Arthur Secunda Museum at Cleary University.