Asemic Front 2 Collab by Michael Orr & De Villo Sloan

Asemic visual poetry by Michael Orr (Georgia, USA) 

& De Villo Sloan (New York, USA)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Neo-concrete foundation by De Villo Sloan

 

INTERZONA Project: Collab by Rosaire Appel & Ferran Destemple

 

Asemic visual poetry collaboration by Rosaire Appel (New York City, USA)

& Ferran Destemple (Barcelona, Spain)

 

 

Ferran Destemple's highly original INTERZONA project is running concurrently with AF2. I am planning on - at least partially - documenting INTERZONA pieces as they become available. Today's entry is an extraordinary collab by the widely acclaimed asemic writer Rosaire Appel and Ferran.

My deepest thanks go to Rosaire Appel and Ferran Destemple for granting AF2 permission to share this work. Rosaire Appel is a "must-see" and "must follow" artist for all those interested in asemic writing, visual poetry, abstract and conceptual art and related genres.

Please visit Rosaire Appel's blog if you have not already. I guarantee you will be impressed and enlightened. Rosaire is a figure with whom all of us in the international community should keep current:

https://rosaireappel.blogspot.com/?fbclid=IwAR0IKvw_JMAwJyD-elI9LE_5JuI17sIfP9SltN971-YqMYbPdfB3BXTn8n0

INTERZONA has a deep affinity with Asemic Front. First, it is an homage to William S. Burroughs and his real-imaginary world of Interzone (Anglo spelling), the cut-up technique and Burroughs' fascinating theories of organic consciousness transfers, soul migration, infestation by alien entities, mutation, exemplified in the widely known Burroughs adage: "Language is a virus." Ferran Destemple uses the fascinating concept of works being invaded by Interzone as a basis for the collaborative process as well as a metaphor. The Soft Machine in particular is a center for Ferran's concept.

Detail of collaboration by Rosaire Appel & Ferran Destemple

William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin are important figures in the asemic writing movement, especially revered here at Asemic Front. Ferran Destemple's full title of the collab is "The Alphabet of Uncle Bill's Soft Machine infects Rosaire Appel."Thus, Burroughs becomes a spirit collaborator in these pieces. A tremendous innovation for asemic and vispo collab!

 

 

 

The Theory of Spontaneous Composition & Asemics by Yayoi S.W.

Asemic visual poetry by Yayoi S.W. (Kirkland, Washington, USA)

 

 

 

Yayoi S.W. is an Asemic Front regular. I am always thrilled to receive her work, which usually arrives via snail mail. She is obviously a very talented visual artist and currently participates in the international mail art network. The network has long been an important conduit for concrete and visual poetry and now asemic writing.

 

Yayoi S.W. integrates image-text concepts into her art with, I believe, tremendous success. She embraces avant concepts - many derived or related to Fluxus - that have permeated the international mail art network for decades. These include exploring the temporal and material nature of art, all that is implied in the notion of "anti-art," and an allegiance to the spontaneous, intuitive and the mechanisms of "chance operations." In short, Yayoi S.W. either looked at the art around her in the network and/or was a kindred soul who found a welcoming community (which is the case for most people who stumbled into the network over the years and stayed.)

 

From what I see, Yayoi's output as she shares original pieces with a large art community is prolific. Her growing body of work, along with this beautiful new piece on AF2, has led me to reflect on how amenable asemic writing is to those who extol the benefits of the

"spontaneous." This includes the Romantics, Surrealists (automatic writing and drawing),  and Beats (Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg's "First thought best thought" as well as, of course, Burroughs and Gysin.)

 

Asemic writing/art is expressive and captivating when the writer creates spontaneously and without rational planning, allowing a direct connection to the unconscious. This applies to calligraphy and - as a further example - juxtaposing images in a collage by associative rather than linear connections. Randomness also plays a part in spontaneous composition.

 

Of course, asemics is a vast area not fully explored. Some asemicists create fonts, symbols, structures - ultimately complex artificial languages - or better, systems that give the appearance of being languages. In order to be asemic, they cannot be "read" in any conventional way. They are a code that can never be deciphered because behind the façade is not another system that conveys meaning. Asemic writing that is composed following rational precepts can also produce phenomenal results. However, I find myself engaging more with asemics that are rooted in Romantic spontaneity.  

 

Precisely what the discovery of and interest in asemic writing will reveal about the nature of

language, discourse and poetics is at this time a mystery. But I believe the artists and writers - such as Yayoi S.W. - will bring great revelations.

 

- DVS 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Interzone Invades the Asemic" : AF2 Collab by Ferran Destemple & De Villo Sloan (Inspired by William S. Burroughs)

 

 

Asemic Front 2 collab by Ferran Destemple (Barcelona, Spain), De Villo Sloan

(New York, USA) based on the work of William S. Burroughs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Gysin" & More Image -Text by Carl Baker

"Gysin (mediated by magik)" by Carl Baker (Peterboro, Ontario, Canada)

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Scout 2 (distorted lino)" by Cark Baker

 

 

 

 

 

"Wax4" by Carl Baker

 

 

 

 

 

 

Asemic Front 2 Collab by Matthew Stolte & De Villo Sloan

Asemic visual poetry collab by Matthew Stolte (Wisconsin, USA)

& De Villo Sloan (New York, USA)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Collab foundation by Matthew Stolte (Madison, Wisconsin, USA)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Asemic Visual Poetry by Matthew Stolte

Asemic visual poetry by Matthew Stolte
(Madison, Wisconsin, USA)

 

 

For some time I have had a mail art package from visual poet Matthew Stolte with some fantastic material. The launch of Asemic Front 2 is the perfect occasion to at last share this treasure for maximum benefit. Matt has been an important contributor to the project, and this posting showcases his distinctive and powerful style familiar to so many. The mailing included an interesting artist's book assembled on a paper bag and presented here, reflecting the Stoltean tendency to use found material to great advantage.

 

- DVS

 

 Good Morning (brown paper bag boekie)
by Matthew Stolte

 

 

 

 

 

 Good Morning (front & back covers) by Matthew Stolte

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Asemic visual poetry by Matthew Stolte

 



Asemic Front Collab by Jayne Lyons & De Villo Sloan

 

Asemic visual poetry collab (version #1) by Jayne Lyons (Minnesota, USA)

& De Villo Sloan (New York, USA)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Asemic visual poetry collab (version #2) by Jayne Lyons (Minnesota, USA)

& De Villo Sloan (New York, USA)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Asemic Front 2 Exclusive: Asemic Art by Donmay Donamayoora

Asemic writing by Donmay Donamayoora (Connecticut, USA)

 

 

 

Donmay Donamayoora embraced the Eternal Network by sending this original work to Asemic Front 2 via snail mail. Now I have an original, hard copy piece for the AF archive!

 

While digital work is immediate and convenient, being able to see and touch the material work by the artist/writer adds an entirely new dimension. That's one reason why AF2 encourages everyone involved to circulate their work via snail mail and to collaborate via that medium. The Cult of the Authentic is alive and well, and it is still hard to imagine art that only exists in the digital realm without a physical counterpart, although certainly that genre is growing at a tremendous rate.

 

Donmay Donamayoora - in my estimation - is another of the great, contemporary asemic calligraphers. I have been very fortunate to publish her work on Asemic Front. Having an original piece to study is invaluable to me, and I am honored she took the time and effort to send this. Of course, Asemic Front 2 readers do not benefit as much since your point of view is still online, except for the possibility my own comments might be more insightful. But I have done several detail studies that reveal her intricate, complex and layered style to provide depth and breadth.  

 

 

- DVS 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Detail study of asemics by Donmay Donamayoora

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Reverse side of work by Donmay Donamayoora

 

 

 

 

 

 

Donmay Donamayoora

 

 

 

 

 

 

Asemic Front 2 Collabs by John M. Bennett, Diane Keys & Shawn McMurtagh

Visual poetry collab by John M. Bennett (Ohio, USA),

Diane Keys (Illinois, USA), Shawn McMurtagh California, USA)

 

 

 

Asemic Front 2 is thrilled to feature collabs by vispo veterans John M. Bennett and Diane Keys. You can also see for the first time on these pages the contributions of Shawn McMurtagh, a frequent Bennett collaborator, publisher and emerging visual poet of great promise.

 

 

From what I can gather "Body Finger" is available in hard copy form from the esteemed Luna Bisonte Prods. Luna Bisonte Prods has been a primary source of ground-breaking avant and post-avant art and writing for decades. Luna Bisonte Prods is one of the leading "Outsider" and "Post-Avant" publishers in the world. A visit to Luna Bisonte Prods is always illuminating:

 

http://www.johnmbennett.net/new-luna-bisonte-prods/

 

 

The Asemic Front project has consistently stated a commitment to "material culture" without disparaging the vast potential of the digital realm. I hope you find "Body Finger" a marvel to view and contemplate via this blog. Having worked closely with the images, I am in awe of the textures, colours and subtlety. I can imagine a well-rendered print (or of course even the original) of "Body Finger" would provide even deeper, stunning revelation. So at Asemic Front 2 I always encourage the "original," the "authentic," and the "material."

 

- DVS 

 

 

 

By John M. Bennett, Diane Keys & Shawn McMurtagh

 

 

 

Below are two collabs by John M. Bennett and Shawn McMurtagh:

 

 

 

 

By John M. Bennett & Shawn McMurtagh

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    By John M. Bennett & Shawn McMurtagh

 

 

 

 

 

 



New Asemic Calligraphy by Laura Ortiz

Asemic calligraphy by Laura Ortiz (Toronto, Canada)

 

 

Asemic Front 2 is thrilled to have obtained new work by AF perennial fave Laura Ortiz, who needs no introduction in the global visual poetry and asemic communities.

 

These pieces focus on her asemic calligraphy. In fact, the compositions showcase Laura's skills with different calligraphic styles that are juxtaposed here to create energy, tensions and forms.

 

Laura Ortiz is known to go far afield in her work with images and color, but these pieces are relatively "purist" and also accentuate her ability with fluid cursive strings (as opposed to too narrowly describing them as simply linear). These pieces show why I maintain she is one of the contemporary masters of cursive asemics.

 

Her asemics are definitely of the expressive school (a strain of Romanticism in asemics?). I believe they communicate emotions in the same way good abstract art expresses emotions as opposed to - say - the way we reach emotional states via the "reading" of conventional lyric poetry. The work in this post contains some amazingly expressive nuances, I think. They deserve time and meditation.  

 

- DVS

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Laura Ortiz

 

 

 

 

 

Ongoing Asemic Collab by Kerri Pullo, Mud Head & John M. Bennett

      Asemic visual poetry collab by Kerri Pullo, Mud Head

 (aka Chris Reynolds) & John M. Bennett

 

 

I have recently learned about an asemic writing collaboration still in-progress involving Kerri Pullo and Mud Head (both of Arizona, USA) and the prolific John M. Bennett (Ohio, USA).

 

Thanks to the generosity of the collaborators, I have been able to obtain a sample of this exciting work for Asemic Front 2, which - of course - you see above. This preliminary view looks very promising, and I plan to follow this project as it evolves.

 

- DVS