Asemic visual poetry by Cinzia Farina (Italy)

Asemic visual poetry by Cinzia Farina (Enna, Italy)

Cinzia Farina is a highly regarded Italian artist and visual poet who has gained enthusiastic admirers through her longtime involvement in the Eternal Network. Her image-text compositions have asemic elements, and she is enjoying popularity in the current online and print communities that have sprung up in response to the asemic movement. 

Cinzia Farina is a previous Asemic Front 2 contributor. I am thrilled to be able to showcase this new work she so kindly sent via snail mail. I hope to present more of her work due her to increasing importance in the evolution of visual poetry.

- De Villo Sloan

By Cinzia Farina 

Asemic vispo by Carien van Hest (Netherlands)

Asemic visual poetry by Carien van Hest (Zutphen, Netherlands)

Carien van Hest is a faithful contributor to the Asemic Front Project, the IUOMA-Ning Asemic Writing for Mail Artists group and the Eternal Network in general. 

I believe this new Asemic Front 2 piece represents a breakthrough for Carien. Previously, she has concentrated on developing a personal style of asemic calligraphy, including her fascinating asemic journal. 

This colorful piece is a synthesis of visual poetry (vispo) and asemics in the spirit of much work produced for the Asemic Front Project. (Certainly, Asemic Front is open to all styles; but historically a particular form of asemic vispo has become associated with the project.)

I believe Carien van Hest has, seemingly without effort, produced wonderful asemic image-text with this work. I look forward to sharing more of her work in the future.

- De Villo Sloan

Asemic calligraphy by Richard Baudet (Marseille, France)

Asemic calligraphy by Richard Baudet (Marseille, France)

I am thrilled to welcome Richard Baudet to Asemic Front 2 and the Asemic Front Project. He is widely recognized for his calligraphy in the international mail art network (aka Eternal Network). 

Richard Baudet's extraordinary calligraphy is sometimes traditional and sometimes experimental. The work presented here on AF2 crosses into the asemic realm. Many of his compositions can be appreciated as visual poetry, image-text and conceptual explorations into the nature of language. 

The work above is the scan of a card mailed to Johannes Gross in Germany. I see it as a Rosetta Stone presenting letters of the alphabet alongside indecipherable, sometimes deconstructed, linear patterns and signs that are asemic. We find a juxtaposition of meaning and the meaningless given unity through different modes of calligraphic art, something akin to a masterful musical improvisation using different modes. 

Richard Baudet is currently a member of the Asemic Writing for Mail Artists group at IUOMA-Ning. I am very pleased he shared this work, and I look forward to being able to present more in the future. He brings a unique style and sensibility to asemics.

- De Villo Sloan

Asemic Front 2 collab by Borderline Grafix & De Villo Sloan

 

By Borderline Grafix (Austin, Texas, USA) & De Villo Sloan (Auburn, NY, USA)

Asemic Front 2 collabs by DES & DVS (Part 2)

By DES & DVS made Friday, October 23, 2020 in Auburn, New York, USA

Documentation (Part 2) of collabs by DES & DVS (De Villo Sloan) made Friday, October 23 at Asemic Front Headquarters Auburn, New York, USA.

By DES & DVS (detail)

 By DES & DVS (detail)

By DES & DVS 

By DES & DVS 

By DES & DVS 

By DES & DVS 

An Asemic Front first: F2F vispo & asemic collabs by DES & DVS (Part I)

 

Asemic Front 2 collab by DES & De Villo Sloan (Elbridge, New York, USA) (October 23, 2020)

I am thrilled to announce a new milestone in the Asemic Front Project. Among the hundreds of collabs documented as part of the project, none have been made face-to-face, in-person by artists/writers here at Asemic Front headquarters in Elbridge, New York, USA - until now!

On Friday, October 23, 2020 - a stunning autumn day in the Northeastern United States - a collab partner of mine over many years & miles - the extraordinary DES - joined me for a marathon collab session in the basement AF2 studio. I am thrilled to document the results of our efforts in two parts.

This opening piece ("I can reconstruct for you is vast ruinous theaters" [sic]) is 8.5. X 11 inches. The closing pieces were made on 3 X 5 inch index cards, intended for mail art dispersion. Deepest thanks to DES!

- De Villo Sloan 

                                                           By DES & De Villo Sloan (October 23, 2020)

By DES & De Villo Sloan (October 23, 2020)

By DES & De Villo Sloan (October 23, 2020)

By DES & De Villo Sloan (October 23, 2020

By DES & De Villo Sloan (October 23, 2020)

Asemic calligraphy by Tucker Sampson

Asemic visual poetry by Tucker Sampson (Concord, New Hampshire, USA)

I have been following Tucker Sampson's visual poetry for some time primarily in Michael Jacobson's asemic group & Nico Vassilakis's visual poetry group, both on Facebook. The appearance of Tucker Sampson's work on Asemic Front 2 is long overdue. I am thrilled to be able to showcase these outstanding pieces of asemic calligraphy as an introduction. 

Tucker Sampson is a visual poet whose work is essentially "language-centered" or rooted in written text (as opposed to visual images). He is among the visual poets today whom I have called post-Lettrist due to his close study of relationships among individual letters (and fonts) beneath the coherence of individual words. 

Thus Sampson achieves a Brechtian alienation of meaning. We are provided an experience of symbols - individual letters or letter fragments - deprived of meaning even on the minimal level of single words. He focuses on the near-mystical area of symbol generation, where a shape is endowed with meaning & becomes part of a larger form. Or, more important, on shapes that elude (or defy) coherence & signify nothing. This often involves a deconstructive process.

Thus Tucker Sampson's work invokes the concept of the meaningless or the unintelligible even before it enters the realm of the asemic proper.  

These calligraphic pieces shown here at Asemic Front 2 are unquestionably asemic & are a testimony to Sampson's ability to navigate complex, contradictory, paradoxical & non-rational precincts of discourse. His great talent, I believe, is to be able to bring us with him. I look forward to sharing more of his work on AF2.

- De Villo Sloan

By Tucker Sampson (Concord, New Hampshire, USA)

By Tucker Sampson (Concord, New Hampshire, USA)

Recent asemic art by Kerri Pullo including the "Blue Series"

From  the"Blue Series" by Kerri Pullo (Arizona, USA)

I am absolutely thrilled to be able to share this exciting work by Kerri Pullo on Asemic Front 2.

Kerri has been a noted contributor to the Asemic Front Project since its inception. At the same time, she has become one of the world's most revered figures in asemic writing. In particular, she is part of a new generation of women artists & writers who have taken a leading role in asemics & who are re-shaping visual poetry. 

Kerri Pullo is an innovator who constantly experiments with new approaches & is willing to share her explorations with her audience. Thus, over nearly a decade, she has influenced the development & evolution of asemics as well as vispo. 

Her work on Asemic Front & Asemic Front 2 has ranged from austere minimalism, to abstract expressionism, to extraordinary structural complexity. I know I have grown with her & as a result of her influence. I am sure many in the AF2 audience feel the same way.

In my estimation, this gathering of Kerri Pullo's work, including the "Blue Series," is the best the Asemic Front Project has ever offered in terms of her art. Her recent work is deeply complex & I believe is transcendent, even spiritual. The series is meditative & offers wells of emotional depth. "Blue Series" may well be Kerri Pullo's master work, thus far in her career. 

Again, I am thrilled to be able to share this work on Asemic Front 2.

- De Villo Sloan

"Blue Series" by Kerri Pullo

By Kerri Pullo

By Kerri Pullo. Pages for Nicola Winborn's Attic assembling zine

Asemic Front obtains vast collection of "decompositions" & visual poetry by Jim Leftwich

 

"Decompositions" by Jim Leftwich

I am pleased to officially announce the Asemic Front Project has obtained a large & very important collection of material by visual poet Jim Leftwich, widely considered a key figure in the asemic writing movement (although Leftwich made a very public break with the current movement some time ago). 

The Asemic Front Project, after organizing & documenting the pieces, will make this trove of material available for inspection & research to all interested parties. 

Asemic Front "insiders" have known of the existence of the Leftwich "decompositions" for many months. Much speculation & many rumors have circulated vis back channels. Reports of the alarming disappearance of the box, possibly a car theft or ransom situation, cannot be confirmed or denied. 

The fact is that the "decompositions" were recovered & are now safe for posterity. At the same time, Jim Leftwich's departure from Virginia, USA, & his reported appearance at unusual locations across the United States has only fueled speculation concerning the "decompositions" & their whereabouts. We understand he is well & thriving. 

Deepest thanks to Jim Leftwich. 

- DVS

By Jim Leftwich

By Jim Leftwich

By Jim Leftwich

By Jim Leftwich

By Jim Leftwich

By Jim Leftwich