Asemic visual poetry: "Angel" by Kristine Snodgrass

"Angel" (from Portraits of Men) by Kristine Snodgrass

In addition to featuring work by members of the visual poetry and asemic writing communities, Asemic Front 2 is also a project for international mail artists aka the Eternal Network. Thus there is a preference for material culture (although Af2 publishes many digital compositions).

Asemics by Kristine Snodgrass (Tallahassee, Florida, USA) are by now familiar to the AF2 audience. We have shared her collabs and today are thrilled to be able to showcase a solo piece she sent via snail mail, giving us hard copy to document and keep for the archives.

"Angels" is an excellent example of her evolving vispo-asemic work. Calligraphy and abstract expressionist-based color fields integrate. The piece references other inkblot experiments found in related, recent work by Snodgrass. "Angels" also reveals an interest in constructing forms (curves, circular shapes) that define formalism in a particular strain of visual poetry. Thus, forms emerge beyond simple linearity (which South African artist Cheryl Penn has named "Vispro" asserting a question of poetics in visual writing). 

Interestingly, innovative asemic writer Kerri Pullo (Arizona, USA) has also done recent pieces that that show an emphasis on formal structures for the calligraphy. Many thanks to Kristine Snodgrass for sharing her work with Asemic Front 2.

DVS

Detail from "Angel" by Kristine Snodgrass