Lettrist visual poetry by Serse Luigetti (Perugia, Italy)

Visual poetry & asemic mail art by Serse Luigetti (Perugia, Italy)

Italian visual poet & mail artist Serse Luigetti sent this Lettrist-oriented work ideal for Asemic Front 2. Serse He is an established visual poet of note whose work is inherently asemic & was asemic long before the famous Jim Leftwich & Tim Gaze declaration of the mid-1990s.

Luigetti employs either by knowledge or intuition the aesthetic of letters & font explored to such benefit in the 20th century by the Lettrist group. I would guess that Luigetti is, in fact, a student of Lettrism & works in their tradition but also beyond them in the 21st century. His work, of course, is not exclusively Lettrist; however, the emphasis in this mail art package serves as a guide to connections between Lettrism & asemics.

Many of Luigetti's asemic symbols & structures involve the decomposition - or even dismemberment - of existing printed language. Often these involve a focus on specific letters dismembered in variations & repetitions. Sometimes complete letters survive. The lack of a root text denies the possibility that these compositions can be deciphered or "read" in any conventional way. 

During the Asemic Front project, I have come to recognize this method as "deconstructive asemics." I believe Serse Luigetti's vispo vision encompasses far more than decomposition, but I believe an examination of his work in this context provides helpful insights.

- De Villo Sloan

By Serse Luigetti (Asemic Front 2 2020)

By Serse Luigetti