Friday, August 27, 2021

gliTchXT noir? (femmeglitch) by Kristine Snodgrass with Commentary


 by Kristine Snodgrass (Florida, USA)


Faithful AF2 readers have doubtless detected I am posting a series  (non-linear as it will surely be) about visual poets engaged in experimental asemics & pansemics using glitch software and/or otherwise corrupted/disrupted programs & methods. They are in my estimation producing exciting new forms of vispo & asemics. 

I am also proposing that glitchtxt (aka Femmeglitch, gliTchXT & related others) is a process practice apart from the better-known & older Glitch Art & Glitch Music, although intersections surely abound. Glitched spoken-word asemics, for instance, might yield some fresh classics.

While these poets are neither the first nor the only practitioners of glitching image-text, they do, I believe, represent a current, primarily digital (& international) community sharing & advancing glitchtxt in a collaborative spirit. Their shared perception of text as image is of socio-cultural interest in the context of Michael Jacobson's postliterate theories. 

I would be remiss not to include AF2 frequent contributor Kristine Snodgrass in the series. As AF2 documented, her asemic glitch work has helped define current practice & has inspired her contemporaries. 

In our exchanges regarding this remarkable black & white series, Kristine provided some thoughts & commentary, "I am thinking about how it seems like color is EXPECTED in this current phase of glitchtxt," she wrote. "Are these explosions of color a distraction from the distortion, destruction & symbol creation? I wanted to focus on light & line, black & white in this series; I am still processing to an extent. Cannot we be stark?"

"Stark" is a fine descriptor for a tendency toward black, white, grey minimalism I have seen in some asemic/pansemic work lately. Now Kristine Snodgrass writes about it & uses it in her own work, suggesting my own similar thoughts are more than idle, subjective speculations.

Otherwise, yes, there is another counter-tendency (the greater I think) toward powerful color in glitched asemics. I find the vibrancy positive as we seem to be emerging from the peculiar lifelessness of conceptual-influenced vispo & uncreative writing. These are choices ultimately resting with artist & audience, of course.

I associate the current stark & dark strain in asemics (both glitched & straight) with the gradual circulation of writing about asemics by Jim Leftwich & work in response that is emerging from a number of sources. Again, some of that work has appeared at AF2. Perhaps the Leftwich material has had a stronger impact here at AF2.

For me at least, Leftwich's vision of asemics is deeply rooted in Existentialism (as in philosophy) & even rooted in the nihilist views of language in late & remote corners of postmodernism. I do not mean to imply this is a disappointment or failure of asemics: I am very intrigued by this counter-vision of asemics. Kristine Snodgrass has arrived at a realization as well.

The sunny even utopian rhetoric of the "asemic art movement" - even in certain quarters promising an international poetic language - is tempered by another view. I hope you find these glitchtxts & noir vispo by Kristine Snodgrass intriguing, expanding & transforming, as I do.

-De Villo Sloan
Enter

Kristine






by Kristine Snodgrass 





























Friday, August 20, 2021

gliTchXT (asemics, visual poetry) by Michael Orzechowski

 


gliTchXT by Michael Orzechowski  (Georgia, USA)





by Michael Orzechowski  (Georgia, USA)





by Michael Orzechowski (self-portrait)






by Michael Orzechowski







gliTchXT (glitched asemic & visual poetry) by Toddy Bee

 


gliTchXT by Toddy Bee (Louisiana, USA)


Toddy Bee, a previous Asemic Front 2 contributor (commencing 2018), includes textual experiments in his creative production process. This ensures we will find his new work engaging & full of surprises, the example closest at hand being these digital compositions displayed today at AF2.  

Along with Kristine Snodgrass (USA), John McConnochie (Australia) & other innovative visual poets, Toddy Bee is working - shown here - on glitched texts (& general text corruption techniques) to create symbols, structures & images through random digital destruction, distortion & disruption of (originally) material &/or digital texts. (I realize these would not be the first visual poets to stumble upon glitching.)

Another important aspect of this post is offering evidence that asemic art is not limited to calligraphy. (A chorus of faceless asemicists is doubtless cued to disagree.) The whole notion of "deconstructive asemics" as well as the identification of a strong Post-Lettrist strain in contemporary asemics has been championed by the Asemic Front project since inception. 

And this is not to even touch the surface of eco-asemics & found asemics.

Clouded - I hope not too badly - by my lack of expertise in the digital realm, I see glitching text as a tool with the same impact now as the cut-up technique had generations earlier. Toddy Bee seems to be working in the same direction.

The GliTchXT is a departure from the glitch art genre because it is an investigation into the depths of language & expression. Thus, I do not believe visual poets owe any allegiance to "conventions" of glitch art; but much can be learned from the glitch artists, clearly. Another comparison would be the uses of glitches & distortion in music: The technology is defining, but only the artist can unlock the potential of the technology.

Deepest thanks to Toddy Bee for sharing his digital work.

- De Villo Sloan



gliTchXT by Toddy Bee (Louisiana, USA)




gliTchXT by Toddy Bee (Louisiana, USA)







Friday, August 13, 2021

Two New Visual Poems by Jim Leftwich (August 2021)

 By Jim Leftwich (Virginia, USA) (August 4, 2021)


More great re-mix, recycle pieces (see previous post by Kerri Pullo) at AF2, this time two pansemic (if not asemic) updates from Jim Leftwich. I see the calligraphy written-over the found art of Trashpo (mail art) that seems like some other time & place entirely.

- De Villo Sloan




 By Jim Leftwich (Virginia, USA) (August 4, 2021)









Thursday, August 12, 2021

Kerri Pullo Remix (2012-2021) is an Instant Classic


By Kerri Pullo (Arizona, USA) (Gel pen added 
to painted paper from 2012; remix 2021)


Artist, visual poet, asemic writer of extraordinary talent, Kerri Pullo, is a longtime contributor to Asemic Front 2. I deeply appreciate that over the years she has often chosen to first share with us new work that has gone on to have an impact on broader communities.

I am thrilled to have the opportunity to share what I consider to be a very significant Kerri Pullo work, shown here, that applies her current asemic calligraphy style to a background from 2012. 

Since MinXus-LynXus published a collection of her asemics pre-2013, I have more than a passing interest & admiration for her work circa 2012 & her remarkable evolution to a major asemic figure today. I gather many AF2 readers are KP fans as well.

- De Villo Sloan





Wednesday, August 11, 2021

Beat Asemics or the Asemic Beat? Visual Art by Neeli Cherkovski

 



Neeli Cherkovski has perfected a West Coast style & poetics that, I believe, is a necessity for all poetry readers today. 

He is currently a leading practitioner of the New American Poetry; but Cherkovski's style is likely better appreciated when compared to prose masters Chandler, Steinbeck & London (in addition to the Beats & his contemporaries of course).

Cherkovski's appearance on Asemic Front 2 features his visual art - influenced by abstract expressionism - that has a new relevance to visual poetry in light of the asemic writing-art movement. Increasingly, "writers" are being viewed as culture workers across fields & genres.

Not only abstract painters but figures such as Brion Gysin & William S. Burroughs are proving to be significant contributors to asemics. Beat writers - often visual artists too - are a rich source as we look back in time to make sense of the explosion in asemic writing.

Born in Los Angeles, Neeli Cherkovski joined the San Francisco writing community in 1974, since then emerging as one of its luminaries. He is associated with figures such as Charles Bukowski & Jack Micheline, among others.

Cherkovski is author of numerous - & frequently cited as notable - volumes of poetry, including Elegy For My Beat Generation. You can learn more about his books & bio on his excellent webpage: 


Neeli Cherkovski is also an accomplished biographer & critic. He is author of biographies about Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Charles Bukowski & a book titled Whitman's Wild Children, that includes memoirs of Allen Ginsberg, Michael McClure, Harold Norse & others.

Deepest thanks to Neeli Cherkovski for his kind assistance & permissions.

- De Villo Sloan






















Wednesday, August 4, 2021

Collabs by John M. Bennett & Matthew Stolte Are "Jems"


From Jem Tabs Dose by John M. Bennett & Matthew Stolte  
(eMTeVisPub #12 Madison, Wisconsin, USA. 2015). (AF Archive)


eMTeVisPub has announced the release of a new 80-page edition - Jem Tabs Trace - chronicling vispo collabs by John M. Bennett and Matthew M. Stolte over the past ten years:

https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/john-m-bennett-and-matthew-t-stolte/jem-tabs-trace/hardcover/product-ye4gqk.html?fbclid=IwAR1WR9A17nH3-EQ4zEcQm9f_Y2agX1GQ-K2S_2VvrBqdz2ZjV4NFqMXfDOs&page=1&pageSize=4

Both John M. Bennett (Ohio, USA) & Matthew Stolte (Wisconsin, USA) are longtime contributors to the Asemic Front project.  I have seen their collabs at diverse venues & noted energy & progression in their longtime exchanges. 

I have also collected some of their work, such as the Jem Tabs Dose chapbook, for the archives & that is providing images for this post. Jem Tabs Dose - also published by eMTeVisPub - is a shorter but visually stunning collab chapbook of 24 pages by John & Matt that was published in 2015. Such are the complexities of tracing vispo publications!

AF2 readers know I have a great interest in the Midwestern USA visual poets who emerged in the 1980s, especially in Ohio & Wisconsin & the gritty late-industrial aesthetic they pioneered & the profound changes in visual poetry they instigated. 

John M. Bennett is a central figure in the movement (as much as a "movement" can exist in the individualistic USA heartland) & Matthew Stolte represents at least a second generation of Rust Belt vispo or Rustpo (a real mail art moniker for the school!) or Great Lakes vispo or other names associated with the group. Diane Keys & Chris Wells are among other new generation members & for me I think one of the most interesting aspects is seeing new generations assimilate & contribute to healthy growth.) 

Bennett & Stolte, in my estimation, offer impressive "visual writing" in their linear-textual pieces especially but also in much more minimalist lyrics. I contend "deconstructive asemics" are apparent in the collection. These collabs will doubtless be of great interest to the AF2 audience. 

- De Villo Sloan







From Jem Tabs Dose by John M. Bennett & Matthew Stolte  
(eMTeVisPub #12 Madison, Wisconsin, USA. 2015. (AF Archive)




From Jem Tabs Dose by John M. Bennett & Matthew Stolte  
(eMTeVisPub #12 Madison, Wisconsin, USA. 2015. (AF Archive)