Asemic Front 2 Gallery: Eco-Asemics & Other Recent Asemic Art by Brigitte Tye (Seengen, Switzerland)

"Asemic Kisses" by Brigitte Tye (Seengen, Switzerland) (lip stick, parallel pens 

& golden pen on paper) (August 2025) (Image courtesy of the artist)

"Eco-asemics (1)" by Brigitte Tye (found forest material) (August 2025) 

(Image courtesy of the artist)

"Eco-asemics (2)" by Brigitte Tye (found forest material) (August 2025)

(Image courtesy of the artist)

"The Language of Flowers" by Brigitte Tye (July 2025)

(Image courtesy of the artist)

"Depending on the Light" by Brigitte Tye (July 2025)

(Image courtesy of the artist)

"Dancing the Pen" (parallel pen & ink on paper) by Brigitte Tye 

(August 2025) (Image courtesy of the artist)

"Somebody is watching you... unplanned" " by Brigitte Tye 

(July 2025) (Image courtesy of the artist)

Asemic Front 2 Review: "Interrupted Narrative: A Hypergraphic Novel" by mIEKAL aND (Wisconsin, USA)

 

Cover of Interrupted Narrative: A Hypergraphic Novel by mIEKAL aND

(West Lima, Wisconsin, USA) (Xerox Sutra Editions 2024) 

(Image courtesy of the Asemic Front 2 Archive)

Review of Interrupted Narrative: A Hypergraphic Novel 

by mIEKAL aND

La Farge Wisconsin, USA: 

Xerox Sutra Editions 2024

8 X 10 inches; 84 black & white plates

Review by De Villo Sloan 

I have just recently obtained a copy of mIEKAL aND’s Interrupted Narrative: A Hypergraphic Novel published in 2024 by Xerox Sutra Editions in La Farge, Wisconsin, USA. I am enjoying perusing this excellent collection and want to register some observations in the official record of my reviews and commentary before at last saying a fond farewell to 2024.

The creation of AI-assisted digital vispo (for which mIEKAL aND is receiving much praise) is opening new literary genres. We are witnessing the birth of patasemics, metasemics, conceptualism, quantum poetry, and numerous other new poetic forms and concepts.

From Interrupted Narrative: A Hypergraphic Novel by mIEKAL aND

(West Lima, Wisconsin, USA) (Xerox Sutra Editions 2024)

(Image courtesy of the Asemic Front 2 Archive)

Canadian conceptualist Christian Bok has created his Xenotext, a truly revolutionary bio-poem of the 21^st century. Experimental poets are creating visionary digital epics as well as graphic novels and asemic comics.

Visual poet Shawn McMurtagh (California, USA) and I collaborated on an asemic, glitchtext graphic novel titled, The Many Masks of 'Doc' Mortag (2021). I know firsthand the structural challenges of sustaining an extended vispo piece

From Interrupted Narrative: A Hypergraphic Novel by mIEKAL aND

(Xerox Sutra Editions 2024) (Image courtesy of the 

Asemic Front 2 Archive)

mIEKAL aND’s Interrupted Narrative: A Hypergraphic Novel is a collection of nearly one hundred visual poems by one of our most significant and inventive visual poets. The series ranges from contemplative asemic calligraphy to sci-fi hyperreal landscapes of deconstructing texts.  

From Interrupted Narrative: A Hypergraphic Novel by mIEKAL aND

(Xerox Sutra Editions 2024) (Image courtesy of the 

Asemic Front 2 Archive)

Unfortunately, in Interrupted Narrative, I can find no structures or repeating themes that suggest this is meant to be a continuous piece, narrative, or meta-narrative. In that sense, the reader must look elsewhere to find better examples of aND’s ability to create expansive textual structures. The book is extremely ambitious, but its strength is found in the individual works on a single page.

Make no mistake: Interrupted Narrative is a dazzling and diverse showcase of mIEKAL aND’s talents. (I hope the selections from the book shared here in the blog will give you a sense of his talents.) Owning a copy of this book is making an investment in the best visual poetry being made.

 

-       - De Villo Sloan

-        July 21, 2025

-        Elbridge, New York, USA

From Interrupted Narrative: A Hypergraphic Novel by mIEKAL aND

(Xerox Sutra Editions 2024) (Image courtesy of the 

Asemic Front 2 Archive)

From Interrupted Narrative: A Hypergraphic Novel by mIEKAL aND

(Xerox Sutra Editions 2024) (Image courtesy of the 

Asemic Front 2 Archive)

From Interrupted Narrative: A Hypergraphic Novel by mIEKAL aND

(Xerox Sutra Editions 2024) (Image courtesy of the 

Asemic Front 2 Archive)

From Interrupted Narrative: A Hypergraphic Novel by mIEKAL aND

(Xerox Sutra Editions 2024) (Image courtesy of the 

Asemic Front 2 Archive)

From Interrupted Narrative: A Hypergraphic Novel by mIEKAL aND

(Xerox Sutra Editions 2024) (Image courtesy of the 

Asemic Front 2 Archive)

De Villo Sloan is a concrete poet living in Upstate, New York. He writes frequently about postavant art & culture. He is director of the Winifred & De Villo Sloan, Jr., Charitable Fund.

Asemic Front 2 Review: "The Autobiography of Ampersand X" by mIEKAL aND (Xerox Sutra Editions) (Wisconsin, USA)

 

Cover of The Autobiography of Ampersand X by mIEKAL aND 

(West Lima, Wisconsin, USA: Xerox Sutra Editions 2025)

 (Image courtesy of Asemic Front 2 Archive)

 Review of The Autobiography of Ampersand X

    by mIEKAL aND

    West Lima, Wisconsin, USA:

    Xerox Sutra Editions 2025

    4.5 X 7 inches; 60 color plates

https://xexoxial.org/?fbclid=IwY2xjawLpPIdleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFiVjlsRTVWSkdERXpOR04wAR54C9NgepS3p65GUNmzol7Sm9aTqt_Nj00rFPQaCJ6iSU7XVTAtyBwSgejCRg_aem_eW--rX3JJzMSJNNHMRtdnA

    Review by De Villo Sloan

From The Autobiography of Ampersand X by mIEKAL aND

(West Lima, Wisconsin, USA: Xerox Sutra Editions 2025)

 (Image courtesy of Asemic Front 2 Archive)

mIEKAL aND has released a new collection of work, The Autobiography of Ampersand X, published by his Xerox Sutra Editions, a major, historically significant, DIY North American publisher and archive of avant and postavant art, lit, and postlit.

The Autobiography of Ampersand X is a (somewhat) linear narrative series of 60, sometimes surreal, variations on the ampersand symbol (&) that has become the Prince-like name of a Wisconsin poet previously known as Michael Anderson. Thus, the book is mIEKAL aND’s personal, poetic origin tale (for his longtime readers especially) & an exploration of the symbol that has become his Other. Did he chose it or did it choose him?

The Autobiography of Ampersand X is a rollicking postmodern, post-literate roller coaster ride fueled, amazingly, by minimalist concrete poetry.

I recognize immediately – I believe you will too – that I am in the hands of an absolute master who is comfortable with Modernity and the Otherstream. In short, the book is a testimony to the fact mIEKAL aND is one of our most important visual poets working today.

From The Autobiography of Ampersand X by mIEKAL aND 

(West Lima, Wisconsin, USA: Xerox Sutra Editions 2025)

 (Image courtesy of Asemic Front 2 Archive)

In Headline du Jour (Xerox Sutra Editions 2019) – a book dedicated to Bern Porter - mIEKAL aND establishes himself as a creative leader in the (post-)Lettrist impulse shaping contemporary vispo. Intentional or not, aND offers an impressive homage in Headline du Jour to the ideo-aesthetics of The Society of the Spectacle (1967) and its errant children.

aND weaves quotes, riffs, & jokes that invite multiple interpretations and perspectives: His main visual theme is a popular, paperback edition of The Autobiography of Malcom X, a deeply ideo-philosophical narrative that, in turn, explores the erasure of identity in enslaved peoples.

The Autobiography of Ampersand X is a more evolved iteration of the themes established in Headline du Jour: aND conducts a (sometimes punishing) interrogation of the single symbol of the ampersand. In a nod to asemics, symbols deconstruct into incoherence and/or reform into new symbols.

From The Autobiography of Ampersand X by mIEKAL aND 

(West Lima, Wisconsin, USA: Xerox Sutra Editions 2025)

 (Image courtesy of Asemic Front 2 Archive)

In socmed vispo discussions, I find audiences tend to recognize shared art they like by asking, “How did you make that?” Much of mIEKAL aND’s recent work is receiving praise for his groundbreaking use of AI. Readers will want to explore this aspect of the book as well. Here, I would be remiss not to mention aND's text that accompanies the series and gives it extraordinary depth, resonance and narratives.

While this new book is not conventional fiction or verse, aND guides us with acumen through the complexities of meta-narrative, reminding me of excellent postmodern voices such as Fanny Howe and Raymond Federman who are abundantly accessible. The use of the first person point of view is one striking feature of aND's book.

What makes the greatest impression on me when I read The Autobiography of Ampersand X is the ease at which aND weaves avant garde tropes into a truly original and engaging style, requiring dexterity with both word and image.

- De Villo Sloan

July 20, 2025

Elbridge, New York, USA

From The Autobiography of Ampersand X by mIEKAL aND 

(West Lima, Wisconsin, USA: Xerox Sutra Editions 2025)

 (Image courtesy of Asemic Front 2 Archive)

De Villo Sloan is a concrete poet living in Upstate, New York. He frequently writes about postavant culture and serves as director of the Winifred and De Villo Sloan, Jr. Charitable Fund.

Subtlety & Minimalism: Asemics by by Ankie van Dijk (Netherlands)

By Ankie van Dijk (Baarle-Nassau, Netherlands) (This piece originally 

appeared in the journal dsignn (No. 4 (5)/2024) and is excerpted 

here at Asemic Front 2 with deepest thanks.) 

Image courtesy of the artist.

Visit full text of "Subtlety & Minimalism":

https://www.dsignn.online/en/online

By Ankie van Dijk (April 2025) 

Image courtesy of the artist.

Altered found writing by Ankie van Dijk (April 2025) 

Image courtesy of the artist.

Altered found writing by Ankie van Dijk (April 2025) 

Image courtesy of the artist.

Altered found writing by Ankie van Dijk (

April 2025) Image courtesy of the artist.

"Collage" by Ankie van Dijk (October 2024)  

Image courtesy of the artist.