Artists and (non-artists!) are invited to submit non-returnable artwork for the 7th annual “Anything Goes, Everything Shows” mail art show. There is no submission fee. Our mail art show title says it all! ALL submissions will be exhibited in The Courtyard Gallery, 109 Roberts Street, in the River Arts District, of Asheville, NC, from September 15 – Oct 27, 2012. Opening reception is Sept. 15, from 6pm-9pm. Artists are encouraged to demonstrate or explore imagery of any kind.
“Anything Goes—Everything Shows” is just that, an uncensored free style mail art show. Mail art is art that uses the postal system as a medium. Mail artists typically exchange ephemera in the form of illustrated letters; zines; rubberstamped, decorated, or illustrated envelopes; artist trading cards; postcards; artistamps; faux postage; mail-interviews; naked mail; friendship books, decos and three-dimensional objects.
Fundamentally, mail art in the context of a Mail Art Network is a form of conceptual art. It is a “movement” with no membership and no leaders. Mail art is art which uses the postal system as a medium.
An amorphous international mail art network, involving thousands of participants in over – 50 countries, evolved between the 1950s and the present. It was influenced by other movements including Dada and Fluxus.
Themes could include anti-war, anti-art snobbery, anti-gallery art, love ,sex, dissent, anything goes! Mail artists like to claim that mail art began when Cleopatra had herself delivered to Julius Caesar in a rolled-up carpet. However, perhaps the initial genesis of mail art was in postal stationery, from which mail art is now typically distinguished (if not defined in its broadest sense).
This is a celebration of our creative spirit…
…without gallery snobbery or exclusivity!
All media will be accepted and exhibited, including mixed media, Collage, Montage, Sculpture Digital art, Painting, Printmaking, and Photography. Collage and/or the use of imagery are encouraged. Don’t be afraid to experiment with 3-dimensional art. We have exhibited painted shoes, records, fish, sticks, and even hog jowls and coal, to name but a creative oddities. Format is freestyle as well. Submissions of any size or shape will be accepted. If you can get a stamp on it and send it through the mail, it will be accepted and exhibited. Remember – “Anything Goes, Everything Shows”!
The Courtyard Gallery is located on the top floor of the Phil Mechanic Building in Asheville’s River Arts District.
Your art works should be addressed to:
Anything Goes—Everything Shows
Carlos Steward
The Courtyard Gallery
P.O. Box 9907
Asheville, NC 28815
The deadline is Sept. 1, 2012 (postmark). There is no fee for entry. All entries will be exhibited.
For more information, contact by e-mail (purplecoca@aol.com) or visit (
http://www.ashevillecourtyard.com
).
Tags: Asheville NC, Asheville's River Arts District, Carolina Arts, Everything Shows, Mail Art Show - Anything Goes, Phil Mechanic Building, The Courtyard Gallery, Visiting Asheville NC, Visiting North Carolina
