THE KING AND THE COURTJESTER EXPLORE THE CHICKEN LEGS OF THE NIGHT

Intervention on a large mail art envelope mailed to Anke van den Berg in Belgium, another contribution to her project "the king".

THE TRANQUILITY OF THE SEA ... BELONGS TO ME ...

Intervention on a large mail art envelope mailed to Wilma Duguay in Canada.

GHOST LIGHT

Another project on books is EL LBRO MI LIBRO, proposed by Silvia Calvo in Argentina.
Doc on the blog http://ellibromilibro.blogspot.com
I choose as contribution a painting inspired by Eric Basso's collection of poems and wrote also the following letter (with a copy to Mr Basso):

Brussels; 28 March 2011


Dear Silvia,


Art inspired by books, what a great idea. I've chosen to contribute some art based on the book "GHOST LIGHT" by ERIC BASSO. Ghost Light is a collection of poems the author wrote between 1990 and 1994.
Mister Basso is a real Renaissance man: he writes poetry, novels, theatre plays, he is also a painter and writes his own musical scores.
I met him in 1997 during a long mail art journey through the USA and Canada.
It was that other great American poet, DAVID STONE (cfr the Blackbird project) who introduced me to Eric and we are in a continuous stream of email exchanges since this first encounter.
On my personal blog (http://guidovermeulen.blogspot.com) you'll find the cover of GHOST LIGHT (published by Asylum Arts). That cover is by Basso himself by the way. Also you'll see the first page with a personal dedication. "Mon coeur mis a nu" is French and means "my heart unveiled" (in the nude).
Eric Basso was born in Baltimore in 1947. He now lives in Randallstown.

I have made another painting on an envelope inspired by GHOST LIGHT based on the first verse of one of the poems: "Love is never more powerful than separation".
This work I am sending to the poet himself and you can discover the first draft and the finished painting also on my personal blog.

Included is also an invitation to participate at my new project: "the book of Ann", which you can follow on another blog http://thebookofann.blogspot.com


Postal greetings,


Guido

LOVE IS NEVER MORE POWERFUL THAN SEPARATION

Intervention on a mail art envelope: DRAFT and finished painting I mailed to the poet Eric Basso in the USA. The title is the first verse of his poem "Conversations", part of the book "Ghost Light, poems 1990-1994" (Asylum Arts edition)

WORDS OF LIGHT, WORDS OF BEING, COME TOGETHER

Intervention on a large mail art envelope I mailed to Christine Tarantino in the USA.
Last Friday Christine told me on Facebook she was reactivating her Words of Light blog, so I made this for her during the weekend. I mailed also a photo of one of my stray cats "the other Tarantino" (hihi).

OH JANIS, I WANNA SHARE YOUR COSMIC BLUES

Intervention on a large mail art envelope I mailed to the poet Mark Sonnenfeld in the USA. The title "Cosmic Blues" came after the painting and then I realized it was the second album of Janis Joplin.

LA ROUTE VERS L'ABATTOIR EST LONGUE ET PERILEUSE

Intervention on a large mail art envelope, mailed to Nicole Eippers in Belgium.
Nicole has an ongoing project on Pigs. The text in the figure refers to Greek mythology. Adonis, symbol of youg beautiful males, was murdered by a crazy pig or a raging wild one. It proofs that the negative perception of the animal is also rooted in the base of Western culture, so don't blame Islam but look closer to home for that matter!

THE BIRD PHOENIX

Mail art for Constança Lucas in Brazil who proposes a prject on books! Accompanied by present letter:

Brussels, 24 March 2011


Dear Constança,


Art inspired by books, what a great idea. I've chosen to contribute some art based on the book "De vogel Phoenix" or "The bird Phoenix" by M. VASALIS, a poetry edition by a Dutch poet, first published in 1947.
She was a very popular poet in The Netherlands and lived between 1909 and 1998.
She only published 3 books during her life: Parks and deserts in 1940, The bird Phoenix in 1947 and Vistas and Faces in 1954. After her death was published The old coastline (2002).
She silenced herself because she combined a personal tragedy (the death of a child) with a general loss (the holocaust during world war two).
The discussion "is it still possible to write poetry after Auschwitz?" (cfr the famous poem discussion between Adorno and Paul Celan) she answered by a refusal to publish what she occasionally had written.
Vasalis is a classic poet; not a modernist but some of her poems and sentences are so magnificent she was and still is a major poet, known by most who speak Dutch and who are interested in literature. On my personal blog (http://guidovermeulen.blogspot.com) you'll find the cover of the 48th edition and reprint of The bird Phoenix (in 2009).

I am sending you some older work that was ghost phoenix inspired: a large postcard edition and a colored version.
On the envelope is a new work, not in the requested postcard size, but hey you can reduce the size to a postcard with a scanner or cut even the painting to that size around the central bird image if you like that. Feel free to do as you please.

Included is also an invitation to participate at my new project: "the book of Ann", which you can follow on the blog http://thebookofann.blogspot.com


Postal greetings,


Guido

LADIES, MONKEYS & GENTLEMEN, ONCE AGAIN WE CELEBRATE THE RETURN OF SADNESS TO GAZA AND JERUZALEM

Intervention on a large mail art envelope I mailed to Felipe Lamadrid in Spain.
Felipe proposes a project on Gaza.

THE ROAD TO TRIPOLI

Intervention on a large mail art envelope, a painting I mailed to Ottmar Bergmann in Sweden and a second comment on operation Odyssey Dawn.

THE AMBUSH OF COLONEL CAT (OPERATION ODYSSEY DAWN)

Intervention on a large mail art envelope, I mailed to Nikki Sopelsa in the USA.
Linking my "love for cats" with the war against the Kadafi regime was quite a "tour de force".

RX VISIONS INSIDE THE REACTOR VESSEL OF FUKUSIHIMA

Intervention on a large mail art envelope I mailed to Bernd Reichert in Belgium, second painting on the nuclear crisis in Japan after the tsnuami.

AND THE CIRCLE WILL BE UNBROKEN

Intervention on a mail art envelope, mailed to Liza Leyla in Belgium, a poet friend.
The title refers to one of my favorite country songs. I made this painting to thank Liza for mailing me a novel by Doris Lessing: "The 5th child", a present for my birthday on March 6. The 5th child tackles the issue of the destruction of a family because they make a pro life (or nonlife) choice of a severe handicapped child, so it is almost an echo of the French project on how we see today this topic (see next item on this blog). Lessing challenged the good communitiy when she published this novel, as she had done so many times before and afterwards.

LA DIFFERENCE DES MAINS EST EMOUVANTE

Intervention on a mail art envelope mailed to Elementary school in France for project "Quel regard sue les handicaps dans le monde".

QUETZALCOATL

Intervention on a mail art envelope mailed to Elementary school in France for a project on Mexico.

DE EENZAME KONING

Intervention on a large mail art envelope I mailed to Anke van den Berg in Belgium for her project "The King". Painting accompanied by poem in Dutch:

GELAAGDE REVOLUTIE
*Voor Anke*


De eenzame koning
had zijn kroon verloren
bij de opstand van de dageraad.

Beklagenswaardig was
deze vorst zonder volk
niet.

Zijn hobby's werden nu
het verzamelen van oude koekendozen,
tragische foto's van eelt op de ziel
& verzilverde lokfluitjes in het riet.

Bij het vallen van de avondklok
wandelde hij zonder praalgewaad
door de ontbladerde bossen
van zijn gesloopt kasteel
om zich in 't geniep
te verdrinken in het moeras
van de zwavelrepubliek.




Guido Vermeulen
15 maart 2011

THE DANCING KING (NOT AN ABBA SONG)

Intervention on a large mail art envelope I mailed to Meg Taney Founds in the USA.

THE ABDICATION OF THE LONELY MONARCH

Intervention on a large mail art envelope I mailed to Laurence Roberts in the UK.

L'EXPLOSION NUCLEAIRE = CALCIUM + VITAMINE D3

Intervention on a large mail art envelope I mailed to Bruno Sourdin in France.

UNITY OF DIVERSITY, DIVERSITY OF UNITY

Intervention on a large mail art envelope I mailed to Serse Luigetti in Italy.

For Miranda Vissers

Intervention on a small standard mail art envelope I mailed to Miranda Vissers in The Netherlands.

For Valentine Mark Herman

Intervention on a small standard mail art envelope I mailed to Valentine Mark Herman in France.

For Simon Warren

Intervention on a small standard mail art envelope I mailed to Simon Warren in the UK.

For Lino Foffano

Intervention on a small standard mail art envelope I mailed to Lino Foffano in Italy.