Existing comment:
Anna Banana, aka Anna Lee Long
(b. 1940, Canadian)
Mail art to John Evans, 2010
Anna Banana created this mail art for John Evans using pieces of Evans's own work. Evans was most known for his collages, which he began making in his New York City apartment about 1964. He made a different collage every day for more than thirty-five years, using discarded paper items he found on the street in his neighborhood. Just as Evans's collages were constructed of found objects, Banana's piece also created from found materials---labels, a postal sticker, and various canceled postage stamps, some official and some of Evan's artistamps. In addition to the stamps that are on the artwork for aesthetic purposes, the composition incorporates the stamps and labels that are used to systematically transport the item through the post, thus blurring the line between form and function. The two artists exchanged mail art for many years, until Evans's death in 2012. The words "of action" peek out from under a stamp in the middle of the composition, stressing how, in the mail art network, found-object collages get set into motion.
-- Jacklyn Weinstein |