Opening Night: Mail Art Exhibition “I dream of …”

Incline Gallery and CULTIVATIVE invite you to the international mail art exhibit “I dream of…”. Artists of all skill levels and ages answered CULTIVATIVE’s call for artists and created postcards that will help those in need of cheer and a smile during the holiday season. More than 270 artists from over 35 countries around the world contributed postcards so far and you can still submit your artwork until November 15. The opening is on December 5, 2014 at Incline Gallery.

Mail Art evolved from the Fluxus movement of the 1960s into a global art movement that exists until today. It’s an art form where small-scale works are sent through the postal service. The exhibition shows pieces of already internationally established artists like Clemente Padín from Uruguay with his visual poem “Paz=Pan”. During the Civic-military dictatorship of Uruguay (1973-1985) he was imprisoned for over two years because of his art. Ryosuke Cohen from Japan contributed one of his famous Brain Cell prints. Since 1985 he collects stamps from artists all over the world and reproduces them with a special silkscreen process on an old Cyclostyle machine. The Italian Tiziana Baracchi participates with an original set of her apple and palm tree plastocollages. She founded the Itinerari 80 and the Ambasciata di Venezia as an alternative art space where artists leave the conventional behind and share their thoughts about the future. The exhibition also features works by San Francisco-based mail artist and writer John Held, Jr. He is one of the most prominent representatives for mail art and produced impressive artistamps in various media. German art promoter Horst Tress created one of his unique “Fluxpost” letters for this exhibition. His slogan says, “Art is contagious!”

Incline Gallery could not agree more that Mail Art is a viral art form when they recently hosted their first Mail Art Workshop. The engagement of the local community was incredible. Over 50 people were creating their own postcards with Bianca Nandzik from Cultivative. She is curating the exhibition as a member of the International Union of Mail Artists (IUOMA).

An important focus of Incline Gallery is to also give emerging artists a chance to display their work professionally. The gallery is proud to feature works from the Egyptian artist Mohamed Zakaria who combined butterflies with the usage of Arabic calligraphy in his digital artwork. Another must-see in the exhibition is the series of Kristina Zimbakova from Macedonia. Her work is amazingly creative, using materials found in nature on canvas. While the most unusual piece in the exhibition is the mixed media collage including perishable materials by Pedro Bericat from Spain.

After the exhibition all artworks will be send as a small gift to residents in nursing homes, orphanages and homeless shelters worldwide to make them feel a little bit less lonely during the Holiday Season.