Sunday, December 19, 2004

A Whale of a Card

Sometime around November 2nd, Qpidoremix (the master of intricate mailart design) mailed me a wonderful card that laminated the reflective layer of a CD and the image of a whale between two sheets of plastic. I received the card on December 6th, probably because the postal service (of both our countries) had trouble comprehending this art.


Qpidoremix, Laminated Card, Obverse (Nov 2004)

Notice the chatoyance that glances off the top of the CD layer of the card. Somehow, I cannot help but think of Moby Dick when I see the whale--and Herman Melville used to live around here (in Lansingburgh, New York), so I almost believe that this reference was qp's intent with this card.


Qpidoremix, Laminated Card, Reverse (Nov 2004)

On December 7th, Qpidoremix sent me an email asking me if I had received the card, and I explained that I just had, and thanked him for it. He then explained that "Initially Herma [his girlfriend] didnt want me to send the card either as she wanted to keep it for herself. I was only allowed by Herma to send it after I promised to make such a card for her too. I made one for her with a seal on one side which she has seen, but I hadn't had the chance to make it two sided for her."

Herma died recently, and the doctors do not even know why. My heart goes out to Martijn (who is usually Qpidoremix to me). As we sometimes discover, mailart is often about being human, about sharing the joys and sorrows of those we trade art with.

Martijn, take care. And tell me if this information is too personal to leave up on the blog.

un violon d'ingres

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pi6 is riddled with references :)

the whale it was indeed intended as the opposite of moby dick, the white whale but also the opposite of the diving goldfish and at the same time the two fishes are one. :)


No I don't mind. She loved mail art and influenced many mail art cards I sent.

qp

Anonymous said...

if I see it correctly, they cancelled both sides of the stamp :-)) that is the postal service appreciating mail art

qp

Anonymous said...

OK I'll throw in some references on the card, which can be hard to spot ;)

the whale is multi coloured as a reference to both Melville and Tolkien where Saruman the white turns into Saruman the multi coloured. Again an opposite in this reference: the white whale is considered evil (by Ahab) while the white of Tolkien is considered good. The multi coloured coat of Saruman is thought to be a reference to technology which in turn is reflected by the multicoloured cd layer (Tolkien was a visionairy man). Its riddled with references, which also refer to one other. I guess the priority sticker was the only thing not refering to something, and obviously the postal services concluded that I must have meant the opposite of priority...

qp

Geofhuth said...

Qpidoremix,

Great stuff! At least, I figured out the whale part, but I should've thought about this one some more. Still a marvel, and thanks for it.

Geof