MetaChat - So, here's a (long) story with a good link at the end

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26 September 2006

So, here's a (long) story with a good link at the end →[More:]Way back when - possibly before I even had a Mefi membership, definitely while I was still in lurk mode - I was reading this thread, or maybe it was this one, about Ray Johnson & his work including moticos, his mail art. I rented the documentary How to Draw a Bunny and really was fascinated, especially by one description of moticos as being something that Ray created and sent out to become something more than what it was...at least I think that's how it went...(I really need a copy of this film...)
ANYWAY, I liked that concept as applied to music, and being one of those "that would make a great band name" people I thought: "that would make a great band name." So I looked up to see if the dot com was taken...(because that's what I do when I come up with a great band name), it wasn't so I bought it, drew a bunny for the splash page and parked it. I haven't linked it yet on purpose...so hold on. I let the page sit for a while, because I wasn't ready to start another music project and the right people and things hadn't come together anyway. [continued in first comment]

post by: krix at: 16:24 | 5 comments

Then, this April I received in the mail a postcard, actually more of a photograph with a stamp on the back, addressed to me (at my work). The image was a skyward shot of a hand covered in blue paint, surrounded by trees.

Once I figured out what it was, and why I received it, I took a picture (with my phone) of the photo, messed with it in photoshop, adding a "thank you" and the date and replaced my badly drawn bunny splash picture with it on moticos.com. Two more pictures came in June and July...and the 4th one just yesterday. Each time a picture arrived I would do something with it and post it to the site. I'd also anagram the single sentences that were written on the back and use that at the page title.

I know that the photographer had probably just run a whois on the domain but the rest was very mysterious. The first and most recent postmarks were from Georgia, one was from NY and one arrived without a postmark (but still delivered in the mail so I wasn't freaked out). It's been fun and kind of exciting. When no picture came in August I was a little dissapointed. I also wonder if the photographer ever came to the page and saw what I was doing to the photos.

When picture number four arrived yesterday, it had a rubber stamp of a domain along with the handwritten text. Visiting the domain solved part of the mystery....which is kind of dissapointing. The whole thing was a little bit of magic in my life before.

The trade off was getting to see more of this persons work, which I really really enjoy and want to share.

uberphoto.com

You can sign up to get your own magical postcards, too.

I hope mine keep coming.

posted by krix 26 September | 16:24

Cool story, thanks for sharing.

posted by dg 26 September | 17:20

Aaaaaawesome story. Stories of mysteries, art, and intersecting lives are the best.

posted by Miko 26 September | 18:19

Very cool. I have an artist friend who is a big Ray Johnson fan. In fact, in the doldrums last spring, he and another local artist began exchanging moticos in an almost hostile manner. I saw some of them, and they were fantastic, utterly fantastic.

I may not read the uberphoto link, as I prefer the story without any knowledge of the originator. Living as part of a piece of art is a fantastic way to live.

/Vows to start work tomorrow on a set of moticos

posted by richat 26 September | 21:10

Wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful!

posted by safetyfork 27 September | 09:04

← Noah Kalina makes a video pastiche of self-portraits: || I got work! →

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