Dec 4, 2010

Ryosuke Cohen こうえん りょうすけ mail art

my name stamp Tomoe

Stamp practice

stamp practice, and leaf print

set of my handmade stamps

stamping with color and found objects




For this couple of weeks, I spent learning to make handmade stamps. I will also send the print to mail artist Ryosuke Cohen who is curculate mail artists' stamp, stamp design, and stickers and send around the world every 10 days. That way, I thought I would inspired more encourage to create things.

I used shrine fox as a motif and since Shinto shrine tend to be at a forest, I curve a tree, and also Shinto believe Sun of God (which where the meaning of Japanese flag coming from) so I also made a sun. To do more sophsticated design, I need more practice, so it ended up having kind of illustration drawing design. I also add some words like おいなりfox (inari shrine fox) おおきに (thank you in Osaka language), "kon" means the way fox cry in Japanese. (sorry I don't know how fox cry in English.) haha, 


Shinto religion has similarity with Native American or other countries' native religious about believing nature. I am kind of fascinating about how people related to nature, and I may want to study cultural anthropology about native culture in Master. I think that was why I got these motifs for the stamps too.


Rosuke Cohen is asking people to send stamps or stamp design or handmade stickers (which I assume the handmade sticker with your own images that cut with zigzag like a postage stamp) as his own projects that he has been doing for many years as “Mail Art-Brain Cell - Franctal” Ryosuke has been collected these design images and made copy and send back to people who send them with other images. 

Here is more details of the definition of his “Brain Cell”.

“ In Mail Art, the network expands as A to B, B to C, and so on. It is not only limited to peer communication. In fact, you can put collages on the mail you receive and send it back, or you may be able to send other artists’ideas into your own mail. As a whole body, it appears as a brain constructed with numbers of compiled and complex nerve cells, which are created in a non-linear order. So I have named this style of art “Brain Cell”, and have been soliciting new Mail Art entries since June 1985. Today we have more than 5000 members from 80 nations, and the entries have amounted to 442 as of March 1999. “
More about his concept, please see his site.
I feel fun to participate his Fluxus concept projects and it seems like many IUOMA members and other people I found on Internet sending their design and getting his postcards that has the copy are on.
I was thinking what to make and send him. Talking about the copy right of my other hand made project, he was into Fluxus about sharing art with other artist based on mail art to rearrange own art. It sounds to him (on his website) it is a great experience in addition to learning about Picasso and Cezanne that he likes. He calls the collaboration process “free from copyright” and “copy left.” 
I understand the concept and I am happy to join, but to me it is kind of new to stamp making so I will keep the stamps as for my proof and for next use, so I will send him my stamp print.

Journey to the East mail art

Top box front


Top box bottom





Bottom box inside







spangles ornaments





Bottom box back, signing


Here, I am posting images and explanation of a box art project I was doing to send for the mail art exhibition in Indonesia.
From top cover words, No War Yes Peace (not like a title, but more for the counter words that go with the cover design)
Dimension: Width 23.3 cm, length 30 cm depth 3.2 cm
Recycle from a box of Giladeli chocolate.
Material: handmade paper, cutting paper for lettering, printing images from book of Japanese Buddhist art history, typed words, postcards and my photographs of Japanese temples for collage, origami sticker, spangles (sequins), fishing line.

Typed words inside of cover box:
Consider, meditate, reflect, think over
龍王吼菩薩 10-11C 321.2 by 179.7 cm

Inside of bottom box:
如意輪観音坐像12C, 54.3 cm如意輪寺
mother savior
持国天、83.3 cm, 増長天, 83.6 cm, 金剛峰寺 guadian
calm, love, mercy, save,  peace

back of bottom box:
Tomoe nakamura, 2010
2-22-2 Daiho Kanancho Minamikawachi-gun
Osaka 585-0005 Japan

This will be the work for one of the mail art call to the 2nd International Mail Art Exhibition, to Indonesia as a theme of "A Journey to the East, Mail art dedicated 4 Peace." So the theme would be something of artists thoughts on world peace, feeling of people, function of the earth, etc. (guessing from other people's works from their blog.) I am depicting war and peace, calm and anger, human vs Buddhist gods. Thinking about this, I thought box art, (alter box) would be a perfect technique I can use, and I use the box that I have kept a Ghirardelli chocolate that my partner always send to my family in Japan. 
Link to the art call sites
other artist mails
A website for 2nd mail art exhibition, A Journey to the East. You can see other people's work, so you know what kind of concept I have in mind.

#1 a travel brochure. It is showing human conflict, (of Samurai from 15C). I put the words, No War, Yes, Peace with cut of handmade paper in shape of words. (it is hard to tell, but it is not a writing, but cutting paper.) 
#2 inside of the cover box. I scanned a photo from the Japanese culture series book, and printed as the size of interior of the box. It is luck of some width so I printed double and collage them. 
The deity in red is called "Fudo", in easy term in English. It is one of image from 12C in Japan that they play in esoteric Buddhism. Easy to put, his role is to scare the bad evils, and also purifies all human's mindful desires with its fires and his angry face. They are different kinds but the angry face with fire, they all called as Fudo Myouou.
Link to description for Fudo
The reason I put this god on the front cover was that there was a foolish action of human being, (like fighting in a war, destroying nature in my consideration) he is a god to stop their thoughts. And the "action" of opening the box, I consider as entering a place of peace and serenity. He is acting as the "guard man." 
#3 They are my own photographs that I took in Nara, Japan. I choose ones that I took during summer. I edited little more over saturated, filtered in blue, so that they can match with other old postcards that I did collage together with. 
#4 Collage for the interior of bottom box. I used old postcards and my own photos. I was going to use only postcards at first, but I thought if I use my own photographs, I feel more like it is my original, so I tried to mix them. 
#5 In the image of interior of bottom box, I added more things, standing Buddhas, ornament designs during this week to complete.

#1 a travel brochure. It is showing human conflict, (of Samurai from 15C). I put the words, No War, Yes, Peace with cut of handmade paper in shape of words. (it is hard to tell, but it is not a writing, but cutting paper.) 
#2 inside of the cover box. I scanned a photo from the Japanese culture series book, and printed as the size of interior of the box. It is luck of some width so I printed double and collage them. 
The deity in red is called "Fudo", in easy term in English. It is one of image from 12C in Japan that they play in esoteric Buddhism. Easy to put, his role is to scare the bad evils, and also purifies all human's mindful desires with its fires and his angry face. They are different kinds but the angry face with fire, they all called as Fudo Myouou.
Link to description for Fudo
The reason I put this god on the front cover was that there was a foolish action of human being, (like fighting in a war, destroying nature in my consideration) he is a god to stop their thoughts. And the "action" of opening the box, I consider as entering a place of peace and serenity. He is acting as the "guard man." 
#3 They are my own photographs that I took in Nara, Japan. I choose ones that I took during summer. I edited little more over saturated, filtered in blue, so that they can match with other old postcards that I did collage together with. 
#4 Collage for the interior of bottom box. I used old postcards and my own photos. I was going to use only postcards at first, but I thought if I use my own photographs, I feel more like it is my original, so I tried to mix them. 
#5 In the image of interior of bottom box, I added more things, standing Buddhas, ornament designs during this week to complete.

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