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, 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inari_Okami

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.

http://www.h5.dion.ne.jp/~cohen/info/ryosukec.htm

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.

http://iuoma-network.ning.com/forum/topics/brain-cell-ryosuke-cohen

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.