| FORWARD Karlstrom, Paul. "Regional Reports: West Coast." Archives of American Art Journal, Vol 40, Numbers 1 & 2, 2000. Page 38-39, 41. Two particularly notable acquisitions, collections that expand Archives holdings documenting alternative spaces and non-mainstream art movements, are the records of 8BC Club and the papers of stamp and Mail artist John Held, Jr. John Held, Jr. (b. 1947), matured as an artist in the mid-seventies when he became involved in the international mail Art network. Inspired and mentored by Fluxus collector Jean Brown and the artist Ray Johnson, Held has combined his interests in information science and alternative art to form the largest archive of Mail Art is the United States. He holds a M.L.S. (1972) from Syracuse University and is the author of Mail Art: An Annotated Bibliography (1991). The Modern Realism Archive and Gallery, located in an overflowing storage area at Held's San Francisco home, was founded to preserve the record of contemporary avant-garde cultural activity, focusing on ephemera: Fluxus, Mail Art, rubber stamp art, video, stamps, performance art, artists' books and periodicals. A member of San Francisco conceptualist tom Marioni's Society of Independent Artists, Held (who appropriated this form of his name from the famous cartoonist) arranged with regional director Paul Karlstom (also a member) for this unique collection to come to the Archives in stages. Due to Held's professional training, the initial donations are the most beautifully organized and described materials so far to enter the Archives through the West Coast center. The collection documents mail Art activity from the sixties through the nineties and includes primary materials such as exhibition catalogues, posters, periodicals and "zines," as well as secondary sources (books and periodicals) on the subject. Especially important is correspondence with artists and video interviews conducted by Held with Clement Greenberg, John Cage, Ray Johnson, and others. The fully annotated correspondence is from over five thousand artists and includes exchanges sent in the Mail Art network over a twenty-five year period. Theoretical discussions with all major participants in the field, as well as "mail as art" envelopes and collage postcards decorated with rubber stamps and adorned with artists' postage stamps, distinguish this unusual collection consciously developed as a research archive over the years by the donor. Archives |