"Mail Art" is hard to define as one thing because every mail artist would give you a different definition. Essentially, it's a big international network of people who exchange artwork and ideas via the postal service. Mail art in simplest terms is one person sending another person something that they have created. In more complex terms, there are mail art shows where hundreds of people send in work according to a specific theme. All of the work that is sent in is displayed in some manner and everyone who participates gets "documentation"--a list of all the artists, and possibly a catalog of the artwork. Announcements for these shows are distributed within the network (often to people who have participated in past shows), and not from any central location. It is democratic art at its best. Pop artist Ray Johnson is considered the originator of the network- in the 1950's he shunned the gallery-dealer-museum system of conventional art and started sending his artwork to people for free, often for no apparent reason. Sometimes he would prompt the recipients to change the piece in some way and pass it on to a third person, setting in motion a chain of contact which continues to this day. Ray Johnson committed suicide in 1995, but some of the pieces which Ray originated are still in circulation. Mail art seeks to break down the division between audience and artist-- anyone can be a mail artist, and have their work shown in a mail art show, regardless of academic credentials or technical skill- all you need is a stamp.
Anyone who had their zine reviewed in Factsheet 5 in the mid 1990's soon found themselves receiving cartoons from the reclusive TR (no relation) Miller. These one-panel cartoons are usually based around a single word concept, and are kind of like cartoon Successories from a parallel universe. I personally think Luhey cartoons are fascinating because they perhaps reveal much more about TR Miller than he would like us to know... on the surface they are simple, but the subtext is deeply moving.
The cartoons were infamous in the zine world and TR was written about and interviewed (and mock interviewed) by zinesters, not to mention the numerous parodies which appeared. Unlike the narcissistic zine world, TR revealed little about himself in words, and seemed uncomfortable to have any attention focused on his personal life. After a few years of seemingly unwanted attention paid to him instead of his cartoons, he stopped sending out his work. Recently I tracked him down in a comment on a message board where he was asking for places to submit his work. I offered to publish some of his cartoons here, and yesterday I received two envelopes chock full of Luhey goodness. Three of them were even in color! So, with great pleasure I present: the 2013 version of Luhey!
All Cartoons are © 2013 by TR Miller
