A Last Minute Snail Mail Project!

Hello! Yes this is a slightly different Snail Mail Event then the others. Send Letters and Postcards to your State and Local Representatives and tell them we need are Postal Offices and Mail Carriers! No matter what political party you are in. So pass the word on!


Join in and pass the word on at Save the Postoffice! Also check out http://www.saveamericaspostalservice.org/index.html

What?! Snail Mail Event! - Bring Back the Stamp! #3 Suggested Theme!?

That's right ladies and gents, I announce "Snail Mail Event! - Bring Back the Stamp! #3" date is (!) December 1st 2011! I know it's in the middle of holiday season. But that's more of the reason to use this day to send such things as cards and what not. Not only that, the US Postal service is in such hard shape let's help them out!

Okay! There is something else for this third Snail Mail Event. You might have seen that I kept mentioning a "suggested theme" to help some people out. Here it is. It's not something that has to be holiday related, but it could be. Are you ready? Not just Bring Back the Stamp this time but The Mixed Tape! (If you want you can burn a mixed cd). So make a mixed tape stick it in the mail and send them off to far corners of the world! Again this is suggested, if you just want to stick to postcards, or send tapes and postcards and letters and coconuts and anything else have at it. Just send something!

So please tell your friends join the event on Facebook at the Acts of Random Art page and tell all your friends. Until the next post I will see you around the internet!

Acts of Random Art does accept mail. Mailing address is on Facebook or contact actsofrandomart@gmail.com.

One Minute Video Project

Now, Random Art does not need to just be out in public as the streets. You can also find Random Art here online at such sites as youtube and facebook, just for a couple examples. The list is really much longer. That is not really what I am trying to start.

This is a video project. These are the rules:

Video's are to be no more then one minute long

Please post the video's on Acts of Random Art Facebook page

And if you would like them to be on the A.o.R.A. YouTube Channel please email your video to actsofrandomart@gmail.com

Please have fun with this project and I want it to be an on going project. And on November 30th I will be asking for people to vote on the video's up to that point. In which the movie with the most votes on Facebook and/or YouTube there will then be a winner! And with that a prize (which is in the middle of being made!)

Here is a one minute video to be used as an example. Subjects are open for anything, but please be tasteful!

example video - Night Ride

Nothing is Permanent in Public Art

Most think, when it comes to ephemeral art, about environmental works. The kind of work that is built from rocks, sticks, grass and leaves and anything that is natural to the environment around it. Art that can the return back to the earth and not do any damage.

But that is not the only ephemeral art. Graffiti even though it is spray paint, yarn bombing and wheat pasting just to name a few gorilla art forms are very ephemeral. Some just last longer then others. Even a commissioned piece of public art work might not last forever. Some work lifespans are shorter than others. Richard Serra, had a piece in New York City that was designed to break up a giant space, it made people angry and it was ultimately taken down. His work is made site specific (a piece made for the one place it is placed and nowhere else) so the metal was then scrapped. 

Richard Serra - NYC - Tilted Arc

Occasionally, other works get taken down and cause a stir. Maine’s own controversial labor workers mural in the Maine State Labor Building taken down by Gov. Lepage (without seeing it himself but because of an anonymous request) is a case in point. Maine Labor Mural Check this site for ongoing information on this active controversy.

Graffiti is sometimes taken down in a matter of minutes and sometimes left for years. But at the same point it will ultimately be cleaned off or painted over, by a property owner or another Graffiti writer. This continuum of artwork stirs controversy, generally less formally than commissioned work and sometimes in graffiti spats and wars between or among individual or groups of writers.

In the end, it seems that all the public art is ephemeral or short lived. That is, in comparison to more “formal” art forms in galleries or museums. But even for those works, being in the public eye is usually brief, with the work leaving galleries to be moved to storage, the artist’s studio or private collections. So remember that nothing is permanent in public art or for that matter, in art in general.