Karnival of Trash Mail Art Call: Trashpo by Jim Leftwich (Roanoke, Virginia, USA)

Mail art by Jim Leftwich (Roanoke, Virginia, USA)

This exhibition being run in conjunction with the 2016 Karnival of Trash gains depth, breadth and historicity with the arrival of a Trashpo composition by none other than visual poet Jim Leftwich. Trashpoets and Kulters generally acknowledge that Leftwich invented Trashpo over a decade ago. Of course this claim is questioned sometimes by Leftwich himself as well as the Schwitterspo faction of trashpoets, among others. I doubt anyone would deny Jim Leftwich is a pioneer of the genre and any work he does in the area of Trashpo is of great interest. Here is a different view of the piece:

Concepts of the “authentic” and “authorship” are, of course, inherently questioned by trashpoets and Kulters. Yet the question “What is Trashpo?” is persistent. I believe this work is a superb, classical example that references those first influential work from 2005/2006, if it is not – indeed – an artifact from that time.This is also just a great piece of visual poetry. Now the reverse side:

Jim - 9.4.2016 - 6