In the beginning of 2021 (January 2nd– April 30rd) Grafein organised an Open Call for its International Print Mail Art Project themed: See things in perspective. After many months of isolation, while the Netherlands and the rest of the world were in the second lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this project was intended to inspire and connect people, ideas and places through art. Mail art as a medium seemed especially relevant for this purpose because it is centered on sending small-scale works through the postal service. Printmakers worldwide were invited to send an artwork in a postcard size (10×15 cm) by post. All printmaking techniques were accepted, as well as other media combined with printmaking.
More than 280 artists from over 30 countries responded to the call and sent their artwork. Most of them sent prints in which one or more of the following techniques were used: linocut, woodcut, wood engraving, etching, dry point, aquatint, mezzotint, screen print, lithography, chine collé, collography, monotype, digital print etc. We also received cards in which a printmaking technique was used in combination with other media, such as: collage, drawing with pencil, ink or coloured pencil, acrylic, watercolour, gold foil, hand stitching, stamps etc.
The exhibition
The first exhibition of the International Print Mail Project SEE THINGS IN PERSPECTIVE is organised in the studio of the graphic collective Thoets in Amsterdam and is taking place from 26 May to 6 June 2021. It’s exciting and interesting to see all the artworks exhibited side by side, and to notice the wide array of the printmaking techniques used to create them. They show the traces of the journey they had in order to arrive to this point: stamps, bits of wrinkling and crumpling or a folded corner… Each card takes us to the beginning of this journey presenting the visual language and the ideas of the artist that created it and communicates with the viewers in it’s own unique way.
