Telegram met gelukwensen, 1928 1928

This telegram was produced by PTT in 1928, and who knows what tools were used in the making. But look at the way the page is aged, discoloured, and ripped. It's had a life, right? The texture of the paper isn’t smooth, it’s more of a rough surface, which makes it feel real, worn, and like it's telling a story. The script is very beautiful and of its time. The stamps are a real formal addition in their geometric sensibility. The typewritten sections, which run alongside handwritten notes, give it that bureaucratic feeling. My eye keeps going back to the tear in the upper left. Something about that ripped edge is so appealing. It's a reminder that art, like life, is messy and imperfect. It reminds me of work by Ray Johnson, and his use of collage and mail art. Art is an ongoing conversation, and even something as simple as a telegram can be a part of that dialogue.