Guy Bleus

Guy Bleus ( born October 23, 1950 in Hasselt ) is a Belgian artist and author.

Life and work

Art and Archive

Bleus deals with conceptual art ( Mail Art, Visual Poetry ) and performance. His work covers several areas, including the administration ( which he calls " Artministration " ), postal and olfactory communication.

In 1978 he founded "The Administration Centre - 42 292 ", a large art archive of works and information of 6000 artists from more than 60 countries (2012 ). " Guy Bleus has one of the best archives of mail art in Europe if not the world. "

Bleus was the first artist who has systematically used scents in the visual arts. Since 1979 he showed " smell - painting", scented objects, and sent aromatic plants. He also hosted "Spray Performances", in which he sprayed a mist of fragrance over the audience.

He also used the possibilities of communication media as an art with projects such as " Indirect Correspondence " and " post with Balloons " (1979). He used together with the artist Charles François first time in 1989, the digital equipment ( computer and modem ) for artistic communication. He has also used digital storage media such as microfilm, CD -ROM and DVD-ROM for artistic works.

Network and Projects

The international art projects that Bleus organized, are numerous, for example, " Are you experienced? LHFS "(1981), " Mail Art Atlas " ( 1981-83 ), " Telegraphy "(1983), " Cavellini Festival 1984 "," Art is Books " (1991 ), " Fax Performances " (1992 ), " Private Art Detective: Sealed Confessions ", and " Building plan & Schemes "(1993).

He wrote many texts on the subject of net art. About his essay "Exploring Mail Art " (1984) wrote Géza Perneckzy: "The study by Guy Bleus exceeds all publications with theoretical weight and conciseness ." In addition, he contributed to many publications such as " mail art " by Piotr Rypson, " Eternal Network " by Chuck Welch or " Postcards - Cartoline d' Artista " by Vittore Baroni. He participated in many artists' magazines.

In 1994 he opened the art gallery E - Mail-Art Archive (until 1999). In this non-profit art space more than 40 exhibitions of mail art, fax and internet art have taken place. In 1995 he realized the " Artistamps Collection", the first mail art catalog on CD- ROM. With the participation of artists such as Vittore Baroni, Ken Friedman, John Held Jr., Ruud Janssen, György Galántai, Pawel Petasz and Géza Perneczky he published in 1997 the first " E- Mail-Art - Art & Internet Manifesto " in its electronic magazine ( e-zine ).

After a bureaucratic adventure that ran for over 20 years, he realized in 2003 (along with Jean Spiroux ) the very first official stamp on the theme " Mail Art ". It was printed in an edition of four million by the Belgian postal service.

In the years 2005 to 2006 Guy Bleus organized the olfactory mail art project " Scents, Locks & Kisses" with 778 artists from 43 countries at the Cultural Section 33 On the website a slideshow with all the works of the participating artists is available.

A retrospective of his work was held in 2010 at the cultural center of Hasselt. The publication " Pêle - Mêle: Guy Bleus ® - 42 292 " had perfumed bracts with lavender essence and included a re-edition of his identity card from the planet Mars by 1979.

Literature (selection )

  • Gajewski, Henryk: Mail Art Handbook, Amsterdam, The Open University, 1983.
  • Löbach - signs indication, Bernd (ed.): International artists stamps. Design Book Publishing, Cremlingen, 1985, ISBN 3-923971-09-5.
  • Groh, Klaus & Havekost, Hermann: Artists' Books - artist's books, Oldenburg, 1986, ISBN 3-8142-0152-3.
  • Rypson, Piotr: Mail Art - CZYLI Sztuka Poczty, Akademia Ruchu, Warsaw, 1985.
  • Welch, Chuck: Networking Currents, Sandbar Willow Press, Boston, 1986.
  • Truck, Fred Guy Bleus, The Memory Bank, Des Moines University, 1986.
  • Fricker, CR: Networking material, design book publisher, Cremlingen, 1986, ISBN 3-923971-11-7.
  • Ruch, Günther ( ed.), Mail Art Congress 86, Out -press, Genève, 1987.
  • Fricker, CR: I Am A Networker ( Sometimes ), St. Gallen, 1989.
  • Broi, Gianni La posta in gioco, Pres. del consiglio del ministri, Florence, 1990.
  • Held, John: Mail Art: An Annotated Bibliography, ( Foreword by Guy Bleus ), Scarecrow Press, Metuchen, NJ, 1991.
  • Rypson, Piotr: Mail Art - CZYLI Sztuka Poczty, National Museum, Warsaw, 1991.
  • László, Jean -Noël: Timbres d'artistes, Musée de la Poste, Paris, 1993.
  • Perneczky, Géza: The Magazine Network, Soft Geometry, Cologne, 1993.
  • Meyer, Peter: Mailed kind in Uppsala, Uppsala, 1994.
  • Urbons, Klaus: electrophotography, DuMont Verlag, Cologne, 1994.
  • Winne, Friedrich and Wohlrab, Lutz (ed.): .. Mail art scene GDR 1975-1990 Haude & Spener, Berlin, 1994, ISBN 3-7759-0390-9.
  • Welch, Chuck: Eternal Network: A Mail Art Anthology, University of Calgary Press, Alberta, 1994.
  • Hamard Wang, Nathalie: mail art networking, communication entre et esthétique, Université de Paris, 1996.
  • Baroni, Vittore: Archivi - Guy Bleus, in: Arte Postale: Guida al network della corrispondenza creativa, Bertiolo, 1997.
  • Blaine, Julien Les Ambassadeurs, VAC, ventabren art contemporain, Editions népe, 1997.
  • Perneczky, Géza: Network Atlas: Works and Publications by the People of the First Network, Soft Geometry, Cologne, 1997.
  • Bulatov, Dmitry: A Point of View. Visual Poetry: The 90s. An Anthology, Ed. Simplicii, Kaliningrad, 1998.
  • Held, John: L'Arte del Timbro - Rubber Stamp Art, AAA Edizioni, Bertiolo, 1999.
  • Löbach - signs indication, Bernd: Artist banknotes: Artists' Works bill. Design Book Publishing, Cremlingen 2000, ISBN 3-923971-59-1.
  • Felter, James, W.: Artistamps - francobolli d' Artista, Bertiolo, AAA Edizioni, 2000.
  • Bex, Florent (ed.): Art in België na 1975 Mercatorfonds, Antwerp, 2001.
  • Saper, Craig J.: Networked Art, University of Minnesota Press, 2001.
  • Siegman, Renaud: mail art, postal type - type posté Éditions Alternatives, Paris, 2002.
  • Perneczky, Géza: Correspondence Works & Labels, Soft Geometry, Cologne, 2003.
  • Blaine, J. Mail - Art 2003, VAC, ventabren art contemporain, 2003.
  • Starbuck, Madelyn Kim: Clashing and Converging: Effects of the Internet on the Correspondence Art Network, University of Texas, Austin, 2003.
  • Baccelli, Vittorio: Arte Postale mail art, Tesseratto Editore, Seville, 2009.
  • Elias Willem: Guy Bleus - Contemplation of a million, in: De art van het spel Koninklijke Musea voor Schone Kunsten van België, Mercator Fund, Brussels, 2009.
  • Lomholt, Niels Peter & Denhart, Lene Aagaard: Lomholt Mail Art Archive, Form Press, Denmark, 2010.
  • Gutiérrez Marx, Graciela: Arte correo: artistas invisibles en la red postal 1975-1995, Buenos Aires, Luna Verde, 2010.
  • Sousa, Pere ( Merz mail): Mail Art - La Red Eterna - PO Box, L.U.P.I., Sestao, Barcelona, ​​2011.
  • Held, John: Where the Secret is Hidden: Collected Essays, 1979-2011 - Part 1, Banana Fish Publications, Sacramento and San Francisco, CA, 2011.
  • Held, John: Where the Secret is Hidden: Collected Essays, 1979-2011 - Part 2, Banana Fish Publications, Sacramento and San Francisco, CA, 2011.
  • Holsbeek, Dan, Guy Bleus, in: Landscape of Images, ed Eurlings, Ellen (among others), Hasselt, 2012 ISBN 9789074605557. .
  • Chiarlone Debenedetti, Bruno: sort through Postal Service, Gruppo Editoriale L' Espresso SpA, ilmiolibri, Roma, 2013.
  • Galántai, György & Klaniczay, Júlia ( Ed. ): Artpool: The Experimental Art Archive of East - Central Europe, Budapest, 2013 ISBN 978-963-08-7225-6. .

Publications Guy Bleus

  • Subterranean II, Academy of Fine Arts, Ghent, 1970.
  • Het Spiegelbeeld, Tongerse Kunstkring, Tongeren, 1974.
  • Subterranean II, Tongerse Kunstkring, Tongeren, 1975.
  • Are You Experienced: L.H.F. P ", VUB, University of Brussels, 1981.
  • Mail eARTh, De Warande, Turnhout, 1981.
  • Mail Art: Initiation, art gallery CIAP, Hasselt, 1983.
  • Administration: Telegraph and Mail Art Project, Provincial Museum, Hasselt, 1983.
  • Man is The Museum of All Things, Esmeralda, Ghent, 1983.
  • WAA: World Art Atlas, De Warande, Turnhout, 1983.
  • B: 13 - 13 Bambú, TAC - 42 292, waves, 1984 ( 1992).
  • B.T.S. - Common Press 56, Het Toreke, Tienen, 1984.
  • 20x Communication, SHIVKV, Genk, 1986.
  • Audio Type: Screams ( Against Bureaucracy ), Provincial Museum, Hasselt, 1989.
  • Art is Books: art books, PCOB, Hasselt, 1990.
  • Fax performances, C. C. Heusden -Zolder, 1992.
  • A networking Fax Project & Performance, De Fabriek, Eindhoven, 1993.
  • Building Plans & Schemes, C. C. Heusden -Zolder, 1993.
  • The Timeless Calendar, Vaes & Il Ventuno, Neerpelt, Hasselt, 1993.
  • E- Pêle - Mêle: Electronic Mail Art Netzine, TAC - 42 292, Hasselt, 1994-1998.
  • Mail Art, PCBK & TAC - 42 292, Hasselt, 1994.
  • In a memory of Ray Johnson, TAC - 42 292, Hasselt, 1995.
  • Mail -art memorabilia, Postal Museum, Brussels, 1995.
  • Sealed Confessions: Private Art Detective, C. C. Heusden -Zolder, 1996.
  • Re: The E- Mail-Art & Internet Art Manifesto, TAC - 42 292, Hasselt, 1997.
  • Re: The E- Mail-Art & Internet Art Manifesto - Part I, TAC - 42 292, Hasselt, 1998.
  • Working in A Coal Mine: Fax & Internet Art Project, Our House, Genk, 1997.
  • Re: The E- Mail-Art & Internet Art Manifesto - Part II, TAC - 42 292, Hasselt, 1998.
  • Artists' books, Literair Museum, Hasselt, 1998.

CD -ROM and DVD-ROM

  • The Artistamp Collection: with at X, E -mail Art Archives, Hasselt, 1996.
  • The Artistamp Collection: without at X, E -mail Art Archives, Hasselt, 1996.
  • Eutopia, province, Maastricht, 1997.
  • Desks: 1001 Bureau, Center Beeldende Art, Groningen, 1998.
  • 1899 load cell 1999, Visual Poetry, Bruges, 1999.
  • Artbiorix, De Velinx, Tongeren, 2000.
  • S: L: K - Olfactory mail art project, Z33, 2005.
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