vispro / vispo?

painting portraits, one is not inspired by camels. Thinking in terms of Plato’s reality as consisting of archetypes or forms beyond human sensation - perhaps in this instance ‘perfect prose’ - we as artists, as vispro practitioners, are imitating an existing literary experience, seeking the special qualities – the aesthetic qualities – be they beautiful or sublime and/or dreary and monotonous - of prose.

Q: So what you're proposing (I think) is that 'vispro' be defined beyond merely re-creating the visual impression or suggestion of prose. I am having a hard time grasping the concept, but that's not a bad thing. It's good exercise for the old brain...

A: Absolutely, we are delving into the guts of prose – Aristotle’s art as imitation – art enabling what ‘nature cannot bring to a finish’. As artists, we are seeking to separate the forms of prose and imposing interpretation, delight, visual creativity – we are re-presenting, re-constructing – not dissembling, or deconstructing the nature of prose – although that process is valuable in coming to formal solutions in a personalized approach and attitude to artmaking. The final vispro form must enhance and support the initial concept – not merely be an illustration of a specific set of data.

Vispo/vispro??

I asked certain artists whose work I value to submit examples to aid in defining vispro. There was much debate on other terminology such as visual-prose-poetry. As I stated in various discussions, perhaps there is such an animal, but it is an animal not in my sights. I realise too that attempting to categorize any artistic endeavour draws loud voices of dissention – but that has always been the case. The following three examples are by 3 well known vispo artists and their work has always been categorized as such. They are happy with that categorization and I am not attempting to reframe their examples, but have included them as interpretations of vispo intent, each outworked according to a unique approach. In discussion, all three artists termed their work ‘vispo’ and their textual contribution is included with thanks.

Features:

1) Printed page. 2) Altered photograph of bench slats 3) Overlaid asemic writing 4) Palimpsest effect

5) WHY: an opening up to an unconscious connection to the 'whole' of creation.

Following invite of Cheryl Penn's for Vispro group, I am sharing an asemic writing piece from 2019. It began with a photo of slats on a bench in Paris France. The color contrasts in the background are a way of grounding the composed asemic writing into an artform, which may tell the reader that I am from a visual art background. I used to dream that I was reading words in a book, and would not be able to read the word, of course, until I could visualize it in my dream. That process is directly connected to 'automatic writing' which, in my case, might be described as 'asemic scribblings'. The vertical format (used often in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian) could just as well be horizontal, I've used both; but the linear act of writing is represented and so grounds my scribbles into a literary con-text (tongue-in-cheek). When I 'write' with a line on top of a visual piece, it sometimes follows contours found in the base layer. But as often as not, I will visualize a contour and just let my line follow that visualization, like when I used to dream-read. 2019 was also the start of a kind of 'obsessive drawing' I found myself doing (with micron pens, mostly) over my scanned abstract colorful paintings... in which I visualize animals, faces, figures, nature, etc. that connect with forms or contours I see in the painted details, and often these critters make eye contact with each other, or share a contoured shape, because they flow so freely from one to the next. So I think what I'm trying to say is that my art process & my asemic writing both come from the same place -- an opening up to an unconscious connection to the 'whole' of creation.

C. Mehrl Bennett. 2019.

Comment: Vispro? Perhaps. In discussions the term visual-prose-poetry was applied – vispropo – but that is not an animal I am seeking within the confines of this discussion. I think of intent here. This is about ‘the way of the form’, not necessarily about categorization of this image. I have worked with Catherine - very successfully I think*, quite a few times. I admire her work, her output and dedication to vispo. In discussion, I would think that she prefers the all-encompassing ‘vispo’ term. To me, there could very well be more vispro (visual prose) elements to this work than vispo elements, but, as Catherine states,

*see example https://vimeo.com/83051801 - wonderful soundtrack! C. Mehrl Bennett is consultant editor and technical facilitator for Luna Bisonte Prods on demand publications - a contributing editor, artist, & writer for arts or vispo related publications and websites - a mail artist, multi-media artist, and performer/writer of fluxus scores and experimental poetry, and more. …31

Andrew Brenza had this to say: Well, perhaps this is a bit arbitrary, but I'd say that prose poetry is a subset of the larger category of poetry. Similarly, using the same logic, vispro might be considered a subset of vispo. Also, what seems to me to distinguish prose from prose poetry is the quality of the prose, its effect on the reader. Prose poetry acts on the reader in the same way as all good poetry does, vs, say, the effect on the reader of engaging with the effort to transfer factual information in language. The phrase I use in the piece is a kind of prose poetry, I'd say. Perhaps the piece is then VisProPo? To quote Creeley, "I don't know. I get lost."

Vispropo – as stated - another discussion for another time – it’s chasing another animal on the textual-image plain which is outside the vispro fence. I would have liked to discuss with Andrew in the context of this article, the statement “what seems to me to distinguish prose from prose poetry is the quality of the prose, its effect on the reader” . Yes and no. I think what would be very important is intent and execution of intent by the artist. Even a prose poem form such as haibun is described as a poetic form which uses prose but includes a haiku and the haiku must be ‘in conversation with the prose’*. There is intent to create a haibun prose-poem. The process is not left to chance - because there is a form in mind.

*Haibun prose is usually descriptive. It uses sparse, poetic imagery to evoke a sensory impression in the reader. The section of prose is then followed by a haiku that serves to deepen the meaning of the prose, either by intensifying its themes or serving as a juxtaposition to the prose’s content. The accompanying haiku usually appears at the end of the haibun composition, though in some cases it may appear in the middle or at the very beginning. The haiku is meant to be in conversation with the prose section, serving as a thematic accompaniment, juxtaposition, or grace note that deepens the meaning of the piece as a whole. From: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-writehaibun-poetry#what-are-the-origins-of-haibun-poetry

Serse Luigetti (Italy) UNDERLINES

Features:

1) Printed page. 2) Collage 3) Overlaid asemic writing 4) Palimpsest effect

The blue background of this image is a quick handfree ink colour asemic 'writing’ I made about twenty years ago. Years later (2021) I tried to do a handcut collage with the dashed lines of postage paid commercial postcards. I found that the pattern could be a structure for the handwritten lines that photocopied in light blue were overprinted in red. Now I call this image UNDERLINES.

Serse Luigetti. UNDERLINES. 2021 and various other works. …32

I have included two other images belonging to Serse as he has a very distinctive visual language output. And, no matter where one searches, Serse’s work is described as vispo. I am not attempting to nudge it out of this catagorization as that is his intention. I would be interested to see if a different method of making would come into play if Serse thought about working with prose.

Nico Vassilakis the independence of fear

Features:

1) Printed page. 2) Digitalized text. 3) Palimpsest

Nico wrote: I find it’s true, letters arrange themselves - it’s never a word first. They take time, they take their time, one letter at a time. A word is built, it doesn’t simply appear. We have forgotten, we live our lives at such velocity that words emerge fully formed, an effortless fact. But it is not that way, alphabets are the history of human sound applied visually. A word is considered a convenience, a formation of letters that represents an object. Letters are the construction and compositional material of societal communication. The ingredients, if you will, of talking, of writing, of thinking, of getting by in our everydayness. This piece consists of layers of the phrase “letters arrange themselves - it’s never a word first.” One on top of the other till meaning is obliterated, till the words break open and the letters are released. The words explode and letters find themselves liberated to explore their original visual and/or verbal functions. The letters unmoored from their word captor is my visual poetry.

Comment: I had time to digest your words Nico, as I had read them as a message first. And, I would agree with what you say. I always picture letters as nanites, busy working before we think, speak - and never mind write. And then, once they've arranged themselves - willingly or unwillingly, they're out there, never to be retracted. They may be forgiven/forgotten/erased/re-consigned meaning, but their separate elements - the letters remember. My question: does this thinking create prose? Having said that, Nico very firmly states that his work is visual poetry. I wonder how/if he would tackle vispro differently? Would the appearance of his work change?