The above piece came with a copy of a letter from the early 80s, an invitation to Richard, among other invited artists, to imagine a dress design for then First Lady Nancy Reagan, her much-satirized for her elite fashion extravagance, among other extravagances. This was Richard's "solution" to the problem "What should Nancy wear next?" I'd buy one of these in a heartbeat.
Above, Richard continues to surprise and delight me with the variety and ingenuity of his "ready-made" postcards. On the left is one of his "Canardisms" that most resonates with me. The most effective, perhaps only truly effective revolution not being political whatsoever, but the evolution of one's personal consciousness and perception.
On the back of another recent card were pithy gems of wit and wisdom that make a case for considering Richard as the contemporary mail-art equivalent of the great aphorists of bygone ages, working in the tradition of such past masters of the form as the 17th century French writer La Rochefoucauld. Oscar Wilde on a postcard, perhaps?
Richard's recent aphorisms ranged from wry cultural critique: "The problem with the graffiti artist is the 3 foot high letters of his moniker prevent him from contemplating the rest of the alphabet" and "I am of the opinion that 'fashion' is the original Fluxus & it is habitually active" to the surrealistic: "The artist is just a human being trapped inside of Salvador Dali's ego." From the Nietzschean: "To jump into the abyss with a parachute or a bungee cord is self-defeating" to the Sisyphean: "As a disciplined mail-artist I send out at least one or two postcards everyday whether it is worth the effort or not" to the mind-bendingly quantum: "A postcard is never finished--it has invisible tentacles that connect to the next one to follow or a response."
To these I might add: "Any day is a better day when you find Richard Canard in your mailbox."
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