José Manuel Figueiredo

A Zen Dog! This collage has been made and sent by José Manuel Figueiredo from Portugal. His work is recognizable by the tiny boat rubber stamp.

Both pictured dogs (Rafeiro do Alentejo - Portuguese Watchdogs) are in good company. Or, the other way round: both pictured Humans must be lucky people to have such a loyal four-footer around.



Thank you, obrigado, José Manuel!

Ryosuke Cohen

This richly coloured Mail Art work Ryosuke Cohen sent from Japan.
On this A3 sized Brain Cell Life Form number 776 various mail artists have contributed. And among the faux postage stamps, rubberstamps and other kinds of art you can find several weird animals: many Mammals (most of them human beings), some Fish and one Bird (click on the picture to enlarge).

More about Ryosuke Cohen you can find on his website, RyuosukeCohen.com.

The contributing artists to this Mail Art work are the following:



Arigato, thank you very much, Ryosuke! And thanks to all who contributed to this marvellous Mail Art 'Teamwork'!

Wilma Duguay

When I think of Wilma Duguay, I think of the Sea!
Wilma Duguay sent this beautiful drawing from Canada. When I saw the pencil drawn animal, the first thing that came into my mind was: 'that must be a Sea urchin skeleton!'
Fortunately Wilma wrote the name of this animal next to it. Fortunately, because I never had heard of this animal before: the Sand dollar.

And indeed, this Sand dollar (in Spanish speaking countries also called 'Galleta de mar' - 'Sea cookie') is a curious animal. Read more about this echinoderm (stinged-skin) on wikipedia.

This makes me also wonder about the number '5'. Why, like also Starfish and Sea urchins have, Sand dollars always have a fivefold radial symmetry? (And why do we mammals have five fingers/toes each hand, each foot?)



On Wilma's mail artwork there are more weird Sea animals to see and to enjoy!

Thank you very much, Wilma!


Update November 10th, 2010:

Wilma surprised me with a new letter, and put forward to make this apposite Sea magnet part of the Existing Odd Animals. So here you are!
(I added the back side next to the wonderful Sand dollar, Starfish and Shell.)



This fine work of art (only 5 x 4.5 cms) has been made by Linda Kobera, a painting artist who's pasisonate about miniature art.
More about Linda Kobera you can see on her website.

Again thanks a lot, Wilma!

Annalise Lundeen

A wonderful mixed-media work of mail art Annalise Lundeen sent to me from the USA.

Until now I always thought a 'Turkey' is just a 'Turkey' ('Kalkoen' in Dutch), but by this drawing/painting I learnt there's a difference between the Wild Turkey and the Domestic Turkey.

Annalise's favorrite animal indeed is a weird animal! Note the bald head, the strange red wattles and enjoy the typical sounds (hear the gobbling, for instance at 0:03 and 6:47 on this video).



Thank you very much, Annalise! Also thanks a lot for the nice picture of you and your Turkey in the 90s. Which proofs the - rightly - love for this extraordinary animal is deep.

Serse Luigetti

A Horse! Such a common animal, loved by many. 'Common', but when looking close, it becomes clear that Horses are a kind of weird, too!
There are only a few animals who allow people to sit on their back for hours and still keep on smiling (in the Horse's case, keep on their ears up).

Serse Luigetti from Italy created this beautiful Paper Horse, and of course - I think - Serse's Mail Art wouldn't be complete without some visual poetry.



On the envelope some more animals.
Below a detail of this very inconvenient truth:



Serse added a few postcards, of which in this one I see a wellknown animal, too (already visualised by many artists): the Human Being.



Here more of Serse Luigetti's visual poetry. I cannot read it, so if anyone can decode the text, please let me know. Or am I so weird not to see - and just enjoy, nothing more - the visual image?!





(I love the envelop between the rounds!).
Thanks a lot, grazie mille, Serse!

Snappy

As I did before, also now I hesitated to open Snappy's beautifully packed entry, because the glimmering plastic of the envelope, the postage stamp, the par avion sticker and the Snappy Service Stamp are too contributing to the Mail Art work to be removed...

But the instruction sticker told me to do so, so here is the unveiled work:



Lots of weird animals are shown. The Penguin, a funny favourite friend. The Leaf-tailed gecko and, on the Canadian postage stamp, the Golden-eyed lacewing. On the drawing a Wolf teaching Geese (? I think) to read.



And of course Humans.
One of the weirdest (and imho one of the most foolish) things Humans can do is wearing guns and using them. So I prefer the man with the magnifying glass, of course.

Note the - for any animal useful - message (white letters on blue background) on top!

See more work by Snappy on the Snappy Service website.

Thanks a lot, Snappy!

Josh Ronsen

I am not sure if Josh Ronsen meant this postcard for the Real Weird Animals project, but I found it in my Postbox and it is an Animal, even a weird animal, and it is Art. So I felt free to show his amazing a-n-t ant here.

Ants... What to say more about these busy useful creatures... They are small, meanwhile they are great. Selfish (when it comes to protect their nest) both unselfish (offering themselves in favour of the whole Ant people). Small enough to be tramped, but also strong (ever seen an ant carrying a piece of a leaf more than twice as big as the ant?).

Multi-artist Josh Ronsen had and has various Art projects, among them the recent Mail Art project Tiny Art Exchange. Learn more about his projects on his website.
And.. Enjoy many more Mail Ants on Josh Ronsen's astonishing Mail Ant Project page!

Thanks a lot, Josh, for this visual-poetry-calligraphics-mail-art animal!

TicTac

This amazing Octopus has been sent from Germany by Ptrzia TicTac.
With a lot of Eye-Fish (or Fish-Eyes?) around!



Some fish were cut out (great work done, Patrizia!), and suddenly the snail from Ptrzia's accompanying letter appeared in the fish' place. Somewhere in one of these pictures you can find this rapid snail!
(Who by this deed made a kind of 'Where is Wally' search image!..)



Patrizia has a great mail art project: Message in a Bottle.

Thank you very much, vielen Dank, for your contribution!

Jos

Jos from Belgium sent me the Aye-aye, a weird animal I didn't know before I started this blog.
In Dutch we call this lemur 'vingerdier', which means 'finger animal'.
Wikipedia says about this animal: "The Aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) is a lemur, a strepsirrhine primate native to Madagascar that combines rodent-like teeth with a long, thin middle finger to fill the same ecological niche as a woodpecker."
Weird, isn't it? (and a mouthful of words!)



On the envelope a close-up of this frightning looking creature!..
Though I think we humans don't have to be afraid of the aye-aye, as he/she only eats insect grubs, nuts and nectar.



Thank you, Jos, dankjewel voor dit bijzondere dier!

Nini

This cute rodent has been made by Nini from Belgium. 'Woestijnspringmuis', I thought when I opened the colorful envelope (see below). Though I am not sure whether this weird animal, in English, is the Dipopid, a Gerbil or a Hopping Mouse.



Thank you, dankjewel, Nini, voor dit schattige beestje!

RashidxMAN

This great Tapir has been made by Rashid from Belgium.
With a nice envelope - one might notice - apart from the husome weird animal, too: in the Netherlands we call a car 'the holy cow', I am not sure if this is also the name in Flemish?



Thank you, dankjewel, Rashid-x-Man, voor deze mooie bijdrage!

Mart1

Two animals were sent from Belgium by Mart1.
The Tapir, one of my favorite weird animals, you see below. And above you see the Blobfish!
Even if the fish him/herself wouldn't have been weird, he/she would be weird because of the name! Just have a try: say 'blobfish' to yourself 14 times while looking in the mirror with a serious face and try not to laugh!..

Though - the Blobfish indeed is weird! Living in deep sea (600 to 1200 meters, near Australia) a gas bladder, which fish usually have, wouldn't work. Instead of that, the Blobfish' flesh is a jelly-like mass. He doesn't need much muscles, as he just eats what comes close. Blob!



Blobfish and Tapir are accompanied by an interesting collaged envelop. When you take a close look at the backside, you can notice some butterflies, too!





Thank you, dankjewel, Mart1, voor deze verrassende bijdrage!

Victor

Victor sent this funny weird animal from Belgium.
My animal encyclopedia remained startling silent when I looked up the Vikbot. Four legs, a funny head, broad mouth, and left and right of the body/head six wings-or-antennas-or-something-like-that. The Vikbot looks like an animal. But which one??

The envelope brings some clues. The Vikbot might come from a different world!




Thank you, dankjewel, Victor, voor dit bijzondere beestje!

Antoine

Antoine from Belgium drew our attention to this weird little primate: the Tarsier!
The Dutch/Flemish name 'spook-aapje' (or 'spookdiertje') literally means 'small ghost-monkey' (or 'small ghost animal'). Well, while the tarsier is rather cute than horrific, the 'ghost' might refer to the extremely big eyes in such a small animal. Among wikipedia their eyeballs are even as large as their brains!..

Antoine sent the Spook-aapje in this wide landscape on the envelope:





Thanks a lot, dankjewel, Antoine, voor deze mooie bijdrage!

Amuldo (2)

An other beautiful amazing animal sent by Amuldo from the Netherlands: the Octopus! Or better: Octopus meets the Squirrel.



"'Do you think me weird?!', the octopus asked the squirrel.
The squirrel watched him and hesitated for a while.
'I mean, with all those arms and suction cups,' the octopus said.
His cheeks turned grey and he looked down.
'Not at all', the squirrel said. 'I don't think you weird.'
'I am not weird indeed', the octopus said in a low voice....."

Watch the - again great - stamps, and the messages on the rubber-stamped waves (click on the picture to enlarge)!

The text has been written by the Dutch writer Toon Tellegen. For the people who never heard of Toon Tellegen (pronounce the Dutch name 'Toon' more or less as 'Tone'): to my opinion, I think it's worth reading more work of this author. He writes short stories about all kinds of weird animals (well, after reading this short story I'm afraid they're not that weird anymore!). Apparently about animals, but of course providing us humans a lot of food for thought.

Thanks a lot, hartelijk dank voor deze leuke verrassing, Amuldo!

Carolien van der Gaag

The Heron!
Such a common bird, I always thought, as the heron always is around in our country. In the park, in the zoo (as a free bird, where he/she likes to snatch the zoo animals' food), on top of the street-lights, houses, schools, etcetera.
But this beautiful painting by Carolien van der Gaag changed my mind. The Heron indeed is a weird - and interesting - animal!

I once saw a documentary about the heron in the big city (titled 'Schoffies', which means 'Rascals'). And I'm sure, if I'll see this documentary ever again, thanks to Carolien's choice this will be with a completely different view.

Beautiful also is the completely painted A4 sized envelope.
With on the backside this goose...



... and in front this parrot.



On the backside of the Heron there are a lot more to think about!



Finally, very happy I also am with this mail art postcard! Which shows a cute interaction between the two pictured birds.



Thanks a lot, hartelijk dank, Carolien!

Guido Vermeulen (2)

Guitar playing Byrd or saxophonist Bird or a real winged Bird?

Anyhow, this second beautiful painted envelope Guido Vermeulen sent from Belgieque as an answer to my contribution to his Jazz project is a beautiful one!

Hartelijk dank, Guido, ook voor je tekst en gedicht!

Amuldo

Amuldo sent me this amazing squirrel. 'Amazing', not only amazingly pictured but - to my opinion - also amazing looking into and considering the world as if he or she is wondering about all things which can be seen.



The question the Squirrel (de eekhoorn) asks is 'Do you think me weird?'
Well, agreeing with Dewi's choice, my answer would be, with a respectful smile: 'So what if the answer would be 'yes'? Aren't we humans weird, too?!'

P.S. note the fine artistamps!

Amuldo has a great call for mail art: 'project 55'. See for more details this website.

Thank you, dank je voor deze bijzondere eekhoorn, Amuldo!

Guido Vermeulen

Again a great example of how Mail Art is Mail Art and not only Art!
This (Friour approved!) beautiful envelope arrived from Belgium and has been made by Guido Vermeulen.
I imagine the flowers on the stamps once were growing in the landscape, even though their colours and contrasts might be a bit too mild...

In the envelope Guido also sent contributions to the Your Doctor in Mail Art project, and left me confused: what to publish where?
So I choose the poem to be there, and the explanation how Guido painted the painting/drawing above here.
The last paragraph reminds me of the movie about the boy who drew black drawings... With a message which gives hope (I think)...

I hope you are o.k. with my choice - hoop dat je het o.k. vindt, zo!
Hartelijk dank, Guido!



Please note the Network site friour.multiply.com and the personal blog of Guido Vermeulen.
And for everyone who loves music, check his call for mail art.