This pair of postcards explores unstated and ironic assumptions about how mail artists view the Internet variant of networking. One assumption is that the Internet is a pristine, untouchable area, full of electric pulsations and infinite multiplications compared to good old simple gray areas of mail art. Grundmann's fingerprints play with assumptions that we have much in common as individuals, all with whorls and loops on the tips of our fingers, and that most artists use their hands to make artworks. Like Nedev, Grundmann uses her hands to directly imprint her identity on the cards. The gray card's world of mail art has multiple meanings, but white card's Internet variant is limited to black and white. The most profound assumption in this piece is the one-day delay built into the delivery of these cards. The delay is a gamble and a joke. Mailing the first card one day before the second exhibits a faith that the cards will be delivered separately, that there will be a dramatic pulse between what seems like a serious statement of fact on the gray postcard, and the contrasting "clean variant" observation delivered by the white card one or more days later. Grundmann trusts that the mail systems will create the delay in the delivery of her works. If the deliver y happens to occur on the same day, she also trusts that I, as a mail artist, will catch the joke because of the stamp cancellation dates. Mail artist love this postal nuance, and I assure you we will miss it when it's gone.
These insider meanings bring the joy of shared recognition to mail artists. Grundmann's exploration of multiples and identity in creators and creations is a masterpiece of mail art if there was such a thing as a masterpiece in this democratic network.
