Kate Ball- Mail's Here

This is a live auction artwork

"Mail's Here"
 

Kate Ball

With my mailbox, I wanted to convey the modern sense of “staying connected,” by building upon and improving the past. To do this, I assume that mailboxes are archaic (well, perhaps not that old, just not contemporary), but not without influence in the present. When I thought about it, I realized that almost everything about communication today is opposite from the “Time of Mailboxes” (sort of like the cretaceous period with less dinosaurs). “Connections” having to do with communication are losing their palpability- wirelessness has become the new age.Email has replaced letters and, in some cases, face-to-face conversation.

I chose to create an abstract piece with my mailbox because modern connections seem less realistic to me. I have trouble achieving a meaningful conversation via email or instant messenger because it seems too unemotional and impersonal.

Some of my friends do everything over email- make other friends, talk about papers, even break up with boyfriends.

What is one supposed to do after the email conversation when he or she meets up with their correspondee face to face? Continue the discussion? Slap the significant other in person as opposed to electronically?

To me it always seems like the email doesn’t count as a progressive conversation. I always feel like I have to reaffirm everything that was said on the computer before I can progress to anything else. Maybe I’m the only one who feels this way and it’s something I’m just going to have to get used to, but I think people are mistaking this abstract, faceless world for actual reality.

I used the bottom of the mailbox as the “canvas” for my piece and cut shapes out of the flattened top (should have had a tetanus shot), then assembled and glued using epoxy. I wanted to use a glossy type enamel paint to match the gloss of the green mailbox, so I found some model paint at a hobby store and I think it turned out well.