The Postcard

Postcards trace memories, places and times. They transfer what has been to what remains. They hold words on their back, yet their faces are what is memorable. They can be lost just as easily as they are found in a kiosk or tourist store. People collect them, and people collect used postcards as well (memories that are not our own). Painting over a postcard can be seen as a resurfacing of old ideas or a complete covering of their original face. Some of these ‘postcards’ are not postcards at all. Many of these surfaces have been wholly covered in paint, an application that makes one guess what was behind and why it was hidden. Upon painting these faces, the purpose of the original surface becomes redundant. Only the size, weight, and overall feel of the object hint towards what it is.

The painted image is, at times, completely unrelated to its background. The second it becomes a painting, the object is frozen in place, stuck as artwork. The works tempt the eye by hinting at a story that may or may not exist behind the dry paint. Some have journeyed before, while others still wait to be written in and ultimately sent. They mark time without a stamp and are unbound by enveloping matter. They are just pictures, forged in fiction and floating on ink.