Medwolf Mail Art

I am a lost artist from the long ago times when earth wore the clothes of a young girl..I am a poet who can not write and a blind seer who lives on the edge of dreams..I have visited the other side of things and drank from the big dipper and I have stolen time from the big clock..I may be the last of the human wolves or a simple sparkle on the waters of time...I have been a modern warrior but today I am just another old fool out on the land listening to the earth breathe.

Cracker Jack Kid

Well, I know that our friend David Zack was alive and recovering from a gangreen toe that was amputated while he was staying at a rest home in San Antonio, TX. I believe it was in 1994, but I'd have to check. I have audio exchanges and phone conversations with him from the one or two months he was in Texas. One day I called the "manor" and they said he had checked out. I tried to find out where, but the "intern" who cared for him didn't know. Zack just left the place and didn't leave any address, etc. As I recall, I believe he said that Al Ackerman knew that he was in Texas and perhaps Al had something to do with getting Zack out of prison and finding a place for Zack to stay in the US. Zack was definitely released from prison in Mexico because of his sugar diabetes (sp).....failing health....at least that's what Zack told me. I have that on tape. He was a good mail art buddy of mine....I have all of his Correspondence Art chapters....just tons of correspondence and some audio cello/banjotapes that we called the Jack Zack Overture.....that project was done while I was working on my MFA at Boston Museum School in the mid 80s.We shared a close mutual friend, my third cousin Roy DeForest. Zack tried very hard connecting Roy and I, but to no avail......well, what did I expect? Zack and Roy were Nuts...."nut artists" according to Zack. I had a great jam session with Zack and Zona Ben Banfield's audio/collage studio in Greenfield, MA back in 1986. It was a surreal night.Zack brought along some cactus plants that he wanted me to pulp into some form of hand made paper that he could roll his joints in.The stuff was so far gone.....sour cactus.... well, I recall that he wanted me to eat some of it, but the stench was something very wretched and I declined. So it goes. Sure wish that he would surface, but I'm of the belief that he's been long gone. Al Ackerman probably knows what happened to Zack. Anybody ever ask "Blaster."? Zack's health was very bad and he'd nearly died while in prison. BTW, that part about his being jailed for forging his deceased father's retirement checks is true.Again, he admitted that in our correspondences. Also, he did have four or five children that he abandoned. Anybody thought about contacting them to find out about their father? Caio, Crackerjack Kid

Michael Leigh

Michael Leigh an artist in the UK says.. A postcard from Dave Zack from Mexico where he lived at the time. Sent in 1984. On the reverse Zack writes- " Michael- This is too vital to my Correspondence History to plan out or prefabricate, let alone prevaricate in any way. I have refused to give the Tapia family the cash Christmas gift they demand. They lowered and I still refused. Three times I went to my parents with the Tapias. These lovable and living ancestors of mine smiled lovably and pointed at me. Cesario refused to take Genovera's last month's pay, holding out for the Christmas present. I said my festival as a ULC minister is not Christmas, but April 1st. He said he never heard of it. I told him to watch out for it, it'd be better than bullfighting. This isn't bad, sometimes people get killed."

John Dean

~John Dean Says~ "Glad to see that I'm not the only one who has reservations about David Zack´s 'disappearance/ death'. I have been reading accounts of it from 1994 on that are each different. The Mexican prison seems a constant as does some sort of ¨bad paper¨. His ¨crime¨ has been described variously as welfare fraud ,living off his dead parents' retirement checks, claiming dependent children that didn't exist, and failure to pay spawn support for some who did. Sounds like simple fraud or forgery or somthing like that. Would Mexican courts have any jurisdiction or interest in American Social Security, Welfare, or Aid to Dependent Children? So why all these different and incredibly seedy stories?"One report claims that after his release he hobbled across the border into a Texas nursing home to die . (What nursing home? Any death records?) Another states that one of his legs had been amputated in a Mexican dungeon. 'Here' he died in ´85 but 'there' in ´95 ...huh?..."In 1968 when I was a student of Dave´s at S F A I and his neighbor on Stiner Street we sat in the front room at Rainbow House and he told me about the curious disappearances of Arthur Cravan, Ambrose Bierse and B. Travan. THEY had all disappeared in Mexico without a trace. Stories still circulate about them. Seems a very literary way to go, all romantic and mysterious. There is also a reference to the Cravan, Bierse, Travn disappearances on that incredibly dense, link heavy and anti-semantic ¨9 by 9 squares¨ URL that shows up if one runs Zack´s name into Google . What about his life extention center and this Marty Cantsin fellowS? curiouser and curiouser."Certainly no one consistent version of his alleged disreputable demise. He may well be beastlydead. Still, Dave was a prankster and I wouldn't be at all surprised if he pops up again some time. If not perhaps tabloid rumors may surface : AGE´D PROFESSOR THOUGHT TO BE DEAD FOR 20 YEARS FATHERS BRITNEY´S LOVE CHILD !!! To me that doesn't sound any more bizarre than the rest." (John Dean, May 2002)

My Spirit Guide

The wolf has been much misunderstood and maligned in history and is not the vicious intruder of western fairy tales. The wolf is a shy, yet very sociable creature with strong rules of behavior. Fear of the wolf is perhaps born when its eerie howl raises the hackles on our neck and in our souls. Maybe we do not fear the wolf at all, but only the wild nature within ourselves. To American Indians, the wolf is said to be "teacher" medicine. We study wolfs ways of hunting and their social structure. The wolf is associated with the Dog Star, Sirus and some cultures belief humans came from this distant star. Wolf populations are threatened in the lower 48 states, but abundant in Alaska and Canada. Wolf has much to teach us, if only we will listen. WOLF MEDICINE Wolves live in a communal structure like humans. The Alpha male and female lead a strict social order. Next in the order are Beta wolves who do not breed and serve as nursemaids for pups of the pack. The Omega wolf is at the bottom rung and is the 'scapegoat' in situations when the pack is being attacked. Often the Omega wolf is forced not to eat when food is scarce. If wolf has entered the forest of your mind, it may be to teach you that all things in nature have order amid chaos and to accept your duties in life, whether they be leadership roles or otherwise, with humility and strength. The wolf spirit teaches us to have balance between your personal needs and those of the family and community. Wolves are absolutely committed and loyal to the pack and find their place within the group. If wolf exhibits these traits, it may mean that you must examine your function within the community and loyalty. It may also be a sign to bring better balance to the varied interests of self, family and community. The hunting techniques of wolves served as an example for many tribes who copied them. Members of the pack form 'tag teams' who take turns chasing prey to exhaust the prey before themselves. Packs are known to have run over thirty miles a day in pursuit. Cooperation in achieving a common goal is the message conveyed here. Wolves have developed many ways to communicate by body language and vocally. Facial expressions, tail and ear movements, body posture, teeth bearing, eye squinting and scratching are part of their vocabulary. Vocally, a wide variety of growls, yelps, whines and howls make up a sophisticated system of communication. Wolf language helps the pack to identify and locate its members, establish territorial boundaries, give instruction, request assistance, sound warnings, teach the young, and generally to bring cohesion and unity to the pack. If a wolf or wolves have entered your physic, you are fortunate to have an animal spirit to knows the importance of communication and one that will find many ways to make their messages know to you. This ability to communicate may be a sign to hone your own speaking skills to effectively relate your feelings and ideas in a good way - to pray, sing and dance in praise of the blessings of the Creator. When a lone wolf is seen the wild it symbolizes freedom. When seen in a pack it represents community. If wolf appears to you alone or in a pack it is asking you to acquire the same within your own life. The primal and piercing howl of the wolf sometimes is marking their territory boundaries. If you hear a wolf howl it might be telling you to stand your ground and defend your boundaries. Wolves have great stamina and strength. They do not fight needlessly and often avoid fighting whenever possible. Wolf teaches to know who you are and to develop strength and confidence. Wolf is associated with the lunar influences and energies that rule psychic perception. They teach us to respect our emotions and face the darkness within. The wolf is ritualistic. It knows the importance of regular lunar howling ceremonies and daily social rituals designed to communicate needs and express feelings. The message of your wolf spirit may be to honor the forces of spirituality and connect with the life forces of Mother Earth.

Zack (& Others) Quotes “Art life,”

Tuesday, January 6, 2009 Zack (& Others) Quotes “Art life,” as Michael Mollett is fond of saying, “takes risk.” “There is nothing that is too personal to be art” (Zack) “There is no balloon that is too big to be red” (Al Ackerman) “There is nothing that is private between ants” (Al Ackerman) “We are famous among ourselves” (Zack?) “I’m a Community Organization Worker” (Zack) “Time Is The Simplest Thing” (Clifford Simak (novel title)) “So now it has happened, I am in for Life, the Prison is Art, found my heart there and I Know there is No escape.” (Zack 2-22-79) “My Shadow is My Graffiti” (H.R. Fricker) “the ideal individual: one who never rebels against nor is indignant at anything he may encounter” (Motto on “The General’s” (Zack’s Father’s) wall) “Today, Art is a Prison” (Horacio Zabala) “Literature is like a Piece of Ass, best sweet and slow” (Zack) “My favorite thing is for people to write back” (Zack) “A normal person is one you don’t know very well” (Jean Houston) “To make the jump outside the hierarchy, outside all hierarchies, is really essential to being a great mailartist” (Zack) “Now’s right” (Zack) “What ruined his life was his being the world’s most irritating person” (Ackerman) “To accept everything one must have the very highest standards” (Neo-N Ooze OZ (Zack)) “Do men put their hands up girls’ skirts because they think they’re puppets?” (Zack) “Mail it or burn it” (Lon Spiegelman) “Weed frees a person from “better” or “worse”…” (Zack) “Correspondence Changed My Life” (rubberstamp by ?) “Don’t enforce my thoughts” (Cantsin?) “Ken (Friedman) should wash his socks in Buddha piss” (Ray Johnson) “Your Ideas Help My Ideas” (?) “Poetry is anything that can be copied with a copy machine” (Zack) “If I knew what I was doing, I wouldn’t be doing it.” (Zack) “Then for about five years, whenever he was not serving his guru, he remained in a remote Shiavite cave-temple in Tapkeshwar, his body covered with ash, singing only for God.” (La Monte Young & ? on Pandit Pran Nath) “Losing money is almost like making it” (Zack) “Apologies for the blurry reproduction of the letter, but, of course, this is art too…” (Zack) “I grew up the son of a symphony conductor and I’d a damn sight sooner see the whole orchestra improvise” (Zack) “To find happiness in this world give all the love one have.” (?) “teach good if it meant getting the sack” (Zack) “How To Keep a Job as University Professor” (“giving details of how I managed to lose jobs which were designed to be held for life”) (Zack) “The one thing I’m surest of is never to say no.” (Zack) “In a wife I would desire, what in whores is always found, says William Blake: the lineaments of gratified desire.” (Zack) “communication without information” (Zack?) “well I don’t know what to say about my father’s death aside from I need to fix two cellos…” (Zack)

Singing To The Moon

If I were to talk to the moon I would say~well hmmm my statement would be "is David Zack really??" he was an early mail artist and no one seems to know or care where his spirit sleeps or if in fact he is dead and has been misplaced but no matter he should be found and his where abouts made known so that mail artists today can have the choice of visiting or creating an offering site or shrine in his honor as should be done with the resting places of all great mail artists who have taken that last step in this life and gone on to the other side where they now dance with the stars and drink water from the big dipper...and I have been asking the mail art circle "is he really ?? and did he surrender that day in Mexico or did they take his old rusty truck and make it surrender..and why is it all now a big secret?" David Zack was one of our own...a door opener when mail art wore the clothes of a young artist...and he unlike other greats such as Ray Johnson..is MIA and some of us would simply like to know..is he really??

David Zack

David Zack was born in New Orleans, June 12, 1938. He received his Canadian Landed Immigrant status in 1970. He studied humanities at the University of Chicago (B.A., M.A., 1959) and sociology at Cambridge University (1961-62). David Zack was also a professional art writer/critic in the 1960s and 1970s. His articles were published in Art and Artists, Artforum, Art News, Arts West, etc. His article “On the Phenomenon of Mail Art”, published in Art in America in 1973, was of special importance. With this article Zack made the term “Mail Art”, coined by Poinsot, known to a wider audience. He devoted the rest of his life to Mail Art, and is best known for inventing the Monty Cantsin Open-Pop-Star project together with Maris Kundzins and Istvan Kantor. Zack also got involved with Neoism in the early 1980s and remained an active Neoist until his death. He had solo exhibitions in Geneva, Switzerland (1974), organized by John Armleder and in Budapest, Hungary (1976), curated by Laszlo Beke. He also took part in countless Mail Art exhibitions all around the world. Zack was known as a fanatic of William Blake’s work and he often identified himself as The Wizard of OZ and signed his letters as Nazario Monty Cantsin Zarathanustra. David died in Texas, in 1995 WE THINK

Istvan Kantor Said

At a time when history has lost its value and artists just emerging from college rule the art world, it’s quite unusual and surprising for dead artists to suddenly show up to claim fame and their place in art history. But I’m glad to announce, ladies and gentlemen, that over three decades after he initiated the Monty Cantsin open-pop-star project and almost fifteen years after his disappearance, David Zack is back from the dead. Ja, ja, ja, Meine Damen und Herren, David Zack has been successfully resurrected through digital technology and his legend is growing faster than ever in the Electro-Eternal Network together with the Monty Cantsin mythology. Somewhat similar to his spiritual master, William Blake, Zack was a “poet, painter, and printmaker” who “painted” typewritten correspondence portraits and used photocopy machines to multiply them. According to Zack, poetry is anything that can be copied on a copy machine. The process of copying is the structure of the poem. Zack not only appropriated the works of others, but he also created his own stuff to William Blake, Leonardo da Vinci, Antonin Artaud, Friedrich Nietzche, The Wizard of Oz, Dr. Al Ackerman and anyone else who inspired him. Almost constantly wandering around, restlessly seeking new and yet unexplored territories of communication and personal contact, Zack established himself in the mail-art network as its main correspondence user interface. His visionary ideas and eccentric behavior made him into a mythical character inside the nut-art, mail-art and Neoist short-circuits and ultimately led him to drop out of academic jack-off circles. - Reality’s Mythology, essay, 2008

The Zack Show

The David Zack Show opened at The New Gallery (TNG) in Calgary,Alberta,Canada october 10/ 2008,it is a retrospective / commemorative installation of zack's work mostly focusing on the 70's and 80's,the show is based on Istvan Kantor`s archival collection extended with contributions from many other artists,he is still collecting material…a book/catalog will be published after the TNG show therefore it will include details of the installation together with essays and additional information and visuals...