I was most excited to receive one of Marian Bantjes's lovely Valentines. I recently had the good fortune to host Marian when she was here for the opening of Marian Bantjes Shows Off. In person, she is a force of nature: breezing into town in a big comfy Cadillac a mere 15 minutes before her artist's talk, swallowing a handful of cheese slices on Ritz crackers (she was hungry and that's all we could scrounge up in a hurry), and proceeding to give one of the most funny, poignant, articulate presentations I've ever seen. Fabulous. I felt like we received a little sprinkling of pixie dust.
And now the Valentine. It's a beautiful and mysterious little love (?) letter that begins and ends in medias res. I've read it and reread it. The lettering is dense and swash-filled and contains phrases like "cow eyes or kitten breath or python squeezes or whatever turns your fancy". The ambiguity is what makes the Valentine so memorable. Who is the true recipient? What is this story about? It feels like a bit of a voyeuristic intrusion just to read it. And the paper: pink vellum, of course. I think Marian is single handedly keeping Reich Paper (I'm assuming that's what she used) in business.
Thank you, Marian for such a sweet little gift.
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