Letters to Park Seo–Bo from RZLBD

Letters to Park Seo–Bo

With the invasion of digital media — the abundance of all sort of smart gadgets at our disposal, and the fashionable trend of texting, instant messaging, FaceTiming, Zooming, and many more — taking the time to write a letter on a piece of paper has become obsolete, or at least a forgotten craft! Even more so if that letter has been typed with a manual typewriter. To take it one step further, this may also seem like an unusual idea if that letter is written to someone who has passed away or who is out of our reach! Odd maybe, but of course, this is not new. Indeed, the idea has been around for a long time and for many reasons mostly to deal with grief, to pay an overdue respect, to make a confession, to secretly declare love and affection, and the like.

In my case, during the spring of 2020, after I got my hands on a vintage manual typewriter — an Olivetti Valentine portable machine — I decided to pay homage to a group of artists who have inspired me deeply. With a degree of madness, I started typing to them, in a language that on the surface may seem familiar to everyone, yet only each artist can fully decipher his/her particular letter. This one in particular is dedicated to Park Seo–Bo. _RZLBD

*
RZLBD Letters is an ongoing project exploring the capacity of letter as a medium and manual typewriter as an instrument beyond their common / utilitarian purpose. Call this a romantic love affair or a nostalgic scribble, these correspondences allow me to spend extra time and delve deeper into the visual domains of these brilliant creatives. Pursuing the letters in serial format articulates a body of work that offers many readings.

_
Typewriter ink on paper
21cm x 28cm (8 1/2” x 11”) each

© Atelier RZLBD / RZLBD (Reza Aliabadi) / 2022, Toronto, Canada

#RZLBD #art #typography #type #olivetti #valentine #typewriter #valentinetypewriter #diagram #letter #ParkSeoBo #ecriture #Dansaekhwa