*PHOTO ESSAY: Mail Art 2—Gen Hayashida’s Post Cards

He wrote that I should look for the tall Japanese man with the bald head. Okay.

I walked into Counter Culture Cafe in Santa Fe and greeted him, mispronouncing his name. I said it as “jen”— he corrected me, “gen”—as in Genghis Khan. Thus my hour with humble, warm, and inventive Gen Hayashida—who at first glance intimidated me—began.

Gen Hayashida, March 2018

Gen is a remarkable man: his parents sent him from Japan to the San Francisco area at age 16 as an exchange student. He knew no one. But he stayed with a family, entered and completed high school, went on to a San Francisco art school at the recommendation of a teacher who noticed his talent. He married, divorced, and somehow or other, ended up in Santa Fe. He’s lived here twelve years. His partner is Pamela.

Gen now works in construction at Santa Fe’s most exciting new arts establishment, Meow Wolf. If you’re not from Santa Fe, you may ask what that is: “Meow Wolf is an arts collective and production company that creates and operates immersive, interactive multimedia experiences that transport audiences of all ages into fantastical realms of storytelling.” (https://meowwolf.com) It is soon going to rival Disneyland’s best, I predict.

And occasionally, on the side, when he’s not being “lazy” (his word, not mine), Gen makes pieces of mail art. He assures me that each one made it through the US Postal System to the addressee. Here are pictures of some of them. You’ll smile, I promise.

Can you make out that the keys are arranged as the address in San Francisco, CA? Remember, these pieces are all post-card size.

This is the reverse of the keyboard-card above.

Here’s another computer-based one. It went to Honolulu, HI, before the recipient returned it to Gen.

Ah, yes, there must be a message-in-a-bottle. The Paper Hammer in Seattle, WA, is a letterpress card and bookbinding company that sponsored a show with Gen Hayashida’s work.

These are separate pieces sent to two different addresses—in Santa Fe and Honolulu—but they work so well together that’s how I photographed them.

Scrabble anyone? This piece got lost on its way, Gen said. A Seattle couple returned from vacation to find it in their pile of mail. Baffled, they saved it. It wasn’t until they walked the street of the Paper Hammer store, looked up and saw its name, that they were able to deliver it to the addressee.

To deliver this piece, the mail carrier had to rotate the tubes.

Even the corner of a picture frame makes into a post card in the hands of an inventive artist. The back of the piece is below. Can you figure out what that little toothy curve is?*

This pencil piece was in the Mail Art Show I saw at the Axel Gallery in Santa Fe. I wrote a blog post about it (see archived June 2014 below). A friend of Gen’s googled his name, found my blog piece, and notified him about it. Gen then wrote me a note of appreciation. That’s how I got the invitation to meet with him and see more of his work. Social media at its best.

You have to look closely, but the first stamp on the left is painted.

Wait until you turn this one over—below.

Now for the toys:

What kid wouldn’t want to take this around the block?

This side shows the clever logo of the addressee, Paper Hammer.

This is my favorite.

Not in a million years would I have thought of creating this pair, above and below.

Nominated for the Most Original Use of a brush ever.

And finally, the most FRAGILE!

It’s toast. Yet our US Postal system did us proud: delivered intact.

When I finished my coffee, an hour had passed. Gen handed gave me a gift, a card he’d designed: if you fold it along the scored lines, like a fan, it bounces like a spring and says “Thank You.” He advised me that if I wanted to visit Meow Wolf without the crowds, the best time would be about 5 pm. And then he offered to get me guest tickets. How about them apples?

Gen Hayashida

*A pencil shaving