The Artists' Postcard Show Makes Its Way To Spike Island (PHOTOS)

As increasingly less people send greetings through the post office, it's good to know that mail art is being celebrated in a new exhibition of postcards made by notable artists. "The Artists' Postcard Show," showing at Spike Island in the UK, is a survey of works done from the mid-twentieth century to today, covering a range of styles. We have Gilbert and George's mischievous contribution, as well as Sol LeWitt's box-within-a-box (within a box). George writes, "We called them postal sculptures. We felt that if we couldn’t show any of our works in public, we could at least go through the letterboxes."

For those not in the UK, we suggest you check out Jeremy Cooper's book, "Artist Postcards: A Compendium" on University of Chicago Press, which contains over 400 examples of artists using postcards as their chosen medium. Cooper links contemporary postcard art back to the early 1900s, when sending postcards became a regular practice (although the U.S., Canada, and Western Europe had been using postcards from the early 1870s onward), so you get a nice history lesson while you're enjoying contemporary art.

The postcards will be on view from April 6 to June 17 at Spike Island in Bristol, UK.

See a preview of the works below, and let us know the best postcard you've received in the comments section.