Visual Language Magazine Contemporary Fine Art Vol 2 No 6 June 2013

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Thinking Inside of
Doodle” Arti
Madrid-based mixed media artist Alex Mitc
Inspired by the infamous “Exquisite Corpse” drawing game of the Paris Surrealists in
the 1920’s, the “Exquisite Doodle” Artist Project required a group of artists to doodle
in succession on a little paper scroll set inside a small box. A talented group of international
artists signed up to participate, and I took the task of preparing the materials
and documenting each step of the project on a blog. Thus, the doodle-by-mail adventure
began.
From the beginning, I wanted this project to utilize everyday materials, so that anyone
could make their own scroll-in-a-box by following the instructions I’d written on
my blog. The materials used were matchboxes, paper, paper clips and lollipop sticks,
while the tools required included a pencil, ruler, scissors, tape and pliers.
I assembled the boxes, painted the covers, started doodling on each of the scrolls,
and mailed them out. From my studio in Madrid, Spain, the “Exquisite Doodle” boxes
sailed around the world, reaching players in Denmark, England, Australia and the
USA. I had already doodled on half of the scrolls, and the participants were instructed
to add their own doodles before returning the work to me. I documented every step of
the creative journey, from the preparation of boxes and scrolls, to the finished pieces.
A lot of work went into the preparation of the boxes and scrolls for each player, but
receiving each unique scroll made it all worthwhile.
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