Trans (Akron, Ohio) from the 'Postcard Superheroes Series #1'

Mark Mothersbaugh

Mark Mothersbaugh, best known as the lead singer and keyboardist for the new wave band Devo, is a painter, collagist, and multi-media artist known for his near-daily production of mail art, which he began in the 1970s while on tour.

In 1978, while dealing with a dispute with the Warner Brothers recording label, he and his bandmates stayed with Richard Branson on Branson's houseboat on the Thames in London. While there, Mothersbaugh created a series of mailings that he'd later title the "Superhero Postcard Series", collaging comics and other ephemera to postcards and painting and drawing over the compositions.

In 1985 he took these to printmaker Richard Duardo's Modern Multiples workshop in Los Angeles and created a series of multiples that included black-light activated phosphorescent inks, which would display subliminal messaging not seen in regular lighting. This print, variously titled "Trans" and "Akron Ohio" may have been inspired by his time at Kent State, Ohio. His bandmate, Gerals Casale, had been friends with the Kent State shooting victims Jeffery Miller and Allison Krause. Mothersbaugh's work across all of his mediums often deals with sociopolitical issues.