Diego Barboza's revolutionary international Art Mail network (1972)
The Art Mail was designed to promote a new relationship between the artist and the people.
For Barboza it was a type of poetry that not necessarily had to be written with words, but which could be written with an image.
He combined knowledge with Julien Blaine. Blaine traveled all around South America and Europe handing out photos of Barboza's work and address. This is how Barboza started communicating with different artists from different parts of the world.
Barboza decided to publish a tabloid of "Buzón" of everything he had received.
In the first edition Barboza wrote: "Buzón is a publication of art mail which will provide a space for all types of non-commercial art, that is created at an international level to broaden the possibilities of communication through creative language."
In the second and last edition of the tabloid Buzón, Barboza explained: "Postal Art or Art Mail is the first movement in art history to be carried out simultaneously across the world. It vindicates the true creative role of the artist at a time when art and artists appear to be threatened by the manufacture of consumer products."
Through the Buzón project, Barboza connected with 94 artists from 22 countries across 5 continents:
Four of Barboza's mail art drawings were included in the "American Biennale of Graphic Arts" at the Museum de la Tertulia de Cali, Colombia. He participated in the "Pencil and Paper" group exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in Bogotá, Colombia, and at the Museum de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil.
Art Mail / Buzón stands as one of Latin America's earliest and most extensive Art Mail networks. It predated the internet while creating a truly global artistic community united by creative exchange rather than commercial interests. The project demonstrated Barboza's vision of art as a democratic, accessible form of human communication transcending geographic and economic boundaries.