Biography

David Zack was born in New Orleans, June 12, 1938. He received his Canadian Landed Immigrant status in 1970. He studied humanities at the University of Chicago (B.A., M.A., 1959) and sociology at Cambridge University (1961-62).

David Zack was also a professional art writer/critic in the 1960s and 1970s. His articles were published in Art and Artists, Artforum, Art News, Arts West, etc. His article “On the Phenomenon of Mail Art”, published in Art in America in 1973, was of special importance. With this article Zack made the term “Mail Art”, coined by Poinsot, known to a wider audience.

He devoted the rest of his life to Mail Art, and is best known for inventing the Monty Cantsin Open-Pop-Star project together with Maris Kundzins and Istvan Kantor. Zack also got involved with Neoism in the early 1980s and remained an active Neoist until his death.

He had solo exhibitions in Geneva, Switzerland (1974), organized by John Armleder and in Budapest, Hungary (1976), curated by Laszlo Beke. He also took part in countless Mail Art exhibitions all around the world.

Zack was known as a fanatic of William Blake’s work and he often identified himself as The Wizard of OZ and signed his letters as Nazario Monty Cantsin Zarathanustra.
David died in Texas, in 1995.

Literature (selection)

Zack, David: “An Authentic and Historical Discourse on the Phenomenon of Mail Art”, Art in America, 01/02 1973.

Links

Mail Artists Index: http://mailartists.wordpress.com/2010/04/19/david-zack/