Artistamp History |
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Braille, Jean Noel Laszlo |
Artistamp, Michel Bidner |
Edge Kingdom, Bugpost |
Mail Art Chronology
1916: The Dada Movement
“…an artistic movement of anarchic revolt against bourgeois society, occasioned by the horrors of the First World War. …Sickened by the butchery of war and disgusted at the supposedly rational society that had produced it, they sought to confound the principles of logic, reason, authority, and tradition and thus subvert smug bourgeois values. The movement went to extremes in its use of buffoonery and provocative behaviour to shock and disrupt public complacency.” 1
1950s: Ray Johnson – Conceptual artist whose collages and photocopies provided wry commentary on popular culture (thereby anticipating and validating Pop Art)
1962: Ray Johnson founds the New York Correspondance School
1962-1970s: Fluxus
Starting in Germany in 1962, Fluxus was an international conceptual art movement with no identifiable style. Fluxus artists revived the ideas of Dada; they opposed artistic tradition and the commodification of art. Fluxus works were ephemeral and integrated into everyday life, often using parody to mock respected persons and institutions. Happenings, Street Art and Mail Art are some of the genres that sprang from Fluxus.
The Fluxus Manifesto set for their goal to "purge the world of bourgeois sickness…of dead art…to promote a revolutionary flood and tide in art, to promote living art, anti-art." New York was an important center for the movement. Active members include Joseph Beuys, American Dick Higgins (1938– ), the Japanese-born American Yoko Ono (1933– ), and American George Maciunas (1931–78). The latter was the chief co-ordinator and editor of its many publications. Maciunas also coined the name Fluxus, Latin for ‘flowing’, suggesting a state of continuous change.
Ian Chilvers: "Fluxus," Grove Art Online. Oxford University Press,
16March08 http://www.groveart.com/
1974: Exhibitions
Mail Art artist Lon Speigelman defined the norm for mail art exhibitions: "If you have a show, everyone is included, and everyone gets some documentation of the show." (Interview Reid Wood, March 2008)
1 Andrew Ayers: "Dada," The Oxford Companion to Western Art.
Ed. Hugh Brigstocke. Oxford University Press, 2001.
Grove Art Online. Oxford University Press, 2005.
16Mar08, http://www.groveart.com/
Artistamps Chronology
1919: Raoul Hausmann (Berlin Dada group) uses a self-portrait postage stamp on a postcard.
1940: Karl Schwesig creates stamps depicting life in a concentration camp. Some accept these as the earliest example of an artist producing his own postage stamps.
1957: Donald Evans, then 12 years old, hand paints stamps from imaginary places.
1957: Yves Klein mails his exhibition announcements with home made “Klein International Blue” stamps. A scandal ensues when discovered later.
1962: “Postal Painting,” Joel Smith (Columbus, Ohio). An example of Smith’s signature style, creating paintings on government issued stamps.
1963-64: Don Watts, Fluxus artist, makes postage stamps and uses stamp dispensers to distribute them in galleries.
1963-64: Fluxus artist creates “Yamflug” & “Fluxpost sheets”
1966-67: “Fluxus Postal Kit” collaborations organized and distributed by George Maciunas.
1974: 1st exhibition of artistamps at Simon Frasier Univ., Vancouver, British Columbia.
1982: Michael Bidner coins the term “Artistamp”
1982-84: Bidner attempts to collect and document all known artistamps.
1984: Exhibition of Bidner’s collection
1987: “Corresponding Worlds” artistamp exhibition, Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, Ohio
John Held, Jr. Robert Watts: The Complete Postage Stamp Sheets, 1961-1986. http://www.mailartist.com/johnheldjr/RobertWatts.html; viewed 26Mar08 BQP