IN REVIEW

The use of the postage stamp format by visual artists is a little known phenomenon which appears to have begun in the late 50's with the work of Donald Evans of the Netherlands. Several artists in the United States adopted the format in the early 60's and it began to appear in the work of artists in Canada and Europe during the late 60's and early 70's. The vast majority of artists using this format were unaware of their participation in an international movement. The phenomenon, a minor by non-the-less intriguing development in the contemporary art scene, is fully explored in a unique invitational traveling/exhibition entitled Artists' Stamps and Stamp Images organized by The Simon Fraser Gallery at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B. C.

The Exhibit is the culmination of more than two years research and includes approximately 3000 stamps and stamp images. It surveys the Stamp Art of thirty-five artists and seven art groups in nine countries. It covers a period of approximately ten years.

The work in the exhibit, as the title indicates, can be divided into two basic categories. The first, Artists' Stamps, refers to what might be termed pseudo-postage stamps; that is, an alternate stamp opposed to the normal governmental publications designed for use in the official postal systems of the world.

Works in this category range from graphic complexity and sophistication to graphic simplicity. Dietre Rot's Car Race, for example, is two gummed perforated multicoloured offset sheets containing a single image repeated one hundred and twenty times, each time with a different colour arrangement. Robert Fried's Non-Negotiable Eights is an ungummed perforated full sheet of five multicoloured images arranged in five groups of ten stamps each. Endre Tot's Zeropost; however, is simply a gummed perforated full sheet of forty-nine offset black on white stamps, each with the same image.

In addition to the full sheet, the exhibition contains one of Tot's stamps affixed to an envelope. This stamp has been canceled by the Budapest Post Office. Another work, an anonymous red on white 3 x 2. 2 cm. acrylic painting of an official 10c U. S. airmail stamp, was affixed to an envelope and canceled by the Hilo, Hawaii Post Office. A 10c multicoloured stamp image, originally believed to have appeared in MacLean's Magazine was also affixed anonymously, to an envelope. This stamp was canceled by the Ottawa Post Office and delivered by the Canadian postal service. It commemorates the centennial of Quebec liberation (1971-2071).

Perhaps the most famous artist's stamp to pass into a governmental postal service is one which did not pass undetected. Instead of being delivered by the postman, an envelope bearing William Farley's US XX, a gummed perforated 2. 5 x 3cm. black on white offset stamp, was delivered by the U.S. Secret Service. Farley's stamp, like the Quebec liberation one, makes a political statement. His is a reworking of the design of the first U. S. 10c postage stamp. The original focuses on the face of George Washington. Farley, using a rendering of the back of his own head to replace Washington's is symbolically illustrating Washington turning his back on the nation he founded. The date of the stamp is 1970.

The exhibit presents examples of the stamps of five para-postal systems. They are Zeropost, Fluxpost, Yamflug Post, Doo-Da Post, and Postnixonpost. The latter is represented by a series of four photo-stamps designed and released to honour the return of Columbine, Serenity, Grandeur and Love after the departure of R. M. Nixon in 1974.

Many of the stamps bear no identification as to country or denomination. Some, like the Quebec liberation stamp and the Postnixonpost series can be considered commemoratives. A set of three stamps celebrates the publication of   "les Lettres Mortes" in Quebec in 1970. Others honour Canadian cultural policy and famous personages such as Johnny Canuck and the World's greatest people; i. e. , the American artist David Cook, his wife, his friends and even his dog.

The Fluxpost Commemorative Issue was commissioned to celebrate a decade of para-postal activity by Fluxus West, a division of the New York based international arts group Fluxus (Bob Watts, Ben, Daniel Spoerri and George Maciunas). Fluxus is devoted to research art. During the early 60's this group explored the medium of mail art using the postal system, and through the Fluxpost projects created a para-postal system which from time to time functioned along with regular governmental postal services in several nations. The artists of Fluxus were among the earliest to utilize the stamp as an art medium.

The Commemorative is a 3. 3 x 4. 5 cm. black on white gummed perforated stamp printed in a limited edition of 25. 4 x 31. 8 cm. sheets. Each sheet contains twenty-five stamps. It is the work of the internationally known California artist Ken Friedman, Co-director of Fluxus West in the USA. The stamp is based on the logotypes for Fluxpost West designed by Wolfgang Feelisch, Co-director of Fluxus West in Germany, and for Fluxus Zone West designed by Joseph Beuys, eminent German artist and art activist. The two logotypes were first used by Beuys in a postcard multiple published in 1981/72 by Edition Hundertmark of Berlin, Germany. The publication and public release of the Commemoratives was timed to the opening date of the initial presentation of the exhibit at Simon Fraser University in October of 1974.

The Second category of the exhibit surveys the use of postage Stamp Images in fine prints and paintings. The earliest known Canadian example of this category is Peter Bell's Collingwood, Ontario 1885; a multicoloured stamp sheet image measuring 42. 7 x 41 cm. It is a signed and numbered serigraph dated 1968.

Better known in Canada are the serigraphs of early Newfoundland stamps by Christopher Pratt. The exhibition contains two fine examples of these - The Blue Seal of 1970 and Prince Albert of 1974. Harry Savage is represented by three large (40 x 58. 2 cm) multicoloured serigraphed stamp images dating from 1972-73. These images powerfully depict the plight of wildlife in the contemporary environment. The stamp image by Derek Michael Besant, entitled Stamp #5, is an intaglio print. There is also an embossed etching by M. L. Heivley, an acrylic painting on vinyl with decals by Radford Thomas, photostamps by Pat Tavenner and George Ashley, and four acrylic postal paintings by Joel Smith.

The most unusual piece in this category of Stamp Images is the rubber stamped stamp designed to print STAMP. The most delicate and beautiful are the watercolours of Donald Evans. Four works by Evans are included in the exhibit. One work includes four watercolours commemorating the 1936 Zeppelin to the fictitious Tropides Islands. The stamp images depict the stop over of the Zeppelin on an around-the-world flight. The 1/2 P(eek) stamp shows the Zeppelin Approaching Grand Trop (the largest of the Tropides Islands?). The 1 P stamp shows the Zeppelin Mooring at Doveman (the Capital city?). The 2 P shows the Zeppelin flying from Lula Cay to Michael's Ear (two more Islands of the Tropides group?). The fourth stamp image is a 5 P stamp, naturally depicts the Zeppelin Leaving the Tropides, presumably to continue its around-the-world flight.

There is also a group of works in the exhibit which use stamps and stamp images in collages. Carl Camu of Germany has done many works in this manner and eight are included in the exhibit. One is a collage measuring 10. 5 x 14. 8 cm. entitled Mona Lisa of the 20th Century. It contains an official postage stamp, an image of the stamp and a cancellation mark. It is orange and black on white; signed, numbered and dated 1974. Bernd Lobach, also of Germany, and Ken Friedman and May Wilson, both of the U. S. , are among the artists who have work of this type in the exhibit.

Aside from the initial showing at The Simon Fraser Gallery, the exhibit was presented in several other British Columbia galleries during 1975. It formed approximately one third of the exhibit Timbres et Tampons d'Artistes presented by the Cabinet des Estampes, Musee d'art et Historie in Geneva, Switzerland in May and June of 1976. During 1977 the exhibit will tour the Western United States under the auspices of the Western Association of Art Museums. In 1978 it will tour Canada under a grant from the Special Assistance Programme of the National Museums of Canada. A comprehensive catalogue of the exhibit is available from The Simon Fraser Gallery.

James Warren Felter, Curator, Simon Fraser Gallery

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