Greetings from Daddaland: Fluxus, Mail Art and Rubber Stamps
Stendhal Gallery
New York, New York
April 15- May 29, 2010
The Stendhal Gallery will present the exhibition, “Greetings from Daddaland: Fluxus, Mail Art and Rubber Stamps,” opening April 15 and continuing through May 29. The exhibition is drawn from the collections of John Held, Jr. of San Francisco and Picasso (Daddaland) Gaglione of Chicago, collectively known as The Fake Picabia Brothers.
The present Stendhal Gallery exhibition continues the exploration of avant-garde art Gaglione and Held began tracing together in the 1970s. Gaglione and Held presented a showcase for Fluxus, Mail Art and rubber stamp art at The Stamp Art Gallery in San Francisco during the mid-1990s. The current exhibition documents the gallery’s activities through posters, exhibition catalogs, performance documentation, mail art, artist postage stamps, rubber stamp box sets made to commemorate the various exhibitions and excerpts from past Stamp art Gallery exhibitions.
Coupling his passion for collecting sets of antique rubber stamps (dating from the 1920s), and his penchant for Fluxus inspired works, Gaglione began creating rubber stamp box sets to accompany exhibitions by contemporary artists and to honor historic figures of the 20th Century avant-garde, who had influenced his artistic practice.
In putting together the rubber stamp box sets, Gaglione and Held followed the example of Fluxus impresario George Maciunas in his production of Flux-Kits. These inexpensive yet elegant multiple editions set the tone for the production of these post-Fluxus editions.
In the production of the rubber stamp boxed sets and gallery exhibitions, Gaglione and Held, worked closely with noted art historians. Their exploration of Yves Klein’s “Blue Stamp,” created and mailed for a 1957 gallery exhibition, brought them into contact with the late Pierre Restany, the French critic who formulated Nouveau Realism. Their work on the history of French/American artist Arman, lead Held to the artist’s studio in New York City, where he not only was interviewed, but created original drawings to be made into rubber stamps.
By the time the Stamp Art Gallery closed in late 1997, Fluxus related rubber stamp box sets produced included “George Maciunas: Passport Photographs by Peter Moore” (1996), “Belgium Fluxus by Luce Fierens” (1996), “Jeff Berner: Self Portrait Stamps” (1997), “Fluxus Commemorative” (1995), “Ken Friedman: Faux Fluxus West Edition” (1995), “Geoffrey Hendricks: Cloudsmith” (1997), “Geoffrey Hendricks: Identification Kit” (1997), “Alison Knowles: St(r)ing Piece” (1996), “Takako Saito: Enjoy Your Life” (1997), “Mieko Shiomi: Endless Music” (1997).
In addition to Gaglione and Held’s interest in Fluxus, other box sets mark their interest in Dada (Bay Area Dadaists, Marcel Duchamp, Raoul Hausmann), Russian Futurism and Constructivism (Zaum, Tatlin), Kurt Schwitters, Nouveau Realism (Klein, Arman, Tinguely), Conceptual Art (Dieter Roth, Tom Marioni) and Mail Art (Ray Johnson, buZ blurr, Ruud Janssen, Richard Craven, Ulises Carrion, Guglielmo Achille Cavellini, Robin Crozier, Ed Plunkett, Endre Tot and May Wilson).
The Stendahl Gallery exhibition will recreate some of the more notable shows Gaglione and Held presented in the past, including the exhibition of Dutch artist, Ruud Janssen’s, Rubber Stamp Archive, which includes rubber stamp impressions by Fluxus artists. Janssen will lecture at the gallery with curator John Held, Jr. Contact the gallery for the specific date and time.
Other artists shown in the exhibition include New York Correspondance School artists Ray Johnson and May Wilson; Arman’s drawings produced for the Stamp Art Gallery to be made into rubber stamps; postage stamp artist buZ blurr; a series of crop circle rubber stamps by Robert Rocola and rubber stamps depicting pioneers of 20th Century avant-garde art by M. B. Corbett.
A complete collection of over fifty Stamp Art Gallery catalogs were previously acquired by the Museum of Modern Art Library, New York. Held has also compiled collections for the Getty Museum and the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. The works on display are drawn from his personal collection with new rubber stamp works produced by Gaglione, now living and working in Chicago under the rubric of Stampland.
14 thoughts on “Upcoming Exhibition: Greetings from Daddaland: Fluxus, Mail Art and Rubber Stamps April 15 – May 29”
I wanted to attend the opening, having been a member of FLUXUS since 1965, and being a Mail Artist since age 10 (1950); and having collected “Aktual Art International,” which includes Fluxus and many other movements’ works (1965-1990), and now resides in the permanent collection at The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (USA).
But I was told that ALL flights from Paris to this upcoming exhibition are booked!
Bu thanks for inviting me!
good luck, john held! your work is so important for us all!
the mailartpostmen
angela + peter
Congratulations and wishes for a wonderfully successful show. Only you, Picasso, only you.
You are The Master.
Kudos to all you dada Dads in daddaland. Hope it’s an E ticket ride.
John Knoph
Congratulations and good luck John Held for the show. I wish I could go see the exhibition.
Jay
Best of luck with the show Bill and John! May your stamp pads never dry up!
Just finishing the Mail Art Olympix, the last venue finishing on March 14th. Now on to the catalogue. There were over 800 works from 335 artists from 41 countries.
Congrats of this show at the Stendhal. Wish I could be there. I know it will be a fantastic success. I hope all is well at Stampland and Dadaville.
Ed
Good luck John.. say hello to Ruud.
Wish I could come.
Just received your stamp today from Mike Dickau.
COMPLIMENTI.
BUON LAVORO
ARTE ED ENERGIA – ARTE E ARMONIA
EMILIO MORANDI
What a wonderful event! Because in April I have to be in Athens/Greece I cannot attend the opening. ..but the other part of Fluxus Heidelberg will be there: Ruud Janssen will present results of networking in FLUXUS. Congratulations Ruud & John & Bill!
How wonderful! William! So Happy for you. What a wonderful thing you have accomplished.
So proud for both you and Darlene. Our love and good wishes to you both. Elizabeth and Robert
Loved the performance and your art, Picasso. Thanks for inviting me! K. Radcliffe