Sticker Shock

I’m in Boston this weekend, and yesterday I found myself right next door to the ICA with a few spare minutes. Not enough time to look at art, but just enough, to case the gift shop.

I immediately zeroed in on a bag, which I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to resist. It was printed with overlapping price stickers of all kinds. How well I know those encrustations of stickers, the ones that accumulate on assorted kitchen surfaces, or seem to grow on various notebook pages. And those big neon orange ones emblazoned with 99¢--I always have to save those. Well, restraining myself was not the least bit difficult (and it’s a good thing that I am not at a loss for bags) because the price of this “shopper” was $99.99! The sign next to the bag said “$hopping Bag” Created by ICA exhibited artist Rachel Perry Welty. Edition of 999. Signed and numbered by the artist."

I’m seeing a DIY project in my future …

Peace Corps Posters

1976

Fifty years ago, President Kennedy signed an Executive Order establishing the Peace Corps. The selection of posters calling for Peace Corps Volunteers and Partners over the years, is from the organization’s digital collection. Except for a series produced by Young & Rubicam in the late 1960s, there’s very little in the way of attribution for design. I’ve included dates where available.

1980s







Designed in 1968, by Bernie Zlotnick while he worked
at Young & Rubicam.

Also by Young & Rubicam, 1968.







In the copy with “The Peace Corps ruined my Bernie’s life,” Bernie’s mom explains how she had everything worked out for him—whom he would marry, where he would live (two blocks from her), she even had the furniture picked out. 1968.




This 1970 Peter Max poster was not an official Peace Corps issue. The artist has produced many posters throughout the years for various causes to which the proceeds are donated.

Ephemera, Ephemera, Ephemera

Delft Obama

If you are in the Millerton, NY area this weekend, take a break from leaf-peeping and head over to Hunter Bee. They will be showcasing Terry Rosen’s new collages as part of the Fall for Art festival. Picking up where she left off after creating the “conversational” prints that made Nicole Miller famous, Rosen is now assembling her found treasures—candy wrappers, coat checks, ticket stubs, etc. and photographing the results. The larger-than-life-sized prints are playful and smart. Check out her new website for more collages and her textile designs.

Singing in the Shower

Fauna

Big Savings

Heroin Stamp Project

Discarded, empty heroin packets each stamped with their own “brand” identity, were collected from the streets of New York over the course of five years by a group called the Social Art Collective. More than one hundred different brands are represented in a show at White Box Gallery. The New York Times has a good article about the project here, and the following is from the gallery:

The exhibition is comprised of large-scale prints depicting these seductive, yet sinister symbols in startling detail. Blown up to monumental proportions, these images become confrontational, insinuating the complex
nature of drug use, from the market dynamics of suppliers and dealers, to the motivation and histories behind individual users.

Kind of takes ephemera to a whole new level--can't wait to see it. White Box is at 329 Broome Street (at the Bowery) in NYC, and the show is only up through June 29.

Future Vintage: Eames Century Modern

My brochure from House Industries just arrived in the mail today. It introduces their new collection of fonts, Eames Century Modern. I like to imagine that some blogger, fifty years in the future, will be very excited to discover this at a flea market.

Found Collages

This lot of vintage labels was for sale on eBay a while back. Frankly, I don’t think Schwitters himself could have improved on the seller’s arrangement, as posted.

It's minimal, but sometimes all it takes to make a brilliant collage, is a perfectly placed price sticker. This 'Queen Victoria' piece is "spot on," in my opinion.


We see random artworks in the subway, all the time. What I found noteworthy here, was that MTA so thoughtfully curated and installed these mixed-media collages as an exhibit. A very well-considered use of the space.

Year of the Tiger

Chinese New Year will start Sunday, most definitely, with a bang.





This proof sheet was for sale on eBay!



To see more firecracker labels try flickr groups here and here. There are also lots of labels at Crackerpacks.

Vintage Ads for Jewelry

I honestly didn’t realize what I was getting myself into here. I thought it would be seasonally appropriate to post some vintage jewelry ads. I was little prepared for how vast a universe that is. Ads are a chief tool for identification and dating. Vintage jewelry is so widely collected that the online resources are plentiful. As for the Trifari pieces in the ads here, if there's something you just have to have, you might be in luck.
Morning Glory Antiques has a number of pages for Trifari jewelry, where they pair an actual piece with the its original vintage ad.

Trifari, late 1930s to mid 1940s

Trifari, mid-1960s


Trifari, c. 1950
Coro, c. 1958
Castlecliff, c. 1946
Richelieu, c. 1958
Monet, c. 1966Monet, c. 1963

For about a decade, starting around 1950, Cadillac
ran ads pairing cars with bling from luxury jewelers,
Van Cleef & Arpels, Harry Winston, and Cartier.


De Mario, c. 1958