The Stamp Art & Postal History of Michael Thompson & Michael Hernandez De Luna [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

by Michael Thompson (Author), Michael Hernandez De Luna (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
Fake postage stamps by Chicago artists Thompson and Hernandez de Luna, both of whom are under cease-and-desist orders from the U.S. Postal Service, are featured in this highly illustrated expos? of their lives, philosophy, and work. Introductory essays by philatelists and the artists themselves explain the history of mail art and its appeal to collectors. Beautifully made and reproduced here, the Pop-inspired stamps carry politically provocative themes and in-your-face sexual content. The artists go out of their way to cultivate controversy and bad-guy images. Their success in "fooling" the Postal Service two times out of ten is not so remarkable, given the widespread use of high-speed canceling machines. For comprehensive contemporary art collections only. Note: If you order from the publisher, you're promised a pair of original artist stamps but be sure to double-check the outside parcel postage as well. Russell T. Clement, Northwestern Univ. Lib., Evanston, IL
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Sick to death of pop art and its aesthetic pranks a la Marcel Duchamp, who exhibited a urinal as a specimen of found art? Then give a gander to Thompson and Hernandez de Luna's playful fake postage, which the two artists proudly display not just in perforated-sheet form but also on pieces of mail, scored by the cancellation marks that indicate their successful transit through more than one country's postal system. The stamps' imagery is outrageous--a nude woman's crotch (Courbet's 1866 painting, The Origin of the World), a marijuana plant, donkeys copulating ("Bill's Party Train"), sequential depictions of the Titanic ("Going," "Going," "Going," and "Gone"), a man and a woman duking it out ("Support Domestic Violence"), penises ("Tom," "Dick," and "Harry"), and so forth--but highly amusing. If what it depicts doesn't bring a smile, then the audacity of sending real mail adorned with it should. Both artists discuss their works' raison d'etre, and a stamp collector, a fellow unofficial stamp artist, and an art historian weigh in, too. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 152 pages
• Publisher: Bad Press Books; illustrated edition edition (September 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0967757215
• ISBN-13: 978-0967757216
• Product Dimensions: 12.1 x 10.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,030,340 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It's art, but is it good art?, September 1, 2001

By	Michael Hockinson "popular culture snob" (Portland, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As one who has always had an interest in philately, I was intrigued by the concept of the two Michaels: the notion of creating "artistamps" and affixing them as postage, the ultimate goal being the successful delivery of the letter complete with the Post Office's cancellation - the project carried a wonderful hint of (harmless) subversity to it. This book displays the results of their labors, full-page color reproductions of individual stamp sheets opposite examples of successfully mailed covers. The artists' aim in the design of their stamps seemed more motivated by how blatant the subject matter and the design could be and still be accepted as postage rather than trying to create something that could've passed as an actual postage stamp - which in my view takes much more imagination and effort.

Of the two artists, Hernandez de Luna seemed more inclined to create stamps that were overtly puerile in design and subject matter, commemorating women's breasts, condoms, erect penises, animals fornicating, et al. These are more labels than stamps really, "thumbing their nose" at the subjects and designs of such postal bodies as the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee. Thompson, while not above this kind of callowness, more often suceeds in creating more realistic looking designs, notably from foreign countries - with his Kenyan "Afrodisiac" rhino, Norwegian "Chernobyl Deer," Japanese "Eat Whale" and the (amazingly tasteless) "Aum Shinrikyo" Sarin Gas stamps succeeding admirably.

Often, the best artwork on view is not on the stamps, but on the covers the artists created for mailing them, utilizing vintage labels, old envelopes and custom lettering. The works are preceeded by several excellent essays on the history of artistamps and mail art, but ultimately the reader must decide whether the book's content justifies its price. It's art but, quite often, not very good art.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars innovative, daring, fine art, February 10, 2007

By	Mrs Peel (USA) - See all my reviews

One of my favorite art books since it also encompasses much history of popular culture much better than any history book would.

Your old cranky auntie might not like it however, as it is Real everyday popular culture and politics so no topic is off-limits--death, condoms, revolution, dishonesty of certain public officials--each stamp is a reminder of some event that raised a stir temporarily or put the world on notice. Funny often, lewd sometimes, always original.

Highly recommended.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars With full-page representations of postage stamp art, March 21, 2002

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This lavish oversized paperback is packed with full-page representations of postage stamp art, while accompanying text provides a postal history of stamp art. From early postal system stamps to the evolution of the stamp as a work of art, Stamp Art & Postal History Of Michael Thompson and Michael Hernandez De Luna packs in some excellent detail and lots of color.