Part of Mail art wherein artists create stamps of their own design which have no postal value but are used to decorate the outside of envelopes. This has developed into quite an artform. There are people who make Artistamps all over the world. Some of the main practitioners are John Held Jr., the Crackerjack Kid, and Anna Banana.
Some stamps are monochrome, some are full color. Some have perforations, some do not.
Artists known to work in this media:
Sources:
Welch, Chuck, "Eternal Network : A Mail Art Anthology", University of Calgary Press, Calgary, 1995
De Salvo, Donna and Gudis, Catherine (Editors), "Ray Johnson: Correspodences", Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, 1999.
Burch, Charlton (ed.): The Ray Johnson Issue, Lightworks, No. 22, 1995-2000
Felter, James Warren, "Artistamps : Francobolli D'Artista", AAA Edizioni, Bertiolo, Italy, 2000
Last Updated 04.12.02