1970s Carl T. Chew Triangle Post Stamped Mailing Envelope

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Before Digital Art, before Banksy, before Keith Haring… there was another revolution in art with the advent of Mail Art … Read more Before Digital Art, before Banksy, before Keith Haring… there was another revolution in art with the advent of Mail Art in the 1960s. One early adopter was Seattle-based artist Carl "C. T." Chew (b. 1948). This whimsical stamped envelope with an alphabet theme (and, surprisingly, an actual US postage stamp) is from a collection of stamps, prints and envelopes housed in a Triangle Post binder with prints, stamps and envelopes bearing pencil dates from 1977-1979. Thus it is likely that this is one of the artist’s earliest Mail Art works. It is in very good condition with small adhesive squares on the back for tipping onto a matboard, as pictured, and is matted in an acid-neutral mat in a standard frame size of 11" x 14" for ease of framing.

About the Artist:

According to an interview with the artist on NPR, Chew first experimented with Mail Art in middle school, which brought him to the attention of the Postal Service… and the school principal when the Postal Inspectors came to school looking for him! In 1976, he began making stamps with a Color Xerox machine, using a “flea comb perforator” until he splurged on a $75 perforating machine. In 1977, he was introduced to the idea of Mail Art, and he has maintained his own artist post office, Triangle Post, for more than four decades, corresponding and collaborating with hundreds of mail artists world wide. Triangle Post was featured in a book of his work published in 2015 and now rare and collectible itself, and his work has been shown in many gallery and museum shows including the Brooklyn Museum (three exhibits), the Cooper Hewitt, Pratt Institute, George Eastman House. See less