INAUGURATION

The Cascadia Artpost commemoration of Barack Obama’s inauguration as the 44th President of the United States brings together two iconic images to capture the contradictory impulses of the moment. In the background is a portion of the pop poster portrait of Obama drawn by Los Angeles street artist Shepard Fairey. Fairey’s image, variously captioned with “HOPE” and later “PROGRESS,” has spawned a number of parodies of other political and cultural figures, but nonetheless has become one of the icons of the 2008 political landscape. In the foreground, we overlaid our own drawing inspired by Edvard Munch’s “The Scream,” drawn in various versions by Munch between 1893 and 1910. Munch’s expressive image of manic anxiety captures perfectly the obverse popular mood in the face of dismal economic news and the global disarray of 21st century capitalism.

If the juxtaposition of these two contrasting images seems ambiguous, well, it is. Our suffering foreground image, drawn in an 8-inch by 10-inch size with color felt-tip and black drawing pens, has been portrayed in a cloak of white stars against a blue field, with two other watchful blue figures in the background. He/she is struggling with hands over ears to cope. Meanwhile, the steely centeredness of Obama’s image rises in the background. We have to admit that the feeling when we first combined the two images was pretty creepy. That’s one possible reaction. But an alternative response might be a possible tempering of the foreground panic by the reassuring solidity of the Obama image rising in the background.

Although originally prepared for an Inauguration Day (January 20th) exchange, the artistamp was mailed to a much wider list on a postcard satirizing a historic advertisement offering a free savings bank with the purchase of a toaster. A friend sent us the original image with the satirical coupons, which we modified to call attention to the TARP (the shabby acronym standing for Troubled Assets Relief Program) bailout of overextended banks and failing U.S. automakers using public funds (or, more accurately, public borrowing).

Our intent was not to saddle Obama with blame for TARP, but only to recognize the prior confining commitments (symbolized by a rubber-stamped vise) in place when Obama has taken office. Powerful financial and corporate interests are lobbying for continuing government financial support, while laying off thousands of workers as the unemployment rate climbs steadily toward 10 percent. Whether the Obama Inauguration may truly mark the beginning of a more hopeful era will depend on how well the rest of us lobby our own interests and the reaction to those efforts.

First Day of Issue

21 November 2008

Welcome to the blogsite of Cascadia Artpost. Cascadia Artpost represents the formalization of a personal postal art expression for the northwestern part of the United States and larger region that is my home. In view from Seattle, Washington, at times when the clouds lift is the Cascade Mountain range, extending from the Canadian province of British Columbia to the U.S. state of California. If you are within sight of these beautiful mountains, you can consider yourself in the region of Cascadia. Cascadia is the part of the world I mentally and physically inhabit.

When I was a teenager, I collected postage stamps, and twenty years ago acquired a book on the watercolor artistamps of Donald Evans. However, my own interest in designing artistamps and mail-art began in November 2001, when I was organizing a set of photos from a visit to Latvia and accidentally downsized an image on the computer. The panorama from the 27th floor of Hotel Latvia became an intriguing stamp-sized image. I printed a copy of the image on an inkjet printer. I decided to create a faux Latvian set of stamps to decorate the outside of a surprise birthday package for one of my co-workers.

The result was so well received that I decided to keep experimenting with photos and graphic designs in a stamp format. An internet search introduced me to the term "artistamp," and what has been called "the eternal network" of mail artists. Making artistamps was for me an excellent way to synthesize my personal interests in photography, art and graphic design.

Initially I simply used "Cascadia" or "Cascadiapost" in the corner of stamps I created. In August 2002 I chose the name "Cascadia Artpost" and in January 2003 recorded this name as a member of AML, the Artistamp Mailing List, a loose association of mail artists in the U.S. and Canada.

How have artistamps made a difference in my life? Just like any artistic expression, artistamps reinforce personal self-identity by sharing a vision and ideas with others. I value the contacts and the content of postal exchanges over the years, and especially meeting a few of my correspondents in person. The interplay of postal services and the internet have created an opportunity for a network of global democratic expression among at least those who can afford either postage or have access to a computer connection. It is my fervent hope and prayer that our exchanges can also create occasions that help give voice to the visions and ideas those who are unable, for various reasons, to contribute to the network.

There will be more to come at this blog, but for now I'll close with a quote taken from an essay on memory written by an acquaintance in the United Kingdom:

"The fight for a sense of self-identity becomes a fight to make personal memory have a place in the wider social consciousness."

~ Jack at CASCADIA ARTPOST