Natalia Lamanova is a Moscow-based artist who works both in graphic and digital media. Stamps are central to her work. She is a leading exponent of mail art (where the postal system is part of the media) and she has produced numerous decorative compositions in a philatelic format, including this work, entitled "Bull & Bear". The sheet follows a traditional format It comprises a small sheet of stamps, repeating images, and includes the perforations that are required to separate the stamps from each other and the selvedge that marks the edge of the sheet. However these images seem to satirise the kind of self-congratulation which nations perpetuate in their postage stamps. Across the world, postage stamps frequently bear images of national figureheads, characteristic and beautiful flora and fauna, or important historic events. Here the celebration has turned into a kind of burlesque with the jousting figures appearing ridiculous in their semi-nude, theatrical dress and poses.