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Official stamp

Print
c.2002 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Natalia Lamanova is a Moscow-based artist who works in both graphic and digital media.She is a leading exponent of mail art (a form of art which uses the postal system as a medium). Stamps are central to her work and she has produced numerous decorative compositions in a philatelic format, including this work, entitled ' Official Stamp'. The print follows a traditional stamp format. It comprises a small sheet of stamps each repeating the same image and includes the perforations required to separate the stamps from each other and the selvedge that marks the edge of the sheet. However, in each case the images are somewhat subversive. Here, there is a glorification of the athletic male figure in Olympian mode, raising his outstretched hand in a nationalistic salute, while the ribboned skull provides a sinister reminder of what failure to conform, and worship the state, can mean.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleOfficial stamp (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
digital print on paper
Brief description
'Official Stamp', Natalia Lamanova. Edition number 6/30. Artist's stamp, Russian, probably ca. 2002.
Physical description
A sheet of four stamps printed on perforated paper, with three vertical and three horizontal lines of perforations. the single stamp image is repeated four times. From the left margin of each stamp, a male figure, with face in profile, reaches out with one arm diagonal, in a gesture of salute, he is faced with a mirror image of himself from the right margin and the two arms cross in the centre of the stamp. Behind the figures a golden crescent curving up on either side of a golden crown. A red and black striped ribbon surmounted by a skull sits at the base of the figures' torsos where they meet at the line of perforation. A band of three stars fills the space above their heads. A red lozenge bearing the postal value sits beneath the outstretched arms.All set against a black ground. Predominant colours red, black, ochre/yellow.
Dimensions
  • Sheet height: 10.5cm
  • Sheet width: 16.9cm
  • Printed surface of whole height: 8.6cm
  • Printed surface of whole width: 13.4cm
  • Each stamp height: 4cm
  • Each stamp width: 6cm
perforations of the sheet are at intervals horizontally of : 1.3, 4, 4, 1.2cm and vertically of : 2.3, 6.2, 6.2, 2.3cm (vertical)
Production typeLimited edition
Copy number
6/30
Marks and inscriptions
"Official Stamp" 6/30 Lamanova (inscribed with title, edition no, and signed, in pencil, from left to r ight the lower margin.)
Credit line
Purchased through the Julie and Robert Breckman Print Fund
Subjects depicted
Summary
Natalia Lamanova is a Moscow-based artist who works in both graphic and digital media.She is a leading exponent of mail art (a form of art which uses the postal system as a medium). Stamps are central to her work and she has produced numerous decorative compositions in a philatelic format, including this work, entitled ' Official Stamp'. The print follows a traditional stamp format. It comprises a small sheet of stamps each repeating the same image and includes the perforations required to separate the stamps from each other and the selvedge that marks the edge of the sheet. However, in each case the images are somewhat subversive. Here, there is a glorification of the athletic male figure in Olympian mode, raising his outstretched hand in a nationalistic salute, while the ribboned skull provides a sinister reminder of what failure to conform, and worship the state, can mean.
Collection
Accession number
E.211-2006

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Record createdJune 30, 2009
Record URL
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