I first met John Held Jr. (the mail artist, not the 1920’s illustrator) at the SF Center for the Book in 2005. I was part of the co-ordination and installation crew for the “Multiplicity for Millions” show: an extravaganza of old and new rubber stamps pulled from the collections of L. Scott Helmes and Picasso Gaglione, which highlighted the history of rubber stamping through the ages. Back in ’05, I was just getting my feet wet in the SF mail art culture, didn’t really know any of the “who’s who” mail artists around town yet. Oh sure, I had heard of Stamp Art Gallery/Stamp Francisco, west coast versions of NYCS dinners, and knew that there was a Network of SF mail artists. I just hadn’t gotten into the swing of SF-style mail art networking at that point; I was sending stuff halfway around the world, but had yet to meet folks in my own backyard. But on the night of the opening, surrounded by mail artists and rubber stampers and book arts people, my friend Steve Woodall mentioned that I should meet Held. “He’s got an old style perforator in his garage,” Steve told me. “I think you guys might get along.”
John Held Jr. is easily one of the most vocal and passionate advocates of mail art and artistamps in the community today. Armed with a MLS in Information Studies and having a formidable background in modern art, this is a man who can easily talk about the use of rubber stamps during the French Resistance or the latest trends in masked Mexican wrestling. It’s all up for grabs, so the best thing to do is just sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.
Networking since 1975, he has met and been influenced by some of the “greats”: Ray Johnson, John Cage, Dick Higgins, George Maciunas (to name a bare minimum). He has traveled around the globe – Europe, the Ukraine, Japan, back and forth across the US – to meet other mail artists, give lectures, and curate shows.
This has been a banner year for Held, as far as introducing the general public to mail art is concerned: in April, he curated a mail art show at the Stendal Gallery in NYC. As part of the Black Mountain College’s “Re-Viewing Black Mountain College 2” conference which takes place this weekend, he has curated a mail art show (Ray Johnson was a BMC grad) and will present a lecture titled “BMC to DiY: Mail Art Exhibition & Curator’s Talk”. And last, but not least, there is tomorrow night’s opening here in San Francisco.
“40 Years of Debris From the Cultural Underground” pulls from Held’s extensive archive of mail art, zines, fluxus objects, and artistamps. Evergold Gallery is hosting the show, which will be up through the month of October. From the gallery’s press release: “Held’s interest in the diffusion of open cultural participation over long distances through DIY practice led to active involvement in the fields of mail art, rubber stamps, and zines. Aspects of these fields, as well as Held’s involvement with them, are presented in this retrospective exhibition blending art and life over a forty year period.”
Well. That sounds pretty awesome to me. Mail art, zines, and rubber stamps?
What more does a girl need, really?
And take a look at the artists included (also from Evergold’s info): “Local artists included in the exhibition (via Held’s collection) include the late David Ireland, Tom Marioni, Bay Area Dada (Tim Mancusi, Marlon Vito Picasso, and Monte Cazazza, among others ), Charles Gatewood, Greg Edwards, Wanxin Zhang, Harley, Jokie X. Wilson, Jennie Hinchcliff, Mike Dickau, and Alice So.”
I’ll see you at the opening tomorrow night! Come up and say “howdy” and I bet I’ll have a special something to give to you!
–JH
PS: take a look at the “Classes & Sightings” page for a full list of events scheduled to take place throughout the run of the show…
Very cool, Jennie. I already knew about the opening but now I am inspired to try and make it down. It would be fun to see you too.
Jenny – You haven’t been forgotten. This post jogged my memory this AM as I was looking for pieces of old paper on eBay: #310259067436 It is an old billhead from a rubber stamp outfit in SF. Congratulations on being included in the show! Looks kind of cool, but definitely no space for my art.
Mr. Dave —
I should be the one telling you that you haven’t been forgotten; sometimes life gets in the way of creating art, no? 😉 Thanks for the congrats — there’s a bundle of interesting things on the wall, and I think that your gorgeous work would have fit in quite nicely!
Looking forward to corresponding with you —
–JH
Have fun tonight!!!
Mom
Jennie–Sorry I missed seeing you last night. I left about 7:30….great show. I have something to mail you….P
Miss Pamela —
We may have missed each other, but I saw that you had created a little something wonderful at the mail art “creation” table! I’m so excited…wonder what will be mailed to us! Knowing John, it’ll be something groovy and perforated…
–JH
Miss Jennie,
Unfortunately we may be waiting a long time for mail because John told me he wasn’t going to send out those envelopes we decorated. We were supposed to decorate them and take them with us to send to someone. Oh well…….I would sure like have have that big box of his rubber stamps.
Miss P