Stempelplastik (Stamp Sculpture)
A key figure in the development of postwar European art, Joseph Beuys viewed society as a living sculpture shaped by its members, with his own role as that of a transmitter of ideas and energy. In the 1960s, along with his contemporaries in the movement known as Fluxus, Beuys embraced the format of the multiple, an art object that can be produced in multiple identical editions and thus enables broad and democratic distribution. In this multiple, Beuys combines a stamp and a stack of postcards, both classes of objects that, in and of themselves, are designed to be reproduced and to circulate. The phrase that appears on each vinyl postcard, "Honey is flowing in all directions," refers to Beuys’s longstanding use of the beehive as a model for a progressive, harmonious society, in which honey represents human love and the fruits of collaborative labor. Beuys likewise used the stamp’s single word, Haupstrom or "Mainstream," and accompanying series of typographical symbols to reference the flow of ideas and energy. Together, the stamp and stack of postcards present an invitation to activate the work, stamping the cards and sending them—and the energies to which they refer—into circulation.
Artwork Details
- Title: Stempelplastik (Stamp Sculpture)
- Artist: Joseph Beuys (German, 1921–1986)
- Date: 1982
- Medium: Poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC), wood and rubber
- Edition: 24/35 + III (supplementary edition of 30) + 3 artist's proofs
- Dimensions: 7 × 4 × 5 13/16 in., 4.7 lb. (17.8 × 10.2 × 14.8 cm, 2.1 kg)
- Classification: Sculpture
- Credit Line: Gift of Joan and Laurence Kleinman, 2016
- Object Number: 2016.776a–jj
- Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art
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