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Bibliozine Bibliozine, Part XIII Fayt, Christian. Arman. Fayt Gallery, Knokke, Belgium. 1984. (40 pages.) A short essay by Daniel Abadie in French accompany the color reproductions of the work on display at the Gallery. There are no Cachets illustrated, although there are some significant Allures noted. Succinct biography in the back of the catalog. Gallerie Pavillon Werd. Arman: Retrospektive. Gallerie Pavillon Werd, Zürich, Switzerland. 1986. 121 pages. The short essays are in German, French and Italian, but the handsome catalog is notable for some excellent color reproductions of the cachets, especially a blue work, Cachet, from 1961, and two works from 1957, which are orange and brown. These latter are transitional works in that the rubber stamp letters and numbers begin to spread out against the page, and rollers have been used to flush out background. La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art. Arman: Selected Works: 1958-1974. La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla, California. 1974. (48 pages). Catalog for an exhibition that traveled to Seattle, Fort Worth, Des Moines, and Buffalo. A short essay by Jan van der Marck is abstracted from larger work included in his Abbeville Press book cited elsewhere in this bibliography. No Cachets are pictured, although Mauve Administratif (1958) is included in the exhibition checklist. Martin. Henry. Arman: Or Four and Twenty Blackbirds Baked in a Pie; Or Why Settle for Less When You Can Settle for More. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York, New York. (1973). 200 pages. One of the best explanations of Arman's art, if at times overtly abstract ("The cachets are the beginning of Arman's creative life not because they represent his first good work but because they represent the beginning of his involvement in the creative of completely new categories of experience." And, "Arman's cachets, on the other hand, are concerned with the very specific emotions that inhabit the minds of men who live in the specific context of modern urban society." ). Martin's explanation of the cachets, despite detours of this type, are informative and cite not only Schwitters, but Duchamp's "beauty of indifference," as an influence on the creation of the genre. Excellent reproductions of Cachet (1955), Mauve Administratif (1957), and Cachets au Tigre (1959). Raises points indispensable to any discussion of the cachets. Müller, Fridolin. H. N. Werkman. Alec Tiranti Ltd, London, England. 104 pages. Several essays about the Dutch printer and typographer, who had a large influence on Arman's Cachets, appear in German, French and English. Writings by Jan Martinet and Peter Althaus are excellent introductions to the life and work of the failed printer, who set his sights on belonging to the international avant-garde, and died at the hands of the Nazis at the very end of the Second World War. As early as 1929 "certain prints had already appeared in which he had directly stamped typographical signs." Excellent reproductions of his work from 1923 to 1943 explain the appeal of the work to Arman. Otmezguine, Jane; Moreau, Marc; and Corice Arman. Arman Estampes: Catalogue Raisonné. Marval, Paris, France. 1990. 325 pages. This is a comprehensive compilation of Arman's prints, including his lithographs, serigraphs and engravings. The illustrated works were created from 1960 to 1988. An informative essay by Jane Otmezquine reveals Arman's ongoing concern with the "imprint" in many mediums, from rubber stamp to lithograph. Arman was making wood engraving at the same times he was involved with the Cachets. Otmezquine sees this as an extension of his activities, going beyond the simple use of "paid" and "received" rubber stamps into the making of his own seals. Indeed, Arman continued to carve wood to mark his prints. "Arman found in the Cachets a way of entering the family of printers and typographers and by extension of lithographers, serigraphers and engravers: inking transfer and copying with matrixes." Although many of the early lithographic prints deal with the same concerns as the Allures, Some prints echo his fascination with the rubber stamp, foremost among the the École de Nice 1 (1967), which incorporated an actual stamp in the work. An important reference work on Arman, showing that the concerns driving the Cachets have remained an integral part of Arman's art throughout his entire oeuvre. Restany, Pierre. "Arman: A New Look Upon the World." Arman. Galleria Schwarz, Milano, Italy. 1968. (16 pages). The critic gives a first hand account of Arman's artistic beginnings with his childhood friend Yves Klein. "In 1955, the dream-intoxicated adolescents have grown into men. On his return in possession of a fourth dan black-belt title, Judo master Yves Klein exhibited his first monochrome paintings - his spectacular adventure has begun and nothing will bring it to a halt. Arman comes briefly up to Paris - for just long enough to become impregnated with the energy of Klein, to ask me for a bit of advice, and to take in a Schwitters show at Berggruen. And this is the moment in which something clicks, the moment in which the little man from Nice with 'painting in his guts' discovers the expressive power of the object in itself. And it is now that we find the first of the Cachets - impressions of inked rubber stamps on paper, an effort that slowly takes on an ever larger importance and that becomes his first formulation of the notion of quantitative expression: the repetition of a gesture that tends towards an accumulation of objective entities. Struck by the incredible richness of the result, by the sumptuousness of the colors of the inks, and by the density of the texture of the image, I encouraged Arman to see big and ever bigger in this direction, and following my counsel, he began to work in terms of increasingly larger formats. The Cachets of 1958 are the biggest and the most beautiful. They are also the last." Schjeldahl, Peter; and van der Marck, Jan. Arman: Selected Activities. John Gibson gallery, New York, New York. 1973. 44 pages. Essays by Schjeldahl and van der Marck add little to our understanding of the cachets, except a revealing passage by van der Marck commenting that Semin, Didier. "Arman on Schwitters." Art Press, Paris France. 1995. Pages 20-22. On the occasion of the first French retrospective devoted to Kurt Schwitters at The Georges Pompidou Center, co-curator Semin interviewed Arman on the influence of the creator of the Merzbau on the art of today. Arman recounts his introduction to Schwitter's work in 1954, soon after beginning his cachets. "For me the influence was more direct, and when I I returned to Nice I started doing compositions with rubber stamps and small collages." Two untitled cachets illustrate the article. van der Marck, Jan. Arman. Abbeville Press (Cross River Press, Ltd.), New York, New York. 1984. 128 pages. Excellent overview of Arman's career, examine his Cubist, Constructivist, Dada, Duchampian and Surrealistic influences. "From a marginal exercise these cachets, as he called them grew in format and ambition and received public encouragement from Pierre Restany, then a rising young critic. Their random image distribution, filling the paper from edge to edge, their lyricism, and their muted colors related the 'mechanically' produced cachets to the 'spontaneously' produced paintings and drawings by Pollock and Wols. In an attempt to avoid stereotype, Arman expanded his arsenal of rubber stamps, which by 1958 included anything that would leave a distinct impression. Readability, which had been unimportant to begin with, was henceforward sacrificed entirely for an abstract, allover effect." Cachets reproduced include Grand Cachet (1956-57), Dark Sunday (1958), and a rubber stamp Accumulation, Le Sénat (1962).
AAA Edizioni: The collaboration of Vittore Baroni and Piermario Ciani is a unique association of talents brought together in the issuing of an outstanding series of well designed conceptually challenging books. Baroni's accomplishments are legendary in the mail art world. He is the veteran mail art publisher of Arte Postale!, Commonpress 23, mail art catalogues and much more. Ciani has become the unofficial Art Director of the Network. The widespread distribution of his striking graphics for the 1992 Networker Congresses, along with a flood of stickers made for his Stickerman Museum, has spread his powerful graphic talents far and wide. Baroni's editorial prowess and Ciani's graphic fireworks have spawned some of the most beautiful and intellectually satisfying books in my library. Blissett, Luther. Totó, Peppino e la Guerra Psichica: Materiali dal Luther Blissett Project. AAA Edizioni, Bertiolo, Italy. April 1996 144 Pages. (ISBN 88-86828-00-4) I don't pretend to follow all the nuances of this project initiated by Baroni, subsequently modified by Stewart Home, and then others throughout the world. Basically, Luther Blissett is an "urban legend" in the making, with anyone free to add to his notoriety in anyway they see fit. Sometime around 1995, mail artists were asked to get the name Luther Blissett into print. I had him listed in Art in America's Guide to Museums and Galleries, as being represented by Modern Realism Gallery. Graphics, stickers, articles, letters to the editor followed in a neverending stream. This book is a compilation of the Blissett legend as it wove a web around the world. In Italian. Cancelli, Mino. La Cultura Del Caos: Estetica del Riciclaggio tra Ecologia e Apocalisse. AAA Edizioni, Bertiolo, Italy. September 1996. 96 Pages. (ISBN 88-86828-04-7) This is the work of Italian artist Mino Cancelli (born 1955), a student of communication theory and interactive media. In the tradition of cut and paste pioneers William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin, Cancelli has taken printer's overruns and bound them together in a barrage of print advertisements, artist periodical interviews, reproduction of paintings, and auction catalogs. A fantastic Ciani cover contains the bursting at the seams graphics. Home, Stewart. Assalto alla Cultura: Correnti Utopistiche dal Lettrismo a Class War. AAA Edizioni, Bertiolo, Italy. 160 Pages. The Italian translation of this survey of the post-World War 11 avant-garde, including Lettrisme, Fluxus, various Situationist movements, Fluxus, Mail Art, and Neoism. Home has called this a "bluff your way guide," but I've yet to see Mail Art and Neoism put in a better historical context. Ok, so it's in Italian and you can't read it, but anything by Home is highly collectable, and the cover by Ciani is spectacular. Strano Network. Net Strike, No Copyright, et (-: Pratiche Antagoniste Nell'era Telematica. AAA Ediziioni, Bertiolo, Italy. May 1996. 144 Pages. (ISBN 88-86828-02-0) The Strano Network is a group of communication artists from Florence who formed in 1993. Net Strike is Post-Hacker strategy of telematic warfare. Collaborators are situated to bombard a specific electronic site until it overloads. It's all mixed up with anti-copyright, the open flow of information, and virtual communities. In Italian. Works range in price from 12,000 to 19,000 lira. For a complete list of works and prices, write: AAA Edizioni, 33032 Bertioo (UD), Italy.
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