2004.42.A-B: Untitled (addressed to Dadaland)

Identification and Creation

Object Number

2004.42.A-B

People

Albert M. Fine, American (Boston 1931 - 1987)

Title

Untitled (addressed to Dadaland)

Other Titles

Alternate Title: FLASH (printed on verso)

Classification

Drawings

Work Type

drawing

Date

1972

Culture

American

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/59127

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Paper, glassine

Dimensions

envelope: 9.2 x 15.7 cm (3 5/8 x 6 3/16 in.)
star (greatest dimension): 10.4 x 13.6 cm (4 1/8 x 5 3/8 in.)

Inscriptions and Marks

• Signed: amfine [on envelope]
• inscription: front of envelope enclosing the object (drawing), typewritten addresses of sender and recipient: : amfine / 363 Canal N.Y.C. 10013 // Dadaland #21 / 1117 Geary / San Francisco / California / 94109
• inscription: front of envelope, printed return address on envelope, canceled through with typed capital X's:: The REBHUN CO. / FACTORY SUPPLIES / 133 WOOSTER STREET / New York, N. Y. 10012
• stamp: front of envelope, black ink, postal cancellation stamp: : NEW YORK NY PM 21 MAR 1972 [in a circle]
• stamp: front of envelope, postage stamp:: 8¢ / EISENHOWER USA

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History

[Steven Lieber, San Francisco] sold; to Harvard Art Museums, 2004

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Margaret Fisher Fund

Accession Year

2004

Object Number

2004.42.A-B

Division

Modern and Contemporary Art

Contact

am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu

Permissions

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Descriptions

Description

A piece of paper was cut from the page of a publication, isolating the word FLASH (white on black with lines radiating around it), and cut into the shape of a flaming, irregularly seven-pointed star standing on a broad base. The front was spray-painted with black, using a large washer or some such perforated disk as a stencil after the sheet was somewhat gray, so that the end effect is of a gray iris with a black pupil centering the black star-like form. This was then folded vertically, eye/star side out, and inserted into an envelope with a glassine window, so that half of the eye/star peers out. This original orientation is only presumed, since the envelope was opened by its recipient, and the object inside must have been removed and reinserted many times.

Commentary

After his initial interest in Fluxus art in the late 1960s, Fine continued to develop, along with like-minded others, and became an important participant in the mail art movement of the 1970s. This work takes account of the format: whatever might be the representational or symbolic intent of the object (that is, the drawing) when removed from its envelope, unfolded, and stood on its flat side, when the envelope package is assembled with the folded object inside in its the most engaging orientation, the object peers out like a startled voyeur. The envelope, with object, was addressed by Fine to Dadaland, which (or who) lived at 1117 Geary Street, #21, in San Francisco in March 1972. This was probably Bill Gaglione, an acolyte in New York of Ray Johnson, the mail art pioneer. Gaglione may well have met Fine there, but he moved to San Francisco and began his own mail art nexus there, along with instigating many other disruptive events and practices in Dada/Fluxus mode. Perhaps the most notable was The Pink Dot Caper, in which Gaglione and like-minded friends peppered the city with Avery self-adhesive dots. Another venture was the "Bay Area Weekly Breeder," co-edited by Gaglione, a zine satire on both "The Weekly Reader," a public school magazine, and Ray Johnson's "New York Correspondence School," an entirely irrational and irreverent Fluxus publication. It should be noted that the trimming of the object isolates on its verso the single word "FLASH" (white on black, surrounded by radiating lines). Presumably the matrix from which this word was cut would be found in an issue of "Bay Area Weekly Breeder" or "New York Correspondence School."

Verification Level