Last night the Ad-Hoc Art Gallery in East Williamsburg hosted a book launch party for Going Postal, a new book by Martha Cooper on Postal Label Graffiti. When I read about it on Wooster Collective last week, it struck my interest. On Flickr, I started the "Postal Label Graffiti" group a couple years ago. The use of these labels as a medium always seemed particularly cool to me in a DIY, alternate-use sort of way.
As a tie-in with the book, Ad-Hoc is hosting a gallery show of many of the artists whose work appears in the book. There was work by artists I've been following for some time as well as a few I've just been finding out about.
While many of the pieces were made up entirely or partially of the postal labels, others riffed on the aesthetic of the labels and went bigger and more creative. Right in the door, these three giant overlapping Celso pieces mimicked the labels. Faust, Rednose, Robots Will Kill and Get 2 had some excellent pieces up that similarly build on the standard label design. Others, like C. Damage switched it up by playing with the Postal Service's blue stripe:
And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the contingency from Philadelphia. UnderWater Pirate and Malic, whose work I see posted nearly everywhere I go when in Philly had some great work up as well.
All can all be seen in my Going Postal Set on Flickr.
In the back of the gallery, hundreds of stickers were on sale for $5 each. I picked up a few that I'll post in a bit.
If you're interesting in seeing the show, check it out soon. It closes tomorrow, Sunday the 22nd.
Ad Hoc Art
49 Bogart Street, East Williamsburg.
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