The accessibility and familiarity of a postcard makes it an artistic
medium rich with potential for subversion, appropriation, or
manipulation for political, satirical, revolutionary, or playful intent.
The inexpensiveness of production encourages artists to experiment with
their design; the only artistic restriction: that it fits through the
mailbox slot. Unlike traditional works of art, the postcard requires
nothing more than a stamp for it to be seen on the other side of the
world. Made of commonplace material, postcards invite handling, asking
to be picked up, turned over, and shown to friends--to be included in
our lives.
The World Exists to Be Put on a Postcard features postcards, several
reproduced at actual size, designed by notable modern and contemporary
artists, including Carl Andre, Eleanor Antin, Joseph Beuys, Tacita Dean,
Gilbert & George, Richard Hamilton, Susan Hiller, Richard Long, Bruce
Nauman, Yoko Ono, Dieter Roth, Gavin Turk, Mark Wallinger, Rachel
Whiteread, and Hannah Wilke, many of which are published here for the
first time. Organized thematically into chapters, such as "Graphic
Postcards," "Political Postcards," "Portrait Postcards," and "Composite
Postcards," this book demonstrates the significance of artists'
postcards in contemporary art.
