The Portland Stamp Company The Portland Stamp Company

Stamp No. 57Art Chantry

Blotter acid stamps

 

Art Chantry is an urban folk artist and one of America’s leading designers. Raised in Tacoma, Chantry worked in Seattle for nearly 30 years. During that time he managed to produce a body of work that, however unorthodox, still rivals some of the best graphic design in the world. A pioneer of Seattle’s early 90s underground music scene, Chantry was the art director for The Rocket, is designer of over 3,000 posters, and in 2017 was awarded the AIGA medal. 

We have worked with Art on a number of projects, beginning with a cover for Plazm magazine in 1995. We are pleased to continue our ongoing collaboration with this limited edition stamp sheet.

 

Have you designed a stamp before?

Nope. But I’ve collected stamps since I was a kid (got rid of them, tho). I’ve used stamps in my montage design work endlessly. I’ve always dreamed of designing stamps for the post office (but from what I’ve heard it’s impossibly political). Designing a stamp is a bucket list item…

 

What was the most interesting or fun aspect of designing a poster stamp? What unique challenges did it present?

Well, making it look like a real postage stamp. Adding cancellations helped a lot.

 

Tell us about the art. Did you create something new for this stamp?

Adding LSD to the blotter paper really made it take off!

 

Anything else?

Carry a gun.

 

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The Artist Series


An ongoing collaboration with invited designers, artists, and writers who create original work for an unusual form: the poster stamp. The stamps are printed on lickable, gummed paper and pinhole perforated by hand on our vintage machines. The sheets are signed and numbered by the artist, and released in editions of 100. Suitable for framing. View full series.

Upcoming releases include Pablo Medina,  Erin Jhi, and Neville Brody