SUBSIDIZED stamp, Art Metropole (2019)

In 2019, Jonathan Middleton commissioned several artists to create rubber stamp designs for Society (2020-2021), a group exhibition through the postal system (with an edition of 230 envelopes for each). 

For this design, Garry and I branched off an oval shape he had previously used to make his limited edition NEW! paintings in Two New Medals (Emerson Gallery, Berlin, 2006). I liked the idea of taking sign painter typography which paired well with the visual language of the eye-catching marketing logos Garry was pulling from. 

That year I was thinking a lot about subsidies and tax breaks afforded to the fossil fuel industry while working on my wall-text painting SUBSIDIZED (Small Arms Inspection Building, Mississauga), so we decided to expand on this topic for the stamp. I asked the International Institute for Sustainable Development for permission to use their statistics and they agreed. This work is another example of the ways I enjoy bringing in unusual partners to artistic projects as means of connecting art to daily life and politics.