Archives

Olaf Breuning

This postcard by Olaf Breuning is part of a series devoted to artists’ postcards initiated by Primary Information in the wake of the Trump Administration, as well as the social and political tumult that preceded it. Since the election, there has been a growing movement of citizens using postcards to voice their concern to their representatives. As such, the postcard is a media form that is vital to political and social engagement in the United States. It is also a form with a dedicated image space, and Primary Information feels strongly that images accompanying this civic engagement should be created by artists.

Each month, Primary Information commissions artists to produce postcards in an ongoing open edition. All postcards are priced at cost.

Postcards have long been a part of the artist book tradition, with artists engaging with the form for well over 50 years now. While Primary Information sees this project as a continuation of that very important tradition, the organization also sees the need to double down on this form as a political space embedded with the urgency, diversity, and complexity of voices that are the hallmark of our times. Who better to do this than artists?

Find your national and state representatives

4 x 6 inches
Postcard
Open edition
February 2018

Publication

Publication is a facsimile edition of the 1970 artist book by David Lamelas. It features contributions from thirteen international artists and critics who the artist chose due to their relationship to language-based practices. Produced from conversations with these fellow artists and writers, Publication collects their responses to three statements provided by Lamelas:

1. Use of oral and written language as an Art Form.
2. Language can be considered as an Art Form.
3. Language cannot be considered as an Art Form.

The texts range from pragmatic to humorous to philosophical. Publication was the primary work in Lamelas’ 1970 exhibition at Nigel Greenwood’s gallery in London; copies of the volume were displayed as a roundtable installation with the intention that visitors would continue the types of discussions within the book.

Many of the contributors were already exploring the book format as an alternative strategy for presenting conceptual work, and Publication provides a concise overview of artists’ and writers’ views on language-based art forms at the time. The artists and writers featured in this volume include Keith Arnatt, Robert Barry, Stanley Brouwn, Daniel Buren, Victor Burgin, Michel Claura, Gilbert & George, John Latham, Lucy R. Lippard, Martin Maloney, Barbara M. Reise, Lawrence Weiner, and Ian Wilson.

David Lamelas is an Argentinian artist who began exhibiting minimalist sculptures in the mid-1960s before quickly moving into conceptual art and work that examines the relationship between art and the exhibition space. In 1968, he received international acclaim with his installation at the 34th Venice Biennale, Office of Information about the Vietnam War on Three Levels: The Visual Image, Text and Audio, which brought updated news reports of the Vietnam War into the biennial. In the late 60s and into the 70s, issues of temporality and space began to factor into his work as he began making Structural films. More recently, Lamelas has brought together these themes in installations, films, and performances, while continuing to build upon his earlier sculptural practice.

5.75 x 8.25 inches
48 pages
Paperback
B&W
Edition of 1000
August 2016
ISBN: 9780990689614

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Managing Editor: Miriam Katzeff

The Harlem Book of the Dead

Originally published in 1978, The Harlem Book of the Dead is a haunting and beautiful document of Black funerary traditions in Harlem, which captures the community’s mourning rituals through the lens of one of the Harlem Renaissance’s most celebrated photographers. These portraits are complimented and captioned by poems from Owen Dodson; a wide-ranging interview with Van Der Zee by the sculptor and filmmaker Camille Billops, who conceptualized and edited the publication; and a foreword by acclaimed writer Toni Morrison. Rounding out this new edition is an afterword by Karla FC Holloway, author of Passed On (2001).

The publication is the most complete record of Van Der Zee’s funerary photographs, featuring over three dozen portraits by the artist, who meticulously composed the setting and subjects before using his renowned dark room and retouching skills to superimpose celestial figures, poetry, biblical scenes, or portraits onto the images to compensate for lack of adornments, such as flowers, or to fulfill the requests of his subjects or their families. Billops recognized the singular value in these portraits and collected them for the first time here, choosing to pair them with Dodson’s words to replicate a pairing of “death’s oldest companions—the portrait artist and the poet.” Further, her introduction and interview provide a valuable service in detailing the history of Van Der Zee’s life and work, his compositional decisions in the portraits, and the lives of his subjects and the circumstances of their passing.

During his lifetime, Van Der Zee was primarily known as a studio photographer, with an active portrait practice dating from 1916 to his death in 1983. His work took off between the World Wars and he is largely responsible for providing a visual record of the emergent Black middle class in the early twentieth century, capturing weddings, funerals, parades, sports clubs, community groups, and infantrymen (such as the Harlem Hellfighters). Over the years, understanding of Van Der Zee’s work—which was imbued from the start with creative technical mastery—has evolved and he is no longer seen as a mere documentarian but rather a visionary artist who amplified the beauty of the life and community around him.

108 pages
9 x 10.5 inches
Paperback
October 2025
ISBN: 9798991036726

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Managing Editors: Garrett Bradley and James Hoff
Designer: Bryce Wilner
Copy Editor: Allison Dubinsky

E.V. Day

This postcard by E.V. Day is part of a series devoted to artists’ postcards initiated by Primary Information in the wake of the Trump Administration, as well as the social and political tumult that preceded it. Since the election, there has been a growing movement of citizens using postcards to voice their concern to their representatives. As such, the postcard is a media form that is vital to political and social engagement in the United States. It is also a form with a dedicated image space, and Primary Information feels strongly that images accompanying this civic engagement should be created by artists.

Each month, Primary Information commissions artists to produce postcards in an ongoing open edition. All postcards are priced at cost.

Postcards have long been a part of the artist book tradition, with artists engaging with the form for well over 50 years now. While Primary Information sees this project as a continuation of that very important tradition, the organization also sees the need to double down on this form as a political space embedded with the urgency, diversity, and complexity of voices that are the hallmark of our times. Who better to do this than artists?

Find your national and state representatives

4 x 6 inches
Postcard
Open edition
February 2018

Steve Dalachinsky

This postcard by Steve Dalachinsky is part of a series devoted to artists’ postcards initiated by Primary Information in the wake of the Trump Administration, as well as the social and political tumult that preceded it. Since the election, there has been a growing movement of citizens using postcards to voice their concern to their representatives. As such, the postcard is a media form that is vital to political and social engagement in the United States. It is also a form with a dedicated image space, and Primary Information feels strongly that images accompanying this civic engagement should be created by artists.

Each month, Primary Information commissions artists to produce postcards in an ongoing open edition. All postcards are priced at cost.

Postcards have long been a part of the artist book tradition, with artists engaging with the form for well over 50 years now. While Primary Information sees this project as a continuation of that very important tradition, the organization also sees the need to double down on this form as a political space embedded with the urgency, diversity, and complexity of voices that are the hallmark of our times. Who better to do this than artists?

Find your national and state representatives

4 x 6 inches
Postcard
Open edition
February 2018

Nathan Hylden

This postcard by Nathan Hylden is part of a series devoted to artists’ postcards initiated by Primary Information in the wake of the Trump Administration, as well as the social and political tumult that preceded it. Since the election, there has been a growing movement of citizens using postcards to voice their concern to their representatives. As such, the postcard is a media form that is vital to political and social engagement in the United States. It is also a form with a dedicated image space, and Primary Information feels strongly that images accompanying this civic engagement should be created by artists.

Each month, Primary Information commissions artists to produce postcards in an ongoing open edition. All postcards are priced at cost.

Postcards have long been a part of the artist book tradition, with artists engaging with the form for well over 50 years now. While Primary Information sees this project as a continuation of that very important tradition, the organization also sees the need to double down on this form as a political space embedded with the urgency, diversity, and complexity of voices that are the hallmark of our times. Who better to do this than artists?

Find your national and state representatives

4 x 6 inches
Postcard
Open edition
February 2018

Dave Muller

This postcard by Dave Muller is part of a series devoted to artists’ postcards initiated by Primary Information in the wake of the Trump Administration, as well as the social and political tumult that preceded it. Since the election, there has been a growing movement of citizens using postcards to voice their concern to their representatives. As such, the postcard is a media form that is vital to political and social engagement in the United States. It is also a form with a dedicated image space, and Primary Information feels strongly that images accompanying this civic engagement should be created by artists.

Each month, Primary Information commissions artists to produce postcards in an ongoing open edition. All postcards are priced at cost.

Postcards have long been a part of the artist book tradition, with artists engaging with the form for well over 50 years now. While Primary Information sees this project as a continuation of that very important tradition, the organization also sees the need to double down on this form as a political space embedded with the urgency, diversity, and complexity of voices that are the hallmark of our times. Who better to do this than artists?

Find your national and state representatives

4 x 6 inches
Postcard
Open edition
February 2018

Alice Tippit

This postcard by Alice Tippit is part of a series devoted to artists’ postcards initiated by Primary Information in the wake of the Trump Administration, as well as the social and political tumult that preceded it. Since the election, there has been a growing movement of citizens using postcards to voice their concern to their representatives. As such, the postcard is a media form that is vital to political and social engagement in the United States. It is also a form with a dedicated image space, and Primary Information feels strongly that images accompanying this civic engagement should be created by artists.

Each month, Primary Information commissions artists to produce postcards in an ongoing open edition. All postcards are priced at cost.

Postcards have long been a part of the artist book tradition, with artists engaging with the form for well over 50 years now. While Primary Information sees this project as a continuation of that very important tradition, the organization also sees the need to double down on this form as a political space embedded with the urgency, diversity, and complexity of voices that are the hallmark of our times. Who better to do this than artists?

Find your national and state representatives

4 x 6 inches
Postcard
Open edition
February 2018

Amy Yao

This postcard by Amy Yao is part of a series devoted to artists’ postcards initiated by Primary Information in the wake of the Trump Administration, as well as the social and political tumult that preceded it. Since the election, there has been a growing movement of citizens using postcards to voice their concern to their representatives. As such, the postcard is a media form that is vital to political and social engagement in the United States. It is also a form with a dedicated image space, and Primary Information feels strongly that images accompanying this civic engagement should be created by artists.

Each month, Primary Information commissions artists to produce postcards in an ongoing open edition. All postcards are priced at cost.

Postcards have long been a part of the artist book tradition, with artists engaging with the form for well over 50 years now. While Primary Information sees this project as a continuation of that very important tradition, the organization also sees the need to double down on this form as a political space embedded with the urgency, diversity, and complexity of voices that are the hallmark of our times. Who better to do this than artists?

Find your national and state representatives

4 x 6 inches
Postcard
Open edition
February 2018

Erica Baum

This postcard by Erica Baum is part of a series devoted to artists’ postcards initiated by Primary Information in the wake of the Trump Administration, as well as the social and political tumult that preceded it. Since the election, there has been a growing movement of citizens using postcards to voice their concern to their representatives. As such, the postcard is a media form that is vital to political and social engagement in the United States. It is also a form with a dedicated image space, and Primary Information feels strongly that images accompanying this civic engagement should be created by artists.

Each month, Primary Information commissions artists to produce postcards in an ongoing open edition. All postcards are priced at cost.

Postcards have long been a part of the artist book tradition, with artists engaging with the form for well over 50 years now. While Primary Information sees this project as a continuation of that very important tradition, the organization also sees the need to double down on this form as a political space embedded with the urgency, diversity, and complexity of voices that are the hallmark of our times. Who better to do this than artists?

Find your national and state representatives

4 x 6 inches
Postcard
Open edition
January 2018

Mika Tajima

This postcard by Mika Tajima is part of a series devoted to artists’ postcards initiated by Primary Information in the wake of the Trump Administration, as well as the social and political tumult that preceded it. Since the election, there has been a growing movement of citizens using postcards to voice their concern to their representatives. As such, the postcard is a media form that is vital to political and social engagement in the United States. It is also a form with a dedicated image space, and Primary Information feels strongly that images accompanying this civic engagement should be created by artists.

Each month, Primary Information commissions artists to produce postcards in an ongoing open edition. All postcards are priced at cost.

Postcards have long been a part of the artist book tradition, with artists engaging with the form for well over 50 years now. While Primary Information sees this project as a continuation of that very important tradition, the organization also sees the need to double down on this form as a political space embedded with the urgency, diversity, and complexity of voices that are the hallmark of our times. Who better to do this than artists?

Find your national and state representatives

4 x 6 inches
Postcard
Open edition
January 2018

Cary Loren

This postcard by Cary Loren is part of a series devoted to artists’ postcards initiated by Primary Information in the wake of the Trump Administration, as well as the social and political tumult that preceded it. Since the election, there has been a growing movement of citizens using postcards to voice their concern to their representatives. As such, the postcard is a media form that is vital to political and social engagement in the United States. It is also a form with a dedicated image space, and Primary Information feels strongly that images accompanying this civic engagement should be created by artists.

Each month, Primary Information commissions artists to produce postcards in an ongoing open edition. All postcards are priced at cost.

Postcards have long been a part of the artist book tradition, with artists engaging with the form for well over 50 years now. While Primary Information sees this project as a continuation of that very important tradition, the organization also sees the need to double down on this form as a political space embedded with the urgency, diversity, and complexity of voices that are the hallmark of our times. Who better to do this than artists?

Find your national and state representatives

4 x 6 inches
Postcard
Open edition
January 2018