Telegram met gelukwensen, 1928 1928

This “Telegram met gelukwensen,” was made in 1928 by the PTT. I love thinking about how artworks like this emerge. You can sense the paper itself, its thinness, its capacity to absorb the ink from the typewriter. Imagine the maker at the time, sitting down and composing their missive. What were they thinking as they wrote "heil zaaier en boom" -- "hail sower and tree"? Look at the stamps: ‘FOONDIENST TELEGRAAF EN TE.’ They’re like mini-paintings, compressed with meaning and function, and they add such a graphic punch. It reminds me of Kurt Schwitters, and the way he used found ephemera in his collages, elevating the mundane to art. For me, artworks like this show how we, as artists, are constantly building on each other's ideas. This telegram is a reminder that art can be found anywhere, in the most unexpected forms.