Stu Horn Letter

Item is a letter from Stu Horn sent to Michael Morris, regarding sending photocopies of Guerrilla Billboard photos, and other billboard events and performances that took place in Jersey.
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In the early 1970s, artists Vincent Trasov and Michael Morris engaged in regular correspondence with Philadelphia-based artist and poet Stu Horn (1948–2008). Influenced by the Fluxus movement, Horn was an early mail art proponent and affiliated with the New York Correspondence School established by artist Ray Johnson. Horn also worked under the moniker Northwest Mounted Valise; in 1975, he published an eponymous book composed of drawings, collages and concrete poetry satirizing the visual grammar of print advertising and critiquing issues such as the nascent environmental movement.

In these letters, Horn describes some of his public interventions in Philadelphia, characterizing them as “guerrilla art” designed to upend institutional conventions, disrupt the city and its administration, and critique a diverse set of issues impacting the urban environment. A graphic mailer titled The Daily Planet – a reference to the fictional newspaper that features in DC Comics’ Superman franchise – is composed of environmental slogans alongside irreverent calls to “Get Sterilized” and “Be a salad.”
-Weiyi Chang, 2024