CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 10/22/2017

The power of absurdity in Vincent Sardon's 'The Stampographer'

“The stamp is never neutral,” Vincent Sardon is quoted in his new monograph, The Stampographer. “It packs a symbolic wallop because of the millions of judges, cops, customs officials—agents of public authority—who use them to validate passports, to turn people away at the border, to pass judgement, to pass laws, to sentence, to record proceedings, to excommunicate—all sorts of evil documents that have the power to of putting people in impossible situations. Any absurdity presented in this manner becomes ten times more powerful thanks to the magic wand of graphics. It is this mysterious power that fascinates me and that I continue to explore. Once upon a time newspapers had this kind of sacred power, but no more.”