post office sofa – a window installation by adolfo martinez debuts at city center square october 16

“Post Office Sofa,” a window installation by Kansas City-based artist and 2008 Charlotte Street Foundation Visual Artist Award Fellow Adolfo Martinez, debuts October 16, 2009 in conjunction with UCP’s Third Friday Art Downtown event, with a ceremony at 4:30pm. To remain on view for approximately one year, the installation was commissioned by City Center Square for its north-facing window on 12th Street, just west of Main, through an open call to artists facilitated by Urban Culture Project. The installation relates to the United States Post Office located within City Center Square, specifically taking the idea of the postage stamp as inspiration.

Martinez’s installation will build on his “Sofa Sized Paintings” series, which takes inspiration from the “starving artist sales” promoted on television, which advertise bargain artworks priced according to size: “Sofa sized paintings for only $19.99,” for example. The installation will include a new 8-foot cutout painting, “Post Office Sofa,” incorporating USPS mailboxes as armrests, a stamp-patterned afghan draped over the back of the couch, throw pillows in the likeness of stuffed envelopes, and a framed picture behind it of the former post office across from Union Station, where Martinez’s father worked as a sorter in the 60s and 70s. The cutout painting will sit atop a fake green grass floor. Read full press release.