Dieter Roth

Rubber Stamp Box (Stempelkasten)

1968

Multiple of rubber stamps, ink pads, ink bottles and instruction sheets in publisher's box with stamp drawing

Not on view

In the early 1960s Roth developed a visual system consisting of twenty-three images, each of which corresponds to one or two letters of the alphabet. The artist had a set of rubber stamps made from his sketches, which he used to produce about three hundred stamp drawings. Many of these are reproduced in this 1967 book, along with a key indicating which symbol corresponds to which letter of the alphabet, as well as additional writings and illustrations by Roth. The drawings could, in theory, be read as texts; however, Roth intentionally complicated their legibility by layering stamps on top of one another and asserting that each symbol had varying meanings, depending on the orientation in which it was stamped.

Gallery label from

Wait, Later This Will Be Nothing: Editions by Dieter Roth, February 17–June 24, 2013.

Medium Multiple of rubber stamps, ink pads, ink bottles and instruction sheets in publisher's box with stamp drawing
Dimensions overall (box with contents): 11 1/16 x 11 1/16 x 2 1/2" (28.1 x 28.1 x 6.3 cm)
Publisher Edition Hansjörg Mayer, Stuttgart
Fabricator Galerie der Spiegel, Cologne
Edition 111
Credit Miranda Kaiser Fund
Object number 740.2006.a-p
Department Drawings and Prints

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