N HIS FINAL YEAR STUDYING illustration at Cardiff University, Ed Fairburn became interested in context, intervention and the idea of ‘hijacking’ ordinary objects and surfaces in extraordinary ways. One of his most enjoyable efforts was a mail-based project, a series of illustrated envelopes, postcards and unusual objects: anything he could paint on and post, to create a forced gallery space within the postal system. Lots of the items he mailed were simply empty envelopes, which he used as canvases, but he also posted the odd puzzle, including a Rubik’s Cube placed inside a clear plastic bag with stamps and the words “solve me” written on the outside. He wrote the delivery address across several faces of the cube, before jumbling it and dropping it into an extra wide post box. To his amazement, the postal workers solved the cube and delivered it
