Updated February 28th: Here is the design for the Digital Color Postmark first-day cancel: It measures 3.00″x1.26″

Updated February 20th: The first-day ceremony will be held at 6 p.m. at the Ricco-Maresca Gallery in New York City.

Updated February 19th: From the Postal Bulletin:

On March 26, 2015, in New York, NY, the U.S. Postal Service® will issue the Martin Ramirez First-Class Mail® stamps (Forever® priced at 49 cents), in five designs, in a pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) pane of 20 stamps (Item 472700).

The stamps will go on sale nationwide March 26, 2015.

Five new commemorative stamps honor Martìn Ramìrez (1895–1963), who, while virtually unknown in his lifetime, is recognized today as one of the great artists of the 20th century. Each stamp features details from one of five of Ramìrez’s more than 450 drawings and collages. Although confined to psychiatric hospitals for more than 30 years, Ramìrez transcended his own situation to create a remarkably visualized world free from the constraints of borders or time itself. The back of the stamp pane includes verso text. Art director Antonio Alcalá designed the stamp pane.

How to Order the First-Day-of-Issue Postmark:
Customers have 60 days to obtain the first-day-of-issue postmark by mail. They may purchase new stamps at their local Post Office, at The Postal Store® website at www.usps.com/shop, or by calling 800-STAMP-24. They should affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes (to themselves or others), and place them in a larger envelope addressed to:

Martin Ramirez Stamps
Special Events Coordinator
380 West 33rd Street
New York, NY 10199-9998

After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal Service™ will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for the postmark up to a quantity of 50. For more than 50, customers have to pay five cents each. All orders must be postmarked by May 25, 2015.

There are eight philatelic products for this stamp issue:

• 472706 Press Sheet with Die cut, $117.60 (print quantity 250)
• 472708 Press Sheet without Die cut, $117.60 (print quantity 500)
• 472710 Digital Color Postmark Keepsake (set of 5), $18.95
• 472716 First-Day Cover (set of 5), $4.65
• 472721 Digital Color Postmark (set of 5), $8.20
• 472730 Ceremony Program, $6.95 (random)
• 472731 Stamp Deck Card, $0.95
• 472732 Stamp Deck Card/Digital Color Postmark, $1.99 (random)

Technical Specifications:

Issue: Martin Ramirez Stamps
Item Number: 472700
Denomination & Type of Issue: First-Class Mail Forever
Format: Pane of 20 (5 designs)
Series: N/A
Issue Date & City: March 26, 2015, New York, NY 10199
Designer: Antonio Alcalá, Alexandria, VA
Art Director: Antonio Alcalá, Alexandria, VA
Typographer: Antonio Alcalá, Alexandria, VA
Existing Art: Martin Ramirez
Modeler: Donald Woo
Manufacturing Process: Offset, Microprint
Printer: Banknote Corporation of America/SSP
Printed at: Browns Summit, NC
Press Type: Alprinta 74
Stamps per Pane: 20
Print Quantity: 20 million stamps
Paper Type: Phosphor Tagged Paper, Block
Adhesive Type: Pressure-sensitive adhesive
Processed at: Banknote Corporation of America, Browns Summit SC
Colors: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black, PMS Warm Grey 10
Stamp Orientation: Square
Image Area (w x h): 1.09 x 1.09 in./27.56 x 27.56 mm
Overall Size (w x h): 1.23 x 1.23 in./31.11 x 31.11 mm
Full Pane Size (w x h): 6.00 x 8.00 in./152.40 x 203.20 mm
Press Sheets Size (w x h): 24.00 x 24.00 in./ 609.60 x 609.60 mm
Plate Size: 240 stamps per revolution
Plate Numbers: “S” followed by five (5) single digits
Marginal Markings:
Front: Plate numbers in two corners of pane
Back: © 2014 USPS • USPS logo • Plate position diagram • Barcode (472700) in upper right and lower left corners of pane • Promotional text • Martin Ramirez bio

Updated January 15th: The first day will take place March 26 at 6 p.m. in NYC at the Ricco/Maresca Gallery.

Updated December 23rd: The gallery tie-in is confirmed. The exact date is not, but it should be the 30th or 31st of March. Illustrations were also provided of these five stamps.

A self-taught Mexican-American artist, this stamp or stamps honoring Martin Ramirez will be issued March 31st in New York City.

There appear to be significant holdings of his works at the American Folk Art Museum and the Ricco Maresca Gallery, both in New York. (If you click on the “artists” section in the Gallery’s website, there are illustrations and videos.) My guess would be that there will be a new exhibition of his work opening on or about the 31st at one of these venues.

Ramirez himself spent most of his adult life in California mental institutions, according to Wikipedia.