My second worldwide
search for Artistamps began early in 1989 with the international distribution
of a "Wanted Poster". I have attempted to contact directly 265 individuals who
might be, were, or knew someone who was, producing Artistamps. As a result 80
artists contacted me, 76 of whom completed my questionnaire about their
Artistamp activities. Here are some of the results of that ongoing survey.
- 60 artists have produced at least 3199 editions of Artistamps.
- 54 have perforated their Artistamps.
- 47 have used gummed paper in the production of their Artistamps.
- 44 have perforated their Artistamps produced on gummed paper.
The spin-off from
the collection of this data was the organization last December of my second
exhibition of Artistamps. It was produced for and presented by the Davidson
Galleries in Seattle (the first one having been organized for Simon Fraser
University in 1974). The Seattle presentation marked the first time a large
selection of Artistamps was made available to the general public at a
commercial art gallery. The exhibition was considered so unusual that it's
opening was reported by television on the local evening news. A Seattle
newspaper described the exhibition as including '1,685 Lilliputian artworks,
made by 56 artists in 14 countries' and called the medium 'subversive'. I
don't have figures on the sales from that exhibition, but it certainly was
considered a success. All the available supply of many editions were bought up
by an intrigued audience.
After that
exhibition a successful funding application to the Seattle Arts Festival led
me to my third exhibition being developed for presentation during the Annual
Bumbershoot Festival last August. All the Artistamp editions collected at the
Davidson galleries were reviewed and a new selection was made. Almost all of
the sheets included in this selection were perforated and most were from
signed and numbered editions. More than 11,400 viewers stopped by to see
Artistamps by 137 artists from 17 countries during 8 days of public showing.
214 Artistamp sheets sold for more than $4,000. 00 (that averages $18. 69 per
sheet). A lot more would have sold had they been available. A catalogue of the
exhibition was produced by the Davidson Galleries, and the exhibition is now
available for booking. It was presented at a public gallery in Vancouver,
Washington in October.
Meanwhile, I have
produced a very limited edition of MRAUR 5 colour Canon Laser perforated
triangle stamp sheets and my new sheet of MRAUR stamps (each sheet contains
all 80 glyphs in the Mraur writing system) is ready for printing. The artwork
for this sheet was produced using SuperPaint on my wife's new Apple Classic
computer and the plate was produced from a TIFF file of the sheet on a 3 1/2
floppy disk and printed on a Linotype printer. It should be ready for
perforation and distribution early in the new year.
I continue my search
for the illusive Artistamp artist and continue to be surprised to receive the
occasional letter from an artist who has been producing Artistamps in
isolation for some time. They are amazed that other artists work in this
medium and want more information. If you know of any such artists or any
gallery which might like to present my third exhibit, have them write me c/o
this publication. Remember, if you can't lick your work, who can?
NOTES FROM JAS. 
Jas' Writings ...
Library Foyer ... 
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