INTRODUCTION

"The stamp is a symbol which takes possession of the imaginary." writes French art critic Pierre Restany in his essay The Artist's Stamp. This essay appears, along with several others, in the beautifully illustrated full-colour catalogue for the exhibition timbres d'artistes, presented at the Musee de la Poste in Paris from September 14, 1993 - January 20, 1994. Restany goes on to explain that the artist who decides to utilize the postage stamp format appropriates an imaginary territory in which he can, with the greatest freedom, express his artistic vision of the way things are. The universally recognized format of the postage stamp gives his visions a sense of authority and authenticity that has been sanctioned by a 'higher' authority.

The earliest known works of art done in the 'postage stamp' format were Karl Schwesig's ink drawings created in 1941. The first exhibition of Artist's Stamps and Stamp Images was presented at Simon Fraser University in Canada in 1974. In the years following more artists began to explore the postage stamp format, resulting in numerous b&w photocopy, colour Xerox, instant print, rubber stamp, screen print, and full colour print editions of artist's stamps. Since that initial exhibition in 1974 there have been important presentations of Artistamps in more than 50 cultural institutions in such places as Geneva, Antwerp, Amsterdam, Budapest, London, Houston, New York, and Seattle. Catalogues were produced for all of these exhibitions.

The Davidson Galleries began to offer 'full mint sheets' of Artistamps to its clients in the late '70's and presented its first survey of international activity in this area in 1989. Early the following year the Gallery, together with myself, formed The Pacific Northwest Artistamp Collective (PNAC). Selected artists were invited to join the Collective and Artistamp prints by members of PNAC were, for the first time anywhere, made available for viewing and purchase on a year-round basis. This years Biennial is the largest to date, reflecting the growing participation of artists in the Artistamp movement. The 248 prints in the exhibition contain 2,021 different images and are the most recent works by seventy-seven Artistamp creatorsfrom 18 different countries.

Jas. W. Felter, Curator