Printed Matter, Inc. is very pleased to announce a book launch for the newly released catalogue raisonné, General Idea: Editions 1967 - 1995 to take place at Printed Matter on Saturday, May 17, 2003, from 5 to 7 PM. AA Bronson will be present to sign copies of the book. General Idea Editions : A Selection exhibition, containing works drawn from the raisonné, will be presented at Printed Matter though June 21, 2003.

Published in conjunction with a major retrospective exhibition of General Idea''s editions organized and circulated by the Blackwood Gallery at the University of Toronto at Mississauga, General Idea Editions 1967 - 1995 contains over two hundred full-page black-and-white and color reproductions. The three-hundred-twenty page book documents the complete editions produced during the course of General Idea''s historic twenty-five year collaboration: from 1967 - two years prior to the official formation of the group in 1969 — until 1994, the year in which Felix Partz and Jorge Zontal died from AIDS-related causes. The visual documentation concludes with XXX Voto (for the Spirit of Miss General Idea), published posthumously by the group''s sole surviving member AA Bronson in 1995.

Researched by Fern Bayer, the catalogue raisonné includes a list of ephemera, film and video works, a biography, bibliography, and index to the editions. The introduction by exhibition curator Barbara Fischer is followed by an essay by AA Bronson, excerpts from a conversation between AA Bronson and Mike Kelley, and commentaries by a host of internationally respected artists and writers - Jean-Christophe Ammann, Lionel Bovier, Cathy Busby, Christophe Cherix, Joshua Decter, Diedrich Diederichsen, John Miller, Philip Monk, and Stephan Trescher.

The Blackwood Gallery''s exhibition is the first comprehensive overview of General Idea''s editions to tour internationally. Having come to international attention for their incisive interventions into the contemporary media environment, General Idea perfected the principle of inhabiting the conventions of popular and media culture and bending them to suit their own subversive purposes. The editions are the chief means by which General Idea carried out their project of injecting images, like viruses, into the cultural mainstream. They are also essential to an understanding of General Idea''s ironic and critical analysis of the art business, the museum as a commercial enterprise, and the role of the audience as well as the media. The exhibition, General Idea Editions : A Selection, which will be presented at Printed Matter from May 17 though June 21, 2003, will feature over eighty works drawn from this body of work.

General Idea Editions 1967-1995 received generous financial support from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Ontario Arts Council. Designed by Andrew Di Rosa (Toronto), it is published in collaboration with hosting galleries and museums across Canada, including the Agnes Etherington Art Centre (Kingston), Mount Saint Vincent University Art Gallery (Halifax), Art Gallery of Hamilton (Hamilton), Museum London (London), Plug In ICA (Winnipeg), Dunlop Art Gallery (Regina), Illingworth Kerr Gallery (Calgary), Charles H. Scott Gallery (Vancouver), and the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (Victoria).

General Idea Editions 1967-1995 was available in two editions — paperback, ISBN 0-7727-8206-7, at US $25, and a limited edition hardcover, ISBN 0-7727-8205-9, which has sold out. General Idea Editions 1967-1995 and over 15,000 other artists'' books are available from Printed Matter''s website: www.printedmatter.org

Printed Matter, Inc. is located at 535 West 22nd Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues, in New York''s Chelsea district. For additional information, please contact David Platzker, Executive Director, Printed Matter, Inc., at (212) 925-0325 or dplatzker@printedmatter.org

Printed Matter, Inc. is an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1976 by artists and art workers with the mission to foster the appreciation, dissemination, and understanding of artists'' books and other artists'' publications.

Printed Matter has received support, in part, through grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, New York Arts Recovery Fund, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, Art for Art''s Sake, The New York Community Trust, Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation, The Roy and Niuta Titus Foundation, Heyday Foundation, The Kettering Family Foundation, CHS Foundation, The Liman Foundation, Fifth Floor Foundation, The Cowles Charitable Trust, Philip Morris Companies Inc., Women''s Studio Workshop, Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation, and private foundations and individuals worldwide.

Printed Matter, Inc. is not affiliated with, nor a division of, any other non-profit organization.