You Can't Win
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Monday, February 25, 2008
Making Stuff on Sunday
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On Sunday I got together with Susan Krause, sculptor and professor of sculpture at SCAD Atlanta, Dayna Thacker, artist and director of Gallery Stokes (see links) and Lindsay Appel, artist, musician and all around great gal.
WANT TO BUY ART? I KNOW WHERE TO GET THE GOOD STUFF.
At 5:00 on August 28th, people lined up outside the frosted glass doors of Rhys Gallery. They all knew the doors wouldn’t open until 6:00, it was hot, humid, and everyone was anxious. As they waited in the heat they began to wonder,
“What wall do I want to head for?”
“Will I have to trip someone to get the piece I want?”
“Will I get a postcard by someone famous, oh who cares, I’m just going to get what I like.”
By 5:45 there were lines at each door going around the block. When the doors were unlocked on the 2nd Proof of Purchase exhibition the floodgates were opened and there was no holding back the crowds. The walls were lined with hundreds of 4x6 postcards created by emerging and established artists, all priced at $50. Artist's identities were only disclosed after you presented your "proof of purchase". For three hours the postcards few off the walls until they were white once more and all the postcards were gone.
As 9:00 approached, the line of people waiting to pay for their postcards stretched through out the gallery and those who had already paid for their artwork didn’t want to leave.
Only a few weeks before a similar event had taken place at Apex Art in New York. On the hot summer evening of July 7th, The Most Curatorial Biennial of the Universe opened and the crowd spilled out onto Church Street as the gallery filled to over flowing. And soon, in only a few months, the same phenomenon will happen again at the Royal Academy in London as hundreds of people will queue up in anticipation for the Secret Postcard Sale. The RCA has held the Secret Postcard sale for the past 13 years and it often includes postcards by artists as well known as Grayson Perry, Paula Rego, and Tracey Emin, hung on the wall next to work by the students of RCA.
What causes the kind of mass excitement for exhibitions like Proof of Purchase or the Secret Postcard Sale? Is it that you might pick up a Kiki Smith just by chance? Or is it the opportunity to afford original works of art? It’s a mixture of both with some other added ingredients. When the Daily Candy listed Proof of Purchase in their Arts & Culture section, they began with the statement, “If only buying art didn’t feel like such a commitment.” and I began to wonder if that is why so many people shy away from going to galleries; to avoid the pressure of a big purchase.
Exhibitions like Proof of Purchase are an opportunity for artists, collectors, curators and everyone else who wonders what goes on in galleries to join in, get some art work they can feel good about without having to take out a loan to get it. In addition, these shows are fundraisers, Proof of Purchase sales go to the School of the Museum of Fine Arts Scholarship Fund, sales from the Most Curatorial Biennial of the Universe went to the Robin Hood Foundation and all proceeds from the Secret Postcard Sale go directly to the RCA Fine Arts Student Award Fund. The recent success of these kinds of fundraisers comes from a growing interest in the general public to casually participate in the joy of buying quality original artwork at a fantastic price.
These fundraisers also allow artists to reach a wider public without feeling like they are devaluing their work, and they allow for young collectors to start buying artwork without the anxiety of a large purchase. For collectors, it generates excitement over artists they may have in their collections and gives them the chance to pick up someone new. These shows also generate more excitement and create greater value for participating artists pieces the next year. The woman who casually picked up the Damien Hirst at the RCA Secret Postcard Sale stated, "I am absolutely gobsmacked. My boyfriend has been painting things like this and I bought it."
This story was first told on the BBC and soon it was on every blog about the arts. Spectacles like Proof of Purchase and the Most Curatorial Biennial have been promoted and talked about in local papers and magazines like New York Residence magazine. Making a statement that these shows are for everyone, and everyone benefits from the growing participation. Artist Danielle Durchslag, previously based in Boston and now in New York, was quoted in New York Residents Magazine stating that to fit the rules she scaled down her work, “It actually challenges you to do something that you wouldn’t usually do and approach your work from an angle you wouldn’t normally,” she said. After the experience, she plans to continue experimenting with the smaller size, at least some of the time. “I think that’s a gift at the end of the day, it reveals something about your work.”
The statement in the Daily Candy crosses into the lives of the artists as well; it could just as easily be read as “If only making art didn’t always feel like such a commitment.” Sometimes artists just want to make something new and shows like Proof of Purchase allow for that to happen in an exciting way. By casually trying something out sometimes we end up with a gift, a new way of making our artwork, the gift of participation in purchasing art without the stress, and the gift of money raised for students who need it to be able to make a postcard for Proof of Purchase next year.
At 5:00 on August 28th, people lined up outside the frosted glass doors of Rhys Gallery. They all knew the doors wouldn’t open until 6:00, it was hot, humid, and everyone was anxious. As they waited in the heat they began to wonder,
“What wall do I want to head for?”
“Will I have to trip someone to get the piece I want?”
“Will I get a postcard by someone famous, oh who cares, I’m just going to get what I like.”
By 5:45 there were lines at each door going around the block. When the doors were unlocked on the 2nd Proof of Purchase exhibition the floodgates were opened and there was no holding back the crowds. The walls were lined with hundreds of 4x6 postcards created by emerging and established artists, all priced at $50. Artist's identities were only disclosed after you presented your "proof of purchase". For three hours the postcards few off the walls until they were white once more and all the postcards were gone.
As 9:00 approached, the line of people waiting to pay for their postcards stretched through out the gallery and those who had already paid for their artwork didn’t want to leave.
Only a few weeks before a similar event had taken place at Apex Art in New York. On the hot summer evening of July 7th, The Most Curatorial Biennial of the Universe opened and the crowd spilled out onto Church Street as the gallery filled to over flowing. And soon, in only a few months, the same phenomenon will happen again at the Royal Academy in London as hundreds of people will queue up in anticipation for the Secret Postcard Sale. The RCA has held the Secret Postcard sale for the past 13 years and it often includes postcards by artists as well known as Grayson Perry, Paula Rego, and Tracey Emin, hung on the wall next to work by the students of RCA.
What causes the kind of mass excitement for exhibitions like Proof of Purchase or the Secret Postcard Sale? Is it that you might pick up a Kiki Smith just by chance? Or is it the opportunity to afford original works of art? It’s a mixture of both with some other added ingredients. When the Daily Candy listed Proof of Purchase in their Arts & Culture section, they began with the statement, “If only buying art didn’t feel like such a commitment.” and I began to wonder if that is why so many people shy away from going to galleries; to avoid the pressure of a big purchase.
Exhibitions like Proof of Purchase are an opportunity for artists, collectors, curators and everyone else who wonders what goes on in galleries to join in, get some art work they can feel good about without having to take out a loan to get it. In addition, these shows are fundraisers, Proof of Purchase sales go to the School of the Museum of Fine Arts Scholarship Fund, sales from the Most Curatorial Biennial of the Universe went to the Robin Hood Foundation and all proceeds from the Secret Postcard Sale go directly to the RCA Fine Arts Student Award Fund. The recent success of these kinds of fundraisers comes from a growing interest in the general public to casually participate in the joy of buying quality original artwork at a fantastic price.
These fundraisers also allow artists to reach a wider public without feeling like they are devaluing their work, and they allow for young collectors to start buying artwork without the anxiety of a large purchase. For collectors, it generates excitement over artists they may have in their collections and gives them the chance to pick up someone new. These shows also generate more excitement and create greater value for participating artists pieces the next year. The woman who casually picked up the Damien Hirst at the RCA Secret Postcard Sale stated, "I am absolutely gobsmacked. My boyfriend has been painting things like this and I bought it."
This story was first told on the BBC and soon it was on every blog about the arts. Spectacles like Proof of Purchase and the Most Curatorial Biennial have been promoted and talked about in local papers and magazines like New York Residence magazine. Making a statement that these shows are for everyone, and everyone benefits from the growing participation. Artist Danielle Durchslag, previously based in Boston and now in New York, was quoted in New York Residents Magazine stating that to fit the rules she scaled down her work, “It actually challenges you to do something that you wouldn’t usually do and approach your work from an angle you wouldn’t normally,” she said. After the experience, she plans to continue experimenting with the smaller size, at least some of the time. “I think that’s a gift at the end of the day, it reveals something about your work.”
The statement in the Daily Candy crosses into the lives of the artists as well; it could just as easily be read as “If only making art didn’t always feel like such a commitment.” Sometimes artists just want to make something new and shows like Proof of Purchase allow for that to happen in an exciting way. By casually trying something out sometimes we end up with a gift, a new way of making our artwork, the gift of participation in purchasing art without the stress, and the gift of money raised for students who need it to be able to make a postcard for Proof of Purchase next year.
ALL THE THINGS I LEARNED FROM LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD
- Computer nerds sometimes look like hot emo rockers.
- If you are an evil villain, your girlfriend will willingly go into battle for you, so you can stay safely in your armored truck.
- Boyfriends will still want to call you after your cop Dad pulls them out of a car and threatens their life.
- Most laptop computers are powerful enough to override communications system of an entire country through an Ethernet cable.
- When power is knocked out by an explosion, everything where you are will still be clearly visible, just slightly bluish.
- A man will show no pain while taking the most ferocious beating but will whine when a woman tries to clean his wounds.
- If a large pane of glass is visible, someone will be thrown through it before long.
- Computers never display a cursor on screen, but will always say: "Enter Password Now".
- Even when driving down a perfectly straight road, it is necessary to turn the steering wheel vigorously from left to right every few moments. Tires will squeal on any surface, at any speed.
- All bombs are fitted with electronic timing devices with large red readouts so you know exactly when they're going to go off.
- Should you wish to pass yourself off as a computer hacker, it will not be necessary to know anything about computers. A Star Wars reference of any kind will do.
- No matter how hard you fall on your backpack, all the delicate computer equipment inside remains perfectly intact.
- If the hero is being mistaken for the villain, the people with guns can no longer aim.
- Gloating over your enemies' predicament before killing them, only gives them time to kill you instead.
- The ventilation system of any building is the perfect hiding place. No one will ever think of looking for you in there and you can travel to any other part of the building you want without difficulty.
- Never design your moving main Control Room so that every workstation is facing away from the door.
- If I continue to read conspiracy theory someday it will all come true.
- When a person is knocked unconscious by a blow to the head, they will never suffer a concussion or brain damage.
- No one involved in a car chase, explosion, or life threatening experience will ever go into shock.
- Cars that crash will almost always burst into flames.
CONFESSIONS OF AN ART SHOW DOWN CONTESTANT
When I first started writing this I had trouble putting into words what it exactly it was that made me so psyched to be a contestant on Art Show Down. So I wrote an article and was about to send it off to the Big RED editors, but after I spent Saturday morning playing paintball with Colin Rhys of Rhys gallery, I realized I love the Art Show Down because it is being part of a team. A team made up of artists, those who created it would not have show without those who are contestants, and the contestants would still be alone in their studios if they did not have the Art Show Down to go out and participate in.
Many of you have heard of this Art Show Down phenomenon, but may still not quite get what it is all about. It has been described on Big RED and Shiny, an Art Show Down sponsor, as a game show about art, and an art exhibition about game shows. This project, two years in the making, has involved the full transformation of the gallery at Art Interactive into a television studio, with episodes that are filmed in front of a live audience over the course of four weekends. This certainly describes what it IS, but not what it MEANS to the art community. It is an art piece that is just like playing paintball: you get to be part of team, engage in healthy competition, organize as a group, have fun with paint and some people win and some people lose. In the end, no participant of Art Show Down really loses, because it’s all about playing the game. What I have found most fulfilling about being an artist today is getting out there and doing stuff with a community; being a member of that team is the only way to not get shot down.
The Monday after my first episode I went into work and poured myself a cup of coffee as my co-workers had seen me do many times. My boss asked me, “How was your weekend? Do anything fun?” to which I replied, “Yeah, I was on the Art Show Down, this art game show at Art Interactive, and I won!” She looked at me as if I had answered her in Klingon and then said, “I’m sorry, what did you say?” I then proceeded to tell her about guessing what an artwork sold for at auction, stuffing my mouth with cheese while talking to Howard Yezerski, of Howard Yezerski Gallery, climbing a rock wall and hanging a bunch of pictures while throwing rubber snakes, shooting paintball guns and wrestling some girl with a paintbrush on my head. As the rest of my office came over to listen, I realized something: who else gets to say that they did something like this? Only artists, and as far as I know only those here in Boston who came out in support of the Art Show Down.
I found out about Art Show Down from Jeff Warmouth, one of the artist masterminds behind the creation of the art game show a little over a year ago. Before I even knew what it was all about, I wanted to be a part of it simply because I had a great respect for the artists involved in putting it together. As soon as I read the description I immediately knew my destiny:
To be one of final two who would compete in the Ultimate Artist Challenge.
I never thought about being the one winner, I just wanted to be part of it. Just like paintball, I wanted to be part of the team and stay in the game as long as I could. So I set out for my audition last fall with great enthusiasm for things to come. When I arrived at Art Interactive I was ushered into a room with video cameras, a lighting set up and a table with chairs on either side. After a series of tasks involving running across the room and grabbing an apple then making a drawing of it in 20 seconds, they asked me to react as if I had just won the game show, so I made myself cry and I jumped up and down enthusiastically until I heard a voice say, “Thanks, that’s enough we get it”. I thanked Jeff Warmouth, Jim Manning and Matt Nash who were running the auditions and then before I left I said, “If I don’t get picked, one of the other contestants might have an ‘accident’”. They laughed and then looked as if they weren’t quite sure if I was joking.
After hearing that I was chosen as a contestant I was not sure just what I was getting in to, but that’s the fun right? I went on the first day to scope out what was in store for me and I was really surprised. The set was amazing and it was such an incredible collaboration to make things run smoothly. The show started with the Auction Price is Right as the first challenge and contestant Andy Mowbray guessed closest to the actual auction price and moved on to the next round. After watching him during the “Schmooze and Booze” challenge where he had to talk up curator Nick Capasso of the DeCordova Museum while eating pepper jack cheese and drinking Tabasco flavored seltzer, I knew I needed a strategy. I paid close attention when Andy shot paint balls at moving targets, drew his self portrait with a sharpie taped to the end of yardstick, and attacked his opponent with a paintbrush attached to his head.
After competing, and winning, my first episode on September 30th, I was ready for my championship round. I asked who the curator would be, and it turned out to be George Fifield, the Director of the Boston CyberArts Festival and former Curator of New Media at the DeCordova Museum. So in preparation for the Schmooze and Booze challenge, that I might have to compete in, I decided to make a T-shirt with his face on the back that said “George Rocks!” There is no better way to schmooze than to come prepared to be ridiculous but in a way that shows great respect. I have known George for a while so I had to come up with something he wouldn’t expect. As it turned out, however, my fate would be to climb the rock wall for “Hang’em High”, in which required my hanging 10 pieces of art in their frames on a make shift rock wall in one minute and had to save my T-Shirt for later.
As I went into the final challenge of my championship episode I was only 30 points ahead so I needed to be ready to rumble. When I suited up in the white Tyvek jumpsuit and they strapped the paintbrush to my head I felt like I was on Nickelodeons “You Can’t Do That on Television” and I was ready! After 45 seconds of a serious wrestling match with Laurel Kirtz, I was not sure who was going to win. But then, as though it was meant to be, they asked George Fifield to come up on stage to count up the brush marks. When they tallied the score and announced me the winner, I turned around and tore open the Tyvek suit so George Fifield’s face was peering out from my back while yelling out to the audience “George Rules!” What I realized as later on was that I had done some real schmoozing during my episodes, was given a fun opportunity to make a connection with Howard Yezerski, supported many of my friends who have put this all together as part of their artwork and I had the chance to participate in something truly unique and a hell of a lot of fun.
My opponent for the final Ultimate Artist Challenge is local artist Andy Mowbray and the winner of the first episode ever of Art Show Down. Andy and I have been pumped up about the Art Show Down for over a year now, and here we are, the last two. The best part about it is that both Andy and I are really invested in making this a great active artwork and we want it to be a fun experience for the audience while we kick each others ass at crazy competitions involving dumpster diving, curator schmoozing and quick draw with both guns and markers.
When the Big RED editors mentioned that this would be the 50th issue of Big RED and Shiny, I thought that sharing my Art Show Down experiences was the best way to show my respect for the Art Show Down team and maybe help some of you who are still unsure of just what this is all about. My deepest gratitude goes out to all who worked hard to make this happen so that Andy and I can say we were part of it. And for all of you who were hesitant to go out and see Art Show Down, come to the final episode on October 28th at 6pm at Art Interactive, it will certainly be like nothing you have ever experienced before. I hope that it catches on because my next goal is for Andy and me to be the “Returning Champions” like they have on Jeopardy!
This project was co-curated by Roland Smart and Jeff Warmouth, and features a long list of Boston artists: Megan Goltermann, Jeff Smith, James Manning, Big RED's Matthew Nash, Ravi Jain, Nick Rodrigues, Anna Goldsmith, Paul Consemi, Rob Coshow, Mitsu Toda, and many more.
And a special thanks to Boston Paintball for their donation, I had a blast!
When I first started writing this I had trouble putting into words what it exactly it was that made me so psyched to be a contestant on Art Show Down. So I wrote an article and was about to send it off to the Big RED editors, but after I spent Saturday morning playing paintball with Colin Rhys of Rhys gallery, I realized I love the Art Show Down because it is being part of a team. A team made up of artists, those who created it would not have show without those who are contestants, and the contestants would still be alone in their studios if they did not have the Art Show Down to go out and participate in.
Many of you have heard of this Art Show Down phenomenon, but may still not quite get what it is all about. It has been described on Big RED and Shiny, an Art Show Down sponsor, as a game show about art, and an art exhibition about game shows. This project, two years in the making, has involved the full transformation of the gallery at Art Interactive into a television studio, with episodes that are filmed in front of a live audience over the course of four weekends. This certainly describes what it IS, but not what it MEANS to the art community. It is an art piece that is just like playing paintball: you get to be part of team, engage in healthy competition, organize as a group, have fun with paint and some people win and some people lose. In the end, no participant of Art Show Down really loses, because it’s all about playing the game. What I have found most fulfilling about being an artist today is getting out there and doing stuff with a community; being a member of that team is the only way to not get shot down.
The Monday after my first episode I went into work and poured myself a cup of coffee as my co-workers had seen me do many times. My boss asked me, “How was your weekend? Do anything fun?” to which I replied, “Yeah, I was on the Art Show Down, this art game show at Art Interactive, and I won!” She looked at me as if I had answered her in Klingon and then said, “I’m sorry, what did you say?” I then proceeded to tell her about guessing what an artwork sold for at auction, stuffing my mouth with cheese while talking to Howard Yezerski, of Howard Yezerski Gallery, climbing a rock wall and hanging a bunch of pictures while throwing rubber snakes, shooting paintball guns and wrestling some girl with a paintbrush on my head. As the rest of my office came over to listen, I realized something: who else gets to say that they did something like this? Only artists, and as far as I know only those here in Boston who came out in support of the Art Show Down.
I found out about Art Show Down from Jeff Warmouth, one of the artist masterminds behind the creation of the art game show a little over a year ago. Before I even knew what it was all about, I wanted to be a part of it simply because I had a great respect for the artists involved in putting it together. As soon as I read the description I immediately knew my destiny:
To be one of final two who would compete in the Ultimate Artist Challenge.
I never thought about being the one winner, I just wanted to be part of it. Just like paintball, I wanted to be part of the team and stay in the game as long as I could. So I set out for my audition last fall with great enthusiasm for things to come. When I arrived at Art Interactive I was ushered into a room with video cameras, a lighting set up and a table with chairs on either side. After a series of tasks involving running across the room and grabbing an apple then making a drawing of it in 20 seconds, they asked me to react as if I had just won the game show, so I made myself cry and I jumped up and down enthusiastically until I heard a voice say, “Thanks, that’s enough we get it”. I thanked Jeff Warmouth, Jim Manning and Matt Nash who were running the auditions and then before I left I said, “If I don’t get picked, one of the other contestants might have an ‘accident’”. They laughed and then looked as if they weren’t quite sure if I was joking.
After hearing that I was chosen as a contestant I was not sure just what I was getting in to, but that’s the fun right? I went on the first day to scope out what was in store for me and I was really surprised. The set was amazing and it was such an incredible collaboration to make things run smoothly. The show started with the Auction Price is Right as the first challenge and contestant Andy Mowbray guessed closest to the actual auction price and moved on to the next round. After watching him during the “Schmooze and Booze” challenge where he had to talk up curator Nick Capasso of the DeCordova Museum while eating pepper jack cheese and drinking Tabasco flavored seltzer, I knew I needed a strategy. I paid close attention when Andy shot paint balls at moving targets, drew his self portrait with a sharpie taped to the end of yardstick, and attacked his opponent with a paintbrush attached to his head.
After competing, and winning, my first episode on September 30th, I was ready for my championship round. I asked who the curator would be, and it turned out to be George Fifield, the Director of the Boston CyberArts Festival and former Curator of New Media at the DeCordova Museum. So in preparation for the Schmooze and Booze challenge, that I might have to compete in, I decided to make a T-shirt with his face on the back that said “George Rocks!” There is no better way to schmooze than to come prepared to be ridiculous but in a way that shows great respect. I have known George for a while so I had to come up with something he wouldn’t expect. As it turned out, however, my fate would be to climb the rock wall for “Hang’em High”, in which required my hanging 10 pieces of art in their frames on a make shift rock wall in one minute and had to save my T-Shirt for later.
As I went into the final challenge of my championship episode I was only 30 points ahead so I needed to be ready to rumble. When I suited up in the white Tyvek jumpsuit and they strapped the paintbrush to my head I felt like I was on Nickelodeons “You Can’t Do That on Television” and I was ready! After 45 seconds of a serious wrestling match with Laurel Kirtz, I was not sure who was going to win. But then, as though it was meant to be, they asked George Fifield to come up on stage to count up the brush marks. When they tallied the score and announced me the winner, I turned around and tore open the Tyvek suit so George Fifield’s face was peering out from my back while yelling out to the audience “George Rules!” What I realized as later on was that I had done some real schmoozing during my episodes, was given a fun opportunity to make a connection with Howard Yezerski, supported many of my friends who have put this all together as part of their artwork and I had the chance to participate in something truly unique and a hell of a lot of fun.
My opponent for the final Ultimate Artist Challenge is local artist Andy Mowbray and the winner of the first episode ever of Art Show Down. Andy and I have been pumped up about the Art Show Down for over a year now, and here we are, the last two. The best part about it is that both Andy and I are really invested in making this a great active artwork and we want it to be a fun experience for the audience while we kick each others ass at crazy competitions involving dumpster diving, curator schmoozing and quick draw with both guns and markers.
When the Big RED editors mentioned that this would be the 50th issue of Big RED and Shiny, I thought that sharing my Art Show Down experiences was the best way to show my respect for the Art Show Down team and maybe help some of you who are still unsure of just what this is all about. My deepest gratitude goes out to all who worked hard to make this happen so that Andy and I can say we were part of it. And for all of you who were hesitant to go out and see Art Show Down, come to the final episode on October 28th at 6pm at Art Interactive, it will certainly be like nothing you have ever experienced before. I hope that it catches on because my next goal is for Andy and me to be the “Returning Champions” like they have on Jeopardy!
This project was co-curated by Roland Smart and Jeff Warmouth, and features a long list of Boston artists: Megan Goltermann, Jeff Smith, James Manning, Big RED's Matthew Nash, Ravi Jain, Nick Rodrigues, Anna Goldsmith, Paul Consemi, Rob Coshow, Mitsu Toda, and many more.
And a special thanks to Boston Paintball for their donation, I had a blast!
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