'Nuff said.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Why Cheap Art
If you have not seen this, you should. I have a poster of it up in my house, and have read and re-read it for years. I like it, and I'm still not tired of it. I bought it at the Cheap Art Store on Divisidero in 1989, a place that sold truly cheap art (that really was art) but didn't last that long.
'Nuff said.
'Nuff said.
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10 comments:
I like this. It's kind of the reason I didn't feel bad about doing a speed painting copy of John Singer Sargent's "Two Wine Glasses", which, while admittedly wasn't as good as the original, for and hour and 45 minutes work, didn't come out too badly, and I had no qualms about hanging it on the wall.
Yeah for Bread and Puppet in Glover, those puppet-wielding hippies who make me smile.
I'll drink to that..
It's strange how the gallery world looks down on commercial art for being "commercial," when it's the realm of "fine art" that gets to name its own price based on arbitrary fads and an increasingly esoteric definition of refinement. That's why I decided to go into illustration - I'd rather make a cheap comic book that anyone can buy, than a wall-sized painting that I've tricked some elderly person into thinking is an investment.
So, in short - hear, hear!
Thanks!
Am printing this graphic on a nice piece of colored paper to put on my fridge.
Good to remember that art does all this.
Cheap is good!
I'm all for art being available to as many as possible. Obviously artists need to earn money for we do but it isn't the _soul_ reason for doing it. I think it's up to every artist to try and offer affordable versions of what they do so more people can enjoy it. That might be prints, cards or books depending on the artist's budget. It's gratifying to share one's art with others - especially when they like it enough to buy it.
This is why I am so deeply in love with the Smithsonian Institution - 19 museums, many of them art-related, all free, every single day of the year except Christmas Day. It's why even though my job is the totally uninspiring shop-girl-grad-student, I still always get that thrill to go into work that they tell you you'll get when you're doing something you really love.
How strange - I just did a bread and puppet workshop at a quaker gathering (it involved making full body puppets out of paper) and I printed this manifesto off and stuck it on the walls. Always makes me simle - it's so rollicking!
The last thing you said on this blog wa "'Nuff said."
It's not enough. Not enough!!
I miss your posts.
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