How to Buy Good Art for Less Than $100,000,000
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- Опубликовано: 16 май 2024
- Links mentioned:
If you're in Indiana, get tickets to Butter this weekend, the coolest art fair Indianapolis has ever seen: butterartfair.com/
Nathaniel Russell does not currently have Snake Poems Now prints available, but there are always great prints in his shop:
nathanielrussell.bigcartel.com/
Thrift store paintings but make them Star Wars by Dave: www.arrowheadcanton.com/alter...
Artsy is zillow but for art: www.artsy.net/
The auction fundraiser for the Cincinnati Contemporary Art Center featuring a Michelle Grabner work: www.artsy.net/auction/contemp...
Christie's: www.christies.com/
Sotheby's: www.sothebys.com/en/
In which John discusses what he has learned about the pleasures of living with art, and how to buy good art that fits into various budgets.
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Let me know in comments how you came to live with some of the artwork on your walls! Also, there are links in the dooblydoo to everything from Artsy to Nathaniel Russell's prints. Thanks for being here with us. -John
I have two paintings on my wall that I apsalutly love, that I got frome unnamed artist that I picked up at a yard sale
All my art is either from a Ghostbusters art show I went to or from store called 4 day art ( they were open four days a week ) and had some incredible art for good prices
^^ I’ve been printing photos of my avatars inside VRChat.
Some of the pieces on my walls are ones that I've made myself. The only oil painting I've ever done was freshman year of high school and we got it framed and I look at it every day and am still proud of it. I also have some art by artists and some cross stitch projects I've done. And one by my grandmother, which I love.
My personal favorite of my wall hangings is a paper muesum guide from the Guggenheim. It's from my first visit, in the summer of 2019, when I had moved to NYC, and my childhood best friend came to visit. I have a photo of us from that day on my wall as well - printed from my local Rite Aid photo kiosk. The paper muesum guide reads in large print, "I want a temple of spirit, a monument". I like to think I have made my walls a monument, my room, a temple of spirit.
I'm DaveRuinsArt and I wanted to say thank you so much. I'm a big fan of you and Hank's videos. Inflation has really killed small businesses like mine and i really needed this.
Thank you John.
John's long time obsession with "what do we want blank! When do we want them blank" chants is one of my favorite obscure running vlogbrothers bits.
What do we want? Obscure running Vlogbrothers bits! When do we want them? Fairly regularly, but not often enough that it becomes obvious!
I’ve made a habit of trying to collect art when I travel as opposed to other generic tchotchkes. In Copenhagen I got a painting with my dad that hangs by my bedside and I love looking at it. On the same day I also got a woodblock print from a show of adult artists with developmental disabilities. Both are incredible and remind me of both an special trip, another culture and time spent with family. One cost around $20, and the other was maybe $110. Well worth it for a souvenir that I look at daily.
There’s a special place in the hearts of all artists for you! ^^ I have a friend who is always supporting my art/buying from me and it’s incredible because -lol- he’s the only one. You guys are more helpful and inspiring than you know!
TCHOTCHKES
My sister taught me to do this. My walls are filled with happy memories of beautiful places.
I do this too and it makes me happy.
I love the idea, but how do you take the art home without it getting damaged? Is it small scale enough that it fits in a luggage bag?
An acquaintance of mine was selling tote bags with beautiful hand drawn illustrations on, but I didn't need another tote bag so I asked if she would draw it on paper instead so I could hang it on my wall. It cost me maybe $40 + framing and it's gorgeous.
There are tote bags and other small objects that I've seen which were so visually intriguing that I can understand how someone might put such a thing in a frame on a wall to enjoy repeatedly.
Folk and craft art is art, and should be celebrated.
There's a funny bit in the musical Annie where Warbucks gets some art, looks at it, and then tells them to put it in the bathroom. My dad painted a (probably larger than the actual painting) Mona Lisa, so it could be seen from off stage, for my high school's production. I still have it hanging.
Great video, John! Makes me want to buy something or go to an art fair.
But do you have it hanging in your bathroom? :)
I just bought a cute little square painting from my city's second annual art fair for $30 and it's a purple crow yelling angrily on an orange background.
It's great.
I've bought some of my favorite art at science fiction/fantasy conventions. There's often a piece that gives me the same feeling as a book or series I loved, even if that wasn't the artist's intention. Then there was the time, soon after we adopted our tuxedo kitten, we went to (I think) WindyCon and I bought a painting of a tuxedo kitten stalking a house faerie. 😀
Awwww ♡
I also have art purchased at GenCon and find that there are many outstanding artists working in the sci fi/fantasy/gaming field.
Most of the art on my walls is made by people I love, so of course I'd support them and buy their work. There's one piece that I found at a Goodwill that just jumped out at me from behind the counter and I had to have it. It's just two ladies in conversation, but I love it.
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Two ladies in conversation is a powerful image. They could be discussing the news or books or the heist they are planning and the tea they intend for afters. That sounds like an inspiring piece of art.
I like Minted and Etsy for art! But my favorite is a piece I inherited from my uncle after he passed away from cancer. It is a drawing from a street artist in Paris that he bought when he was stationed aboard. It's a humble drawing of a guy who indulged a bit too much on wine and is chilling under a bridge, but I got a really fancy frame for it and it's my most cherished possession. My uncle and I always had a connection with a love of travel and art. I now live in Germany, a place he also loved.
As an art hobbyist with freelance artist friends, I appreciate you for calling this out John. 😊 That's where I've gotten most of the art on my walls. (Also art from past therapy clients of mine)
I had to do an exercise in one of my art classes in college where I was to look at my hand and draw it without looking OR lifting the pencil. I did it three times on the same piece of paper, moving over a little bit each time. I like it because all three studies actually look like my hand, even though I couldn't see what I was doing! Plus, it has this slightly chaotic but cheerful energy that I really enjoy. So it was a study but it has become one of my favorite pieces of art.
I'm an artist, and I do my very best to price as fair as as possible. I came here to say I appreciate this video so much. I love when a person resonates with a particular dragon I've painted. It's the *best* feeling to see a person's face when they have that connection to the art I've made with my own two hands! Your videos are always good, but I'm very moved by this.
link to dragon art please?
@@scythera1701 Ah - fellow dragon fan! That's really kind of you to ask! I don't think I'd be able to leave links here, since automoderation tends to delete that stuff. In fact, my first attempt to reply was automatically deleted, and I left no links, but here I am trying again. I just wanted to say I appreciate the interest! I think a quick search on the big G for "Sunla Studio" should pull up pretty much anything relevant. Thank you again, it's great to see another dragon fan!
My family and I were walking through Silverton, CO on vacation a few years ago when they turned into an antiques shop. I reluctantly followed, not expecting to find anything, certainly not anything I would want to bring back in the car to Michigan. A perusal of the first floor seemed to confirm that notion and I continued to reluctantly follow them up to the mezzanine, which was so close to the ceiling I couldn't even stand upright (the curse of being tall). But it was there, tucked in the back that I came across large pencil sketches of old steam locomotives. My boyhood fascination of trains had not totally faded and these were too cool to all be left there. So now I have two hanging up on my wall.
My favorite pieces are by a guy who used to do wheat paste graffiti in my neighborhood. His spontaneous works disappeared for a couple years and then suddenly I saw his stuff on an art walk and I'd always loved those wheat pastes add so I got to meet him and tell him that those early works left and impression and how glad I was to get to hang a piece of his when in my walls. His surprise That anyone recognized him from his street art was fun to share with him. I now go to all his shows and buy pieces when I can.
hi! it's aerposts from Tumblr
I love how wholesome your posts are, everywhere, and also that 1) you got to know your fave artist by his graffiti and 2) that you got to tell the artist that and absolutely make his day :)
would love to see the art if you'd like to post about it
@@ueblay oh yeah I can totally do that! I'll tag you in tumbr when they're up. 😁
I really love the lyric “work is what you do for others, liebchen, art is what you do for yourself” from Sunday in the park with George. I wanted a poster of it, but couldn’t find one. So I made it and got it as a poster from Redbubble! It was such a fun project to design and now I have a cool poster on my wall that helps me stay grounded
that's really cool - and I love that you literally made art for yourself out of that quote :)
I can't believe I got to see John say, "Good morning, Hank, it's Tuesday" on the actual Tuesday it was posted (I am Australian, it's 11:53pm). The absolutely most random chance of checking my subscription box before going to bed!
I don't have any art on my wall because I'm renting and the one hook I have in my room is used for a combo wall-calendar-pride-flag-anchor-point. But my housemate has put up paintings in the common areas that she's done at wine and craft nights, or one that she was gifted of her on a boat. I have a print of Irises by Vincent Van Gogh that I got at the state art gallery as a kid on a rare day where my mum and got to spend time alone (and actually got along without any drama). I chose it without knowing the artist, and didn't realise until much later that it was by who was to become my favourite painter as an adult. When I have more hooks and a frame, it's the first thing I plan to hang on the wall.
If you're looking for a way to hang more things in rented accommodation, I highly recommend Command strips by 3M!! I've been using them for years in various rented places in the UK, they're super strong and can hold a surprising amount of weight for their size, but don't leave any residue when you take them off. Go forth and put stuff on your walls! :)
@@qwertypoi9942 I've had some unfortunate experiences with command hooks in a previous place (peeling paint off and/or chunks of wall plaster. Although to be fair it wasn't very well maintained by the owners before we moved in so that may have had an impact), so I'm very wary about using them. Thank you so much for the idea though, I really appreciate it!
@@csharpmajor4810 Hello, fellow Aussie! There are far too many landlords here that either use really crappy paint, or water down paint before using it "to make it stretch further", so it just flakes off the wall if you even THINK about putting anything on it. 🙄 However a lot of rental laws have changed in the last couple of years, so you may legally be allowed to hang things now! 🖤
1. It's great to see your energy significantly improved!
2. When we bought our first, and most likely last, house we commissioned a friend to paint a mural on the living room wall. I told her "I want the Tree of Life as seen through the Hubble Telescope." It's been 6 years and that's my meditation view still. I know and love many artists, and try to commission when and where I can from them. I'll have to make my fortune from posting on social media.
My wife and I have some of my photography framed and up on the walls, and we both have grandparents who paint. Never underestimate art you create yourself or art made by loved ones.
My favorite artwork on my walls is a drawing from my mom and some paintings of my cat from my sister! I feel blessed to live in a family that has always encouraged artistic expression and gifting that to others.
One of my favorite pieces of art I have are some prints of magnified butterfly scales I got during the p4a years ago. The nice thing is I have several of them so I can switch them out if I want a change. My local library usually has local artists’ works up in their entryway and while I haven’t bought anything from that yet, it does give me a sense of what I like.
(Edited because I missed an apostrophe)
I love P4A for wall art! It’s fairly unique because it’s only available during the P4A, and also meaningful because the money goes to charity, and not to mention inside jokes.
Some of my favorite pieces of art on my walls, in no particular order: 1) "Affection 1" by Rhea Ewing, a laser cut giclee print that represents a relationship with two masses of butterflies that are holding onto each other. 2) My friend's drawing of two astronauts having a knife fight. 3) A little painting I found in an antique shop of a dog wearing a dress and eating a hot dog
your appreciation for visual art has inspired me to decorate my walls a bit more, which i’m very thankful for. i live in an area that puts on an annual art show and try to add a few pieces to my collection every year
My sister gets around the need to buy art by having an artist in residence (me.) She just tells me what she needs and I paint something. My mom also likes to use this clever loophole. And my best friend just send me ideas for art to make so she can hang it in her new baby's room. The cheapest way to get art is definitely to have an artist who loves you. ❤️❤️
Absolutely wild people may millions of dollars for art they literally never look at, meanwhile, I look at the: free maps from parks,art muesums exhibit handouts, vinyl album art, and postcards, hung on my walls everyday. And a big healthy dose of my friends art! (Support your artist friends folks!!) I'm one of those people that has little blank wall space, but it makes my heart so full to see reminders of all of the beauty and community in my life.
They don't see the art. The whole gallery system is built for millionaires to invest in commodified people who they generally don't care for or understand.
As an artist I always feel like I need to make more "useful" items with my art like bookmarks and or note cards and I like hearing that there is demand for stuff that makes walls look cool
Happily, there's been a decent amount of work done in recent decades that helpfully blurs the completely artificial line between "fine art" and crafts/"useful arts" - and in some cases, even kitsch!
Great video! I also want to emphasize self-made art as a way to decorate your home. It only costs your time and materials (which can be found items) and can be a great story to tell guests who ask about it. Plus if you had fun or feel accomplished when making the art, it’s can be a constant reminder of that feeling in your house.
Another great tip: do art swaps with friends! I knit scarves and my friend paints water color paintings, so we commissioned each other to make a piece of art for the other! Her painting one of my favorite pieces of art in my home, because not only is it beautiful and made specially for me, but I think of her and what a great artist she is!
This is an amazing idea! I love it
When I was a teen, I want to a local craft fair with my mom. We passed a photography booth where I was really drawn to a portrait of a white alpaca named Julie. We looked around a lot more, but my eyes kept looking back at Julie. My mom noticed how much I liked the portrait and bought it for me, as well as later buying a frame for the portrait. I've always appreciated how she recognized and nurtured my love of that art piece. Julie has been with me throughout college and graduate school now! I appreciate the art all the more for the special memory with my mom that's associated with it.
My favorite piece of art I have is a painting by my great grandfather. He started painting in his sixties, and painted a lot of gorgeous Pacific Northwest type landscapes (he lived in Kansas his whole life, so I’m not sure where he got his inspiration). He was quite good, and now I get to have a piece of family history hanging on my wall.
My spouse and I like to buy art from local artists when we travel. We ended up installing a gallery wall on the largest wall in our living room so we can display everything, and it makes it easy to move pieces around. My favorite pieces are a BLM print I bought in Minneapolis and a cool piece I bough in NOLA that was partially painted using coffee from Cafe Du Monde. It's great to be able to look back and remember all the trips and all the artists I was able to speak to about their work.
I love when objects in my house are things I can tell stories about. How much cooler that for you, it's works of art! I love that you have a gallery wall in your house. I hope you also do a fair amount of entertaining!
I never thought I was an “art person,” but after being in NOLA, I fell in love (and bought) a ton of the art we encountered. Because of that trip, when I went back to Spain I bought art that highlighted the city I had lived in for a couple months. I look at those pieces on my wall and it brings me such joy. It’s a combination of finding art that was attainable and listening to you and Sarah talk about art that’s really helped me appreciate it as I’ve gotten older. Thanks
My favorite piece of art I own was a recreation of Bob Ross' "Northern Lights". I saw it on reddit and messaged the user asking if I could buy it. He said his wife wouldn't be very happy if he did that, but he could make me another for $40. Best money I ever spent on art.
I got a beautiful print of a Monet painting (one of his gardens I had never seen before) for 2 euros from a thrift store. From what I can see on the internet, the print has discolored a bit, but I feel like it's ever prettier this way!
I feel like sometimes you don't find art, art finds you.
Yes! My favorite art on my walls was done by loved ones, (sister, son, ex-bil, & an art teacher), or were gifts from loved ones or friends. All are treasures.
Not all are ON the walls, however; one is a sculpture done by my elder son & mounted on a chunk of lava from the malpai just north of where we live.
In a basket nearby I've "artfully arranged" a bunch of rocks given to me by a friend from the tops of the ten 14K mtns. he climbed. They are more valuable to me than precious gems.
My mom has made a lot of really beautiful brightly coloured quilts that are everywhere in our house. My grandpa has also painted a beautiful painting of the lighthouse at Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia that he gave to me a few years ago.
Homemade quilts and tapestries are the best! Bright and pretty and so much visual interest _and_ they insulate your house!
What absolute treasures!
As an artists who tries to sell art and make commissions through social media, this video felt so encouraging and validating
I bought a print of a piece from an antique store a few weeks ago entitled “Cat’s Nightmare” by Louis Wain. It’s two cats on a bed, surrounded by an infinite number of owls staring menacingly at the cats. It’s unsettling, but it’s my absolute favorite
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For me, it's two different pieces my son made when he was in elementary school. One is a mountain scene that looks so much like a picture by Tolkien that I found it almost uncanny when I first saw it. The other is a very large 'head and shoulders' picture he made of a sparrow. Yeah, I love them because my son made them, but I'm convinced I'd still really like both of them, even if they weren't.
As an artist, and a fan, I appreciate you highlighting all us small artist out there :)
Highly recommend reaching out to friends who might make art and asking them if they would make something for you for whatever $ amount you can afford. Doesn't even have to be someone who "is an artist" per se.
It's lovely to have friends' art in your life, and feels great to support the arts both generally and in your circle.
My sister created two of my favorite pieces of art currently on my walls, it’s 2 prints in 2 runs of 12. One run is a house with chimney smoke turning into the stars, and the second an astronaut floating in this stared space created by the print below it. She often sells her prints at pop up vintage markets.
One of my favourite artworks of all time was bought at a crafts market for 15 dollars. I also have many painting and drawings made by friends and acquaintances.
Both of my grandmothers were artists and now that both of them have passed away, it’s a great comfort to see something made with their hands wherever I look in my home. I wouldn’t trade any of their works for any of the million dollar paintings being sold at auction. I only hope that I can one day reach the same level of skill.
What great timing for the topic!
I'd like to say putting a price tag on art is also really hard for the ones making it (if still alive) - I at least struggle with the topic a fair bit.
I just got home from delivering a few of my paintings to a local gallery where I got the chance to be part of another art exhibition and yesterday evening I panned out my prices in a way that the art is very much affordable by basically everyone, only to realize (yet again) that that's not how the art world works. It's not about selling to someone like you and me, it's about selling to someone for whom money isn't really a factor.
I don't like the thought that I myself would struggle to buy my own art, just because of the price tag, even if I loved the image.
It's a fine line between being outrageously expansive and not making enough to afford rent and food.
Even though the art actually sells at a gallery with relatively high prices, I try to give a solid discount if I am approached directly and don't have to pay fees to someone - art should be for everyone. I love the thought of something I loved making finding a now home with someone who really appreciates it, without money being in the way.
I love this video and your suggestions-and especially your mom’s painting. Something that comforts us or makes us smile every time we see it is, I think, great art. I took a couple pictures with my old iPhone 6 years ago that surprised me (accidentally beautiful) and had them enlarged on canvas cheaply. I hope everyone who doesn’t think they’re artistic will try this. So satisfying!
I started an "art wall" in my studio, a couple of things I've picked up in person, but most I found on Etsy; the most exciting part - besides having a wall that is becoming filled with beautiful artwork - is knowing there's space for more
I've recently stumbled across some drawing tutorials where the guy said you should have a goal for your art journey and I just couldn't quite figure one out for me. You just made me remember my main goal was to draw or paint something I can proudly hang on my wall, just like my mom has a painting she made a long time ago hanging in the living room back at home :)
The vast majority of the art on my walls was picked up from artist alley or art auctions at various conventions.
I loved this so much! I I’ve collected art in the couple years from thrift stores, my uncle’s auction, antique stores, my local historical society’s workshop, Etsy, and postcards from art museums. They all mean so much to especially remembering when & with who I got them
Thank you for sharing about Butter. I have never heard of it before, but my partner(who lives in Indianapolis) is a big art fiend and now we just bought tickets :)
Too late for this year, but now that I know about it, I might make the drive from Detroit some time. I also need to get back to some of the good art events we have around here.
My favorite art I bought when I lived in Madagascar. Two original paintings, acrylic on canvas, depicting traditional, rural Malagasy scenes. They are really detailed and I love the color. Plus I was able to buy them directly from the artist.
Loving this video! Art is for everyone really. We connect to it and relive old memories. We get consumed by art, it can make us laugh and cry and appreciate life.
Thank you John
Thank you for this! I’ve been on a quest lately to make my walls less bare. I mostly go to thrift stores but I appreciate the additional suggestions 😊
I love Artsy! I use it when at museums to keep track of artists whose work I like. When you "follow" an artist you can also opt to get notified of exhibitions of that artist's work.
That is so cool!
Your videos always bring so much passion and inspiration that it's a kind of art to me. I always feel so real and somehow nostalgic. Maybe because it reminds me how I just to be passionate about certain things once myself before mental illness took a toll on me or maybe because it reminds me of my grandma who brought (and still brings, bless her) a lot of love and inspiration into my life. Anyhow you always make me feels things. Thank you for that.
I love the videos where you talk about art. Art is my favorite thing, I recently graduated with a degree in art history and I'm currently working at a community art museum that mostly shows art from local artists. It's so easy to get stuck in this idea that art is for the wealthy, but it isn't. There's so much great art that can be found anywhere, and I love seeing the art my community makes.
I have this painting of a lake with a small, red canoe hanging in my living room that my mom gave me a number of years ago. There's nothing particularly special about the painting - she picked it up at a thrift store and gave it to me because she no longer had a place for it - and I originally didn't even really want it, but over the years its hung here it's really grown on me; to the point where it wouldn't really feel like "home" if it wasn't hanging in the living room above the TV I never use.
I went over to look at it for a minute after watching this and I think part of the reason its grown on me so much is how much it reminds me of places I lived growing up. We often lived near lakes and rivers, so water and boats were common in my childhood. There's also a sense of calm and peace out of it that I think everyone probably needs more of in their lives and I'm grateful to have a little square of it in my space.
I moved into a new apartment in mid-July and now that the furniture is where I want it to go today is PutUpArtDay. Thanks for the very topical video John!
I work at a furniture and housewares consignment shop and most of the art I’ll be putting up came from the store. I also have friends who have made art for me, I got a couple of cross-stitch pieces from my grandmother, and some water color paintings from my other grandmother. I love having art made by people who love me, it helps me feel grounded in my home.
John is always educating me :)
I am an artist and I don’t think or hope that my paintings or digital works or prints or sculptures will ever be expensive, but I do hope that they bring people joy and can help give me a good life. Thank you John for pointing people in the direction of more reasonably priced artists, commission artists, and small artists. We are out here trying our best
At my Dad's house, my step mom hung up the portrait my grandfather (Dad's father) painted when he was in, like, elementary/middle school. It is of a cat and a dog, but it is a running joke in the family that we can't tell which is which. It is honestly really good, though, and I kinda hope someday in the future it can hang at my house.
My step mom also has a pencil drawing one of her high-school age daughter's school friends drew of our family dog, with his body as a loaf of bread, because they like to call him a loaf.
Thank you John for reminding me about how art improves my life. It’s so true but so easy to forget.
I bought art for the first time this year attending my first anime conventions! It has been so much fun framing and putting the art up on the previously barren walls of my apartment.
I stumbled into having art from every place that I have lived, which is cool. My favorite is one from my internship. It's a landscape from a local artist in colored pencil. A large version hung in the town hall where I worked and I loved it. My coworkers from that internship got me a small version in a beautiful frame at the end of my internship. I cried when they gave it to me and its hung on my bedroom wall through 3 moves since.
I bought a huge piece of art from one of my friend’s senior shows and I love it. Another piece my parents have had from time immemorial and I always liked it. (It’s a bird making a nest on a staff from all the notes)
In grad school, my roommate and I hosted an art making party to have our friends make art for our very empty walls. It was such a great way to have really meaningful and inexpensive, yet priceless, wall art.
That's a fun idea for someone moving into a new home that doesn't need anything people would otherwise bring as housewarming gifts!
As an art student at the same college I work at, I came to know one of the professors as a mentor and a colleague. I declared my love for a piece of his art and he gave it to me. It's large, and purple, and has a pirate in it. When I bought my home I painted the walls the perfect color to display it in a prominent location. It brings me all of the happy.
I don't know if I'm being scammed or if the VlogBros account is being scammed...or if I just don't know how to text a RUclips account
I was having a really difficult day today. Thank you for making me feel better, John.
One of my favorite pieces of art is called Grey and Gold by John Rogers Cox. It was in an art book I had to promote in my first horrible job (promotions for a vanity press in the time when vanity presses were decidedly not good). That print and a lifelong friendship are the only good thing that came from that 11 months. It now hangs in the office of the job I've had for 21 years as a reminder that good things come from hard places.
God this is such a great video, thankyou for supporting small and local artists John!
Im upset and happy that you manage to make me cry again and again John. Thank you for what you do ❤️
I have been working to get more art on my walls, partially inspired by this chanel and how often you talk about what art means to you, and partially inspired by my art friend's home which is covered in art and is very inspiring. Local artists at art fairs or farmers markets have found me some of my most favorite pieces with the most expensive being $50 ❤️ and right now I am waiting on a commission piece of myself, my partner, and my cats as an anniversary gift that I'm very excited about!
This was such perfect timing! I just was googling this topic today and bought a ticket for the Armory Show in NYC. :) I'll check out the other resources you mentioned too. Thank you!
Thank you for being here and ALSO thank you for what will undoubtedly be my new favorite hobby! My love to you both - AG
Just wanted to say thank you for the advice, John! I rearranged my bedroom a couple weeks ago and have a newly blank wall, and my town had an art fair yesterday - and on your advice, I went and got two gorgeous prints (for $30 total!). Going to try to salvage some frames from friends or garage sales to put them in. So excited to have some new and beautiful things to look at and make me smile.
In my spare room, which I have turned into a sort of library, I have a lot of prints of book covers and illustrations from novels as a gallery wall. It makes me happy whenever I look at it.
One of your best.
Thank you.
I have the most beautiful drive to work. It runs alongside a harbour with a peninsula on the opposite side. For a lot of the year my drive to work is around sunrise, so I get to watch the sun rise over the peninsula and reflect on the water. Fortunately I'm usually the passenger on my drive to work, so I would spend most of the drive trying to take the perfect photo that captured the sunrise. But photos on my phone just never seemed to be enough.
So one day I stumbled across a shop selling art by a local artist. (Nancy Grice, she's recently moved back to the USA) Her paintings perfectly captured that veiw I saw every morning.
We bought two prints and I'm obsessed with them. I love having art of a place I love, even if that place is right outside my door.
I used to work for a digitiser (turning physical media into digital media) as an automation specialist (I was the brains replacing the braun, before me everything was manual, it was insane). There were numerous projects taking place but there were 2 big ones. The first was Ordinance Survey index cards, every place of interest on OS maps have an index card with information about it, there were 175'000 and both sides needed photographing. Before I was hired the guy taking the photos needed to line up the card perfectly and crop them (many index cards had fold outs), I made it so the angle could be off by 30 degrees and it would crop with a consistent margin. I just wanted to mention that because I'm proud of it and it reduced the predicted length of time a huge amount, but the main reason I'm writing a comment is that the company was also digitising Christie's log books, every auction they had done had at least a page with detailed information about what it was and the result of the auction glued to the pages. The books I worked on were for 1983-1986 and there were 40 crates of around 16-20 books each with 100-350 pages and the pages are big. This was part of a larger contract and they had worked on a series before and were going to work on the series after.
Before I arrived at the company the books have each double page photographed on a Vanguard book scanner (if you look it up on Google images you can find where I worked) and these would then be cropped manually (books move slightly every photograph and the books had hundreds of pages so they can move far, need to take a wide photo and then crop) and then text is sent off to text farms in India to type up the text. I made it so the crop was very wide and cropped automatically and then using OCR trained on the books. I had quite a lot of spare time and I read a lot of these pages. I had a spell checker checking the output to flag any potential errors, and you probably won't be surprised at how many words the art world uses in the 1980s that a modern spell checker doesn't know. A lot of very interesting words and I would read about the whole piece.
It was a fascinating job, I had never considered myself a fan of art and I would get through art as fast as possible (I aced my year 9 art SATS because the task was to create a new work based on the style of an artist, the rest of my class chose classical artists, I chose Piet Mondrian. I have nothing against modern art, but it sure is easy to create an original work as them), but seeing thousands of works in this trove across countless styles depicting countless scenes from all over the world it was amazing.
It was an opportunity that nobody else has ever had, those at Christie's wouldn't have read them at their leisure (they were kept in crates in temperature and humidity controlled rooms), those scanning scan at about 1 page every 4-5 seconds (I was a bit of a spy and I worked in this position while I identified issues in the workflow without anyone knowing that they were being observed, I averaged 6 seconds and I was considered fairly slow, and error prone) which isn't enough time to read and barely enough time to look at the pictures, those in the word farms churn out words so quickly they wouldn't have been processing the meaning, where the data ended up it's not in a form for browsing, nobody else had time to read. I don't remember any specifics but I may be among the top in the world to have known what Christie's auctioned in the early to mid 80s. One thing I do remmber is that it was extremely rare for there to be anything expensive (accounting for inflation), the quantity of things they were auctioning it just wasn't feasible for everything to be a fortune, when I did come across an expensive item they never really stood out as being much better than the stuff anyone could have bought.
I do own some artwork I bought since working there, I however do not have a place of my own and I live in the attic (it's a nice attic, although the wallpaper is structural) and all of my walls slant inwards and alas I cannot hang anything
Also, completely unrelated but while I haven't listened to it (no way that was going to happen, haven't even seen the tapes themselves) I've seen where Elton John's original recordings are stored. It was never really explained why they were stored where they were, there should have surely been a fireproof, climate controlled, high security storage centre that was closer to either Elton John of the record label
My favorite painting I have is one my friend created based off a random photo she snapped of a reflection of us at a coffee shop. She gave it to me as a surprise and I straight up sobbed. She's so talented and captures seemingly mundane moments in a really beautiful, meaningful way.
So timely! My coworkers & I are redecorating & while we shopped for art, we had great discussions about why we liked something & what made it great (or not) Art can be a great conversation piece.
I love that you made this video celebrating small artists, thank you
I was in Kigali, Rwanda as a student journalist, and a friend of mine was reporting on the art culture. We spent the afternoon with "Talking Through Art" learning traditional weaving from artists with disabilities. We had no shared language, and it was one of the best and most peaceful experiences I've had. I have a piece I bought from them on my wall, keep my keys in a basket, and carry the tiny, clumsy piece I made on my keychain. Experience makes the most meaningful art.
A more accessible way to get art: support friends and family! My favorite and only painting is a practice plein air I bought from my cousin, an art student.
my two favorite pieces i currently have on my walls were given to me as gifts from people i love. a watercolor my grandma did for me of the nyc skyline with a full moon, the way it looked on my first trip there, and a collage a friend of mine made me as a graduation gift. so much of the art in my home was gifted from artists i know personally and it’s so special to have a connection not just with the work, but with the creator.
I really always love your ability to unabashedly like what you like.
I think it’s what makes a really artists eye.
What a profoundly useful RUclips video.
I struggle to engage with art. I can usually recognize when something is beautiful, but often that goes no further than realism. I love a painting of a valley or a castle or a sunflower. I love Van Gogh, so that's something. But beyond that I don't usually get it.
My favorite art to have on my walls at the moment is autographs or letters from folks I admire (if I can sleuth out an address to send them a letter and they're kind enough to respond). It costs nothing but a bit of time and s couple stamps, and you get a cool special little something for expressing your admiration, and establishing some small connection with another person's work, and I really appreciate the chance to do that!
A month ago was the 26th annual Midsummer Arts Festival in my local area. I discovered it the summer I moved to a small Saskatchewan town (literally 2 days after arriving) and it was a wonderful first glance into the vibrant art community in the area. We have a local artists guild and there are groups that host weekly drop in art sessions. There's so much going on and so many really talented artists.
I bought a piece of art at that first festival, which hangs on the wall of the stairwell going down to my music studio. It's a reminder that even though I spend a good bit of time working alone in my basement, there are artists all around me.
Bought my tickets the second the festival was announced basically! I’m so so excited!
All my art is either from a Ghostbusters art show I went to years ago or from a store called 4 day art ( they were open four days a week ) and had some incredible art for good prices
I started collecting art about 20 years ago, my dad gave me art prints for every birthday and framed that print each winter holiday. Now that I take care of him, his art collection moved in too. It's a very art-filled house and brings us a lot of joy!
As an artist I've stopped doing shows (galleries have to pay to be on Artsy too) because they take such a high cut (usually 40-50% of sales, plus the application fee, plus pre-paid shipping both ways). Instead I've used social media and patience and my art goes directly to my collectors now. It's great to find people at local shows, but it's even better to support them directly.
The art on my walls consists of artwork done by people I love, but now I'm thinking I'll actually hit buy on some things from my Etsy list...
Another option, maybe not thought of as it isn't "traditional" art, is local comic conventions. Local comic makers frequently sets up booths and sell their works, people who create fan art has booths set up with their works, etc. They are my favorite places to buy art.
the p4a playing cards that i got last week are such beautiful art, i'm gonna frame them someday!!
Among the art on my walls is the word art poster of the "Nerds like us..." quote from you, John, (signed, in fact) and it makes me happy every time I read it. So thank you for contributing to the joy of my home.
My local art museum lets under 18s in free and my friends and I go basically every time we have a long lunch. Over the past couple years it’s been so fun to see so much art. We’ve gotten to know a couple of the museum guides and they give us little tours and tell us about the art when we come in and it’s so cool.
As an artist fresh out of grad school trying to make sales happen, this video was such an encouragement. Thank you John. Also + a million points for Grabner.
My dad attempted a modern art painting. It turned out great and is legit one of my favorite paintings ever. It’s framed in our house, and a constant joy.
I have never had any interest in art, but I loved every second of this video. There's just something about hearing both Hank and John talk about stuff that's really interesting. This channel is so simple yet so entertaining.