Adrian does his art person to person, changing the community as he does.
At some point, art must involve a human. A human with intent. Your hand can be your heart or your words or your effort or a hug, but, yes, the work of a human.
Every one of these mugs is different, because Lori Koop made them by hand.
Best Made Projects isn't trying to produce an item that sells forever, to everyone.
Instead, embracing the weird, niche nature of our future, they set out to produce a few, for a few. With gusto.
Abbey Ryan is a painter, but she's also an artist.
A significant part of Abbey's art is the way she brings it to the world. A painting a day. Every day, a new small painting.
The narrative informs not just the way she paints, but the way her fans appreciate that art.
Danny Meyer has reinvented the New York restaurant, and he's not even a chef.
His network of upscale restaurants has brought service and community to the fore. It matters.
If you de-industrialize the process and return it to humanity, to connection, then yes, it's art.
Yes, that's art too. Because it's never been done this way, this well, before.
...but the art lasts forever. Tina Roth Eisenberg wants you to use your skin to express yourself. Tattly isn't for everyone, which is precisely why it might be for you.
Sarma's restaurant Pure Food and Wine attracts guests from all over the world. Her One Lucky Duck snack shops are an addictive revelation.
And none of it was obvious.
Part of art is doing what others are certain is going to fail.
Your art is too important not to share.
My new book, The Icarus Deception, will be in bookstores on December 31. A bookstore is a magical place, not merely because it's filled with smart people connecting with interesting ideas, but because the books themselves are a bit like a totem pole, a central place to find and be found.
Here's a bookmark you can download and print out. Then, go ahead and write on it. Share a link to your contribution, tell a stranger about what you do and why you do it. Not a sales pitch, please, but instead a signpost. It could be a URL, sure, but it might just be a sentence or two about what matters to you and what you're doing about it.
And now, the cool part--go to a local bookstore, find a copy of my book and (carefully) put the bookmark into the book, then put it back on the shelf for a stranger to find...
Perhaps you'll do what I do every time I visit a bookstore--buy a book or two while you're there. But either way, share your art.
If you find a great bookmark, take a photo of it and email it to me at differ69tip@photos.flickr.com . I might post it on this blog (I'll be adding a post every day).
Thanks for sharing.
Print it out and bring it to your local bookstore. You can use this card to tell the world about your art, about something you made, about a difference that matters.
Just place it gently inside a copy of the Icarus Deception for the next person to find.
(and feel free to support your local bookstore while you're there).
If you find a bookmark and you want me to see it and possibly feature it on this blog, email it to me at differ69tip@photos.flickr.com
