Some new free art cards

Who is Art Card? And why does he need to be free?

I've started a new collaborative art project.  It involves people all across the country, and internationally as well, spreading my art cards to others.  And all of the art is free.  

A few years ago I began experimenting with putting my linocut animals, mostly my dog head, cat head, and chicken head, on three by five and similar sized cards.  I experimented with color, shape, and placement.  And as so often goes with my art making, I became a bit manic about it and I ended up making hundreds of them.

I made them and stuck them in various places in my work space and forgot about them until the other day when I hit upon the idea of slipping them into books, magazines, boxes of other cards, and into various antique and thrift stores.  I then had the idea of asking others to do the same where they lived.  I put my idea out there on Facebook and it's taken off.  Friends from CA, Alaska, New York city, PA, SC, NC, WI, Sweden, Canada, and other local to me folks as well offered to help me spread my art.

This project is inspired by Mingering Mike and a lyric from an Elvis Costello song that goes, "The man in the corner of this picture has a sinister purpose.  In the teeming temple of the railroad kings, he's planting a trashy paperback book for accidental purchase containing all the secrets of life and other useless things."

I've begun slipping cards into books at my local library, some bookstores, and will be putting some up on any public bulletin board I can access.  I love the idea that someone will happen upon my free art cards sometime down the road, maybe long after I'm dead and gone and they'll wonder what the fuck it's all about.  

I also love the idea that others are so willing to help spread my cards out and assist in this long term project.

If it's stamped FREE ART CARD on the front and back and has my signature on it, it's a genuine free art card and I hope you didn't pay anything for it.

Keep your eyes open and maybe one day a free art card will fall out of a book and into your lap.

Here kitty, kitty

Imagine eighty eight or a hundred of my one eyed cats in a field by the side of the road.  Soon you won't have to.

What I'm planning

My plan is to make many more of these type of cutout cats, some fish, and some birds out of foamcore poster board.  I'll put designs, nonsense words, random numbers on them, and then early one Monday morning I'll place them in groups of five or six at many random high visibility places in my town and on select lawns of friends.  I really like the idea of people going to work on Monday being greeted by groups of my cats, fish, and birds.  I also plan to take photos of these when I put them up and to take photos of them through out the days to see how long they last.

I want to show people that art is whatever you make it.  That it's not just for galleries, museums, and for the homes of rich people.  And maybe I'll inspire someone else to start making art or to at least appreciate art more.

That's why I started the fundraising campaign on Indiegogo.  Now, you may be wondering why I'm trying to raise $1100 for this project.  The answer is simple, I can't afford to do this by myself.  Foamcore poster board runs $3 a pop and I'll need around 100 to 125 of them.  Paints, markers, and sign holders also cost money, they don't give that shit to me because I'm so good looking, I have to pay for it.  Also, I want to use some of the many illustrations or photos that I've scanned through out the years to put on some of the cutouts, and to do that I need to be able to print them off my computer.  And to do that I need to get a new printer and some extra ink cartridges since my old printer gave up the ghost years ago.  I also want to be able to print off stickers of designs I've done and adorn some of the cutouts with them, so I'll need to buy the program that will let me do that and I'll need sticker paper to print on.  Since I am on a fixed income I have very little money to spend on all that stuff, so that's why I'm asking a lot of people to chip in a little bit each to make this project a success.

Click on the Indiegogo box on the top left column on the blog and give what you can.  Thanks.