$$$$

Of all the creative pocket utopias I've looked at thus far, and please be encouraged to experiment with one yourself, I think that FAAN is the most successful. It might not be realistic to compare ourselves to Lawrence Weiner and the Pierogi Flatfile has Joe Amrhein as a gatekeeper, but FAAN is controlled by the artists that are on it. (Although you do have to be invited by an artist on the site in order to join).

As a participating FAAN artist, I can give away one maybe two works (for whatever reason) every couple of years to a collector that may (for whatever reason) not be able to buy it for full market value. It's that simple. Other artists may choose to put work on the site for a variety of reasons and that's there choice at the moment, but I think for me it works to keep it simple, for it's a gift to be so.

Money and the art world: A Salon, Wed., Jan. 23rd, 6pm

As part of my ongoing salon series at Pocket Utopia, I'm organizing a discussion about the workings of the Fine Art Adoption Network and issues of money and the art world. It should be interesting. Here's all the info:

"Excuse me, you have art in your teeth" Salon and discussion of FAAN and $ in the art world January 23th @ 6pm

Please join the originator of the Fine Art Adoption Network (FAAN), Adam Simon and the curator of the show Audra Wolowiec and the exhibiting artists in a discussion of this wonderfully generous and genius project called-FAAN

Refreshments will be served (Pernod and cupcakes).

View of the Fine Art Adoption Network Show @ Pocket Utopia

Pocket Utopia editions a print with artist Rico Gatson

Pocket Utopia supports itself by selling prints by more established artists (meaning they have gallery representation).

For Pocket Utopia, Rico Gatson has made a Gocco print of Nina Simone. It's printed in silver, gold and black ink on black or white paper. It's an edition of 20, $200 each, and it's awesome!

Rico Gatson will have a show at Pocket Utopia in February.

An artworld refuge

After going to an opening on the lower east side last night and not being able to get into the small, over-crowded space to watch a performance of spandex-clad women passing a golden fish in the dark, and standing on the sidewalk in the rain, it dawned on me that I've created a real world refuge for artists out in Bushwick. While I thought the lower east side opening was pretty awful, bordering on mild torture and another, attended at an exclusive Charles Street gallery, relatively boring and mind-numbing, I thought the FAAN opening at Pocket Utopia pretty blissful!

At the FAAN opening, which was 4 hours long, we popped champagne, bottle after bottle, and of course talk about art , money, politics, and share recipes in a supportive environment! It was sooooo fun! What a blast we're having!

Installing the FAAN Show

After working until 12:30 am last night, the FAAN show is installed. It looks great, I can say that since Audra curated it. Now the adoptions can start.

I just want to go to bed, but there's more to do-find homes for art!

FAAN opening Friday

Pocket Utopia presents The Fine Art Adoption Network (FAAN): January 4- 27, Opening Jan. 4th 6:00 - 10:00 pm

Artists selected from the online network where all of the artworks on view are available for adoption:

Matt Davis

Laura Devendorf

Danielle Dimston

Marcy B. Freedman

Ben Godward

Jill Henderson

Matt King

Dave Krueger

Jacob Rhodes

Analia Segal

Jason Simon

Tattfoo Tan

January 4 – January 27, 2008

OPENING, Friday January 4 6:00 – 10:00 pm

POCKET UTOPIA

1037 Flushing Avenue

[Just off the Morgan L, Bushwick]

Open Saturdays and Sundays 12-6 and by appointment

Call: 917-400-3869

Pocket Utopia is pleased to present an exhibition of the Fine Art Adoption Network (FAAN). FAAN is an online network that uses a gift economy to connect artists and potential collectors. Pocket Utopia will function as a clearinghouse and will facilitate the adoption process. Post-studio artist and Pocket Utopia intern Audra Wolowiec selected the works on view. The adoption of artworks between the artist and collector will be finalized through the website (http://www.fineartadoption.net/); no purchases will be made.

"Ideally, the work is going to people who would not otherwise own the artwork," says Adam Simon, the Brooklyn, N.Y. artist who set up Fine Art Adoption Network (FAAN) with the support of Art in General. Adopters might be institutions with no art budget, individuals with little disposable income, or families who haven't considered making art a priority.

One of the goals of FAAN is to help increase and diversify the population of art owners and to offer artists new means for engaging with their audience. The artist determines who can adopt the artwork.

Adam Simon got the idea for FAAN when his mom moved from a house to an apartment, and he found himself regaining possession of two large paintings he had made years before. That’s when the light bulb went on: Artists have more art than they can store, while plenty of people who love art have no way of owning it. So why not use the Internet to facilitate art adoptions?

This exhibition of FAAN is the third in a series examining creative pocket utopias that began by opening a file at Pierogi (The Pierogi Show at Pocket Utopia in September 2007). Then in December 2007 with a show titled “Etsy,” Pocket Utopia ventured into the crafty commerce of the online place to buy and sell all things handmade with the same name (http://www.etsy.com)

There will be a salon discussion held on Wednesday, January 23rd at 6:00pm where Adam Simon and FAAN artists will talk about money and its role in the art world. Refreshments will be served. This discussion is a part of Austin Thomas’s salon series titled, “Excuse me, you have art in your teeth.”

Pocket Utopia is an away-from center, off-center, exhibition, salon and social space run by artist Austin Thomas.

The next exhibition will feature work by Rico Gatson (opening 2/01/08). For this occasion, a limited edition Gocco print will be produced.

Pictured above: David Krueger

(This piece is from the Journeys, States & Locations show waaaay back at Joel Beck & Jessica Murray's Salon 75 on Roebling. This was the first showing of my work which blended murky pop colored liquids and surreal light sources, with landscapes, portraits and psychologically loaded objects. #1 of 5, cibachrome mounted to plexi. It's a til-a-whirl. Or is it? Roll up for the chemical carnival tour.)

Additional Information
Photograph
Completed in: 1996
28 x 20 inches
Near or in New York, NY / United States

Intern Appreciation Day

Today is intern appreciation day! Here's to Audra Wolowiec, out there collecting posters of Lawrence Weiner's (before they are pasted over) Whitney retrospective from blue walled-in construction sites, and to Matthew Miller who's giving and receiving his final critic of the semester right now!

I love both of you! Team Pocket Utopia rocks! We've eaten enough egg rolls to last a lifetime! Thank you for supporting this post-studio, post-gallery, and now post-curatorial salon space. There's a lot coming up. We've got more tours of all kinds (studios, galleries, and collectors homes), prints to produce, shows to hang, pack, ship, and talk about.

The next show will delve into another pocket utopia, the Fine Art Adoption Network. Everything in the show will be available for adoption. Next up will be Rico Gatson's show. Pictured above, are test prints for the edition he will produce for us. Then there's Danielle Rubi, artist extraordinaire from California, Libby Hartle will show the fruits of her post-studio residency in April, followed by a service-oriented exhibition by our Audra and spring, post-studio artist in resident Brece Honeycutt, and then we'll finish up with a summer photography show.

Preview photos are as follows, representing the FAAN show: Tattfoo Tan
Rico Gatson working on his edition for Pocket Utopia, titled "Nina Simone"
Danielle Rubi's example of a cyanotype process and Audra cutting Brece's hair!!