Was the Auction a success? ProblEBAY....

Although my attempt to play Auctioneer to my own artwork did not put me on Easy Street, it did accomplish exactly what I'd set out to do. For $817.50 I was able to remove the lock from my storage unit in DUMBO less than 24 hours before it's foreclosure, effectively saving the art. This problem aside, I turn to others. Starting today, I will run auctions of the individual states on Ebay, starting with Alabama. The days of $100 investments are over, but it's not too late to pick up some land for a reasonable price.

>>GO TO AUCTION<<

Auctioning America: The Land Grab Update

Auction Ended. Thanks to all who participated, and congratulations to those who won!

This is the video report I submitted to CNN I-Report to draw attention to my art auction. The assignment called for I-Reporters to share their creative solutions for dealing with the bum economy. Specifically, they asked for stories showing efforts to overcome or excel within the faltering financial future we're facing. This being my first video-diary submission ever, I was, of course, a bit nervous, but I got my message across, and feel I completed the assignment excellently.

Since beginning this Auction at 12 am EST Monday, January 26th, 7 states have bids.

1. Mississippi- $100
2. Pennsylvania- $100
3. Delaware- $200
4. New York-$100
5. Wisconsin-$100
6. New Mexico-$100
7. Arizona-$100
One State, California, has sold for $1000.

WEDNESDAY UPDATE: The auction has been posted in all Craigslist Artist sections of corresponding states. After 24 hours, the only 2 to be flagged are San Franscisco and Montana.

WEDNESDAY EVENING: Still no report on CNN... I'm not sure if it will run as a feature, but am keeping up hope. Here's the image from what they had up last night into this afternoon on the I-report page. If anything has no bids when the auction ends at 12 AM EST Thursday, January 29, I will retain possession of it for my personal collection, which is awesome because I love this stuff!

Bid now or be left behind. Once you lock in a bid, it can be yours for next to nothing, granted nobody else bids higher. Help me make art history and usher in an inspiring new era of creativity and hope. Thanks to All, Ted

-SCROLL DOWN TO VIEW THE AUCTION-

STATE of Emergency/Pre-emptive AUCTION

FLASHBACK: The election of 2004. John Kerry -Vs- George W. Bush

One was not necessarily voting for one candidate but rather against the other.

I was working 15 hours a day, 7 days a week to finish my MFA thesis project: A giant map of America made from Junk. My preferred candidate for a time was Ralph Nader, and I saw his campaign as a perfect chance to put my political artwork to the test.

I came up with an idea to offer him my artwork as a way to incite the masses, inspiring them to believe in bringing change to our country. I wanted to travel ahead of his tour to each of the fifty states and organize with Universities and local media stations to set up a project in which people would be told to bring objects of a specific color from their homes. I would put more parts into each state , filling out the artwork with stuff from the specific regions they depicted.

I would work in public, and alongside me would be volunteers educating people about the difference between Nader and the other candidates. When Ralph showed up to speak, the sculpture would hang behind him and then, at his final rally, the entire map would be assembled in Washington DC. With this amount of exposure, whether or not he won, I couldn't lose.

The sculptures were beautiful, featuring cities made from flattened coins blossoming amidst highways from drinking straws and rivers from copper wire. Of course, Nader never seriously ran, and Bush took the election by a suspiciously slim margin, and the hope faded. I moved to NYC that Fall, and the entire project went into storage, where still it sits, untouched, unseen, costing me monthly rent to keep hidden.

Now, in the great recession of 2009, I find myself behind several months in payments and facing a foreclosure auction at the end of the month. I HAVE DECIDED TO AUCTION THESE HISTORIC SCULPTURES TO THE PUBLIC BEFORE THEY ARE LOST FOREVER. There is a precedent for sales on this artwork.

Florida was shown and sold in Brooklyn, in 2005, at a gallery called "Concepto". The price was $2000.
Texas, which appeared in a groupshow, including Matthew Barney and Alex Grey, at Manhattan gallery Bitforms, was sold this summer at Deborah Colton Gallery in Houston Texas, for a price of $2500.

Approximately 40 additional states remain. I will be taking bids on these sculptures Monday-Thursday of this week, and will update this page to reflect the progress. There is no reserve on any state, and bids start at $100. Please email me to place your bid. Whoever wins each state will receive a signed certificate of ownership within days, and the sculpture itself shortly thereafter. I can oversee delivery and installation in the NYC area. Elsewhere shipping costs may apply.

The sculptures fit together like a puzzle, and hang well in clusters or alone. Sizes vary, the average is 2 feet by 2 feet with a varying degree of relief. They hang easily on simple brackets which I will provide and are not as heavy as you'd imagine. A buy-it-now price of $1000 applies to any sculpture with no active bidding. Payments can be made using any major credit card via the donation link at the top of this blog.

THANKS AND HAPPY BIDDING!

ALABAMA- NO BIDS

ARIZONA- NO BIDS

ARKANSAS- NO BIDS

CALIFORNIA(partially complete)- SOLD!

COLORADO- NO BIDS

DELAWARE-$200-BID HIGHER

GEORGIA- NO BIDS

IDAHO- NO BIDS

ILLINOIS- NO BIDS

INDIANA- NO BIDS

IOWA- NO BIDS

KANSAS- NO BIDS

KENTUCKY- NO BIDS

LOUISIANA- NO BIDS

MARYLAND- NO BIDS

MASSACHUSETTS(no image available)- NO BIDS


MICHIGAN- NO BIDS

MINNESOTA- NO BIDS

MISSISSIPPI-CURRENT BID: $100 BID HIGHER

MISSOURI- NO BIDS

MONTANA- NO BIDS

NEBRASKA- NO BIDS

NEVADA- NO BIDS

NEW JERSEY(no image available)- NO BIDS


NEW MEXICO- NO BIDS

NEW YORK- NO BIDS

NORTH CAROLINA- NO BIDS

NORTH DAKOTA- NO BIDS

OHIO- NO BIDS

OKLAHOMA- NO BIDS

OREGON- NO BIDS

PENNSYLVANIA- CURRENT BID: $100 BID HIGHER

SOUTH CAROLINA- NO BIDS

TENNESSEE- NO BIDS

UTAH- NO BIDS

VIRGINIA- NO BIDS

WASHINGTON- NO BIDS

WEST VIRGINIA- NO BIDS

WISCONSIN- NO BIDS

WYOMING- NO BIDS

Headline News: "Changing" the world

Here is the interview I did on CNN, about my recent coin mosaic depicting the global financial bailout.


click here if this doesn't load

New pictures taken by my studiomate Andrew Harris, who is a professional photographer of inanimate objects, namely consumer electronics, and is currently unemployed. Click to enlarge.

Poster images are now available of all my art and images from this blog. Please contact me with your specific print and I can tell you how much various sizes will cost.

Embryonic Economics/How I spent my winter vacation

I believe that a coin mosaic is a savings account with a potential yield that would make a young Bernard Madoff reconsider his approach. If I can take 10 dollars worth of coins and make artwork I sell for 1000, I'm already 100 times ahead, and, unlike a corporation, my labor is the only investment.

It is with relief that I begin the new year, having weathered a severe and abrupt lack of income and eager to witness the events our uncharted path of unprecedented world change might have in store.

Fittingly, amidst a vast economic meltdown, with snow on the streets of NYC, I felt the pinch firsthand by becoming unexpectedly unemployed weeks before the holidays. No holiday bonus. No severance pay.
On a budget of dollars a day, committed to babysit a friend's dog as a favor for a period of 3 weeks, I locked myself in a tiny room in Queens and began some new artwork.
I wanted to take my exploration of mosaics from bits of money to a new level. I wanted to make an image that was personal, yet encompassing.

I needed to examine my life and isolate the source.

I chose to depict a human fetus, still developing in the womb.

From the moment of conception we are inescapably bound for (and by) finance.

The worth of a life is measured not by how much it can produce, but by how much it will cost.

Born owing debt, already separated into classes by poverty and wealth, life begins to form.

To create this mosaic I sorted the pennies by age: anything after 1982 is a cheap, brittle nickel alloy, while anything prior is real, deeply beautiful, aged copper.

The difference between finishes is dramatic.

Every piece was held in place by gravity alone, so special care had to be taken not to bump the table, lest catastrophe occur.... oops!

Day upon day, hour after hour, the surface fills in with detail.

I decided to make the brain a bit more complex than the body.

Copper slivers mimic vascular corridors.

Near winter solstice, the scant sunlight is to be savored.

A point eventually arrives when the distinction between myself and the work is difficult to detect. At these moments even closing my eyes does not make the image disappear. We are one.

50 dimes, chopped into tiny squares the size of matchstick heads, densely form the developing cerebrum.Next came the backbone, requiring a larger investment.
Thanks to a friend waiting tables at a comedy club in Manhattan, a constant supply of quarters flows my way. Is chopping money up any less a waste than spending it on toilet paper?
When faced with the choice of eating or making art, I'll often go hungry.
To be continued...