UPDATE: It seemed the A-$40-Able Drawing Page was a good idea in concept, however, in the few months I kept it alive, I had just as many people flaking on buying art as did actually buy art. That was a big downer for me, and I’ll most likely post new drawings randomly and infrequently from now on. All drawings on this site are still available unless titled SOLD!!, so feel free to browse. -Steve
Like most visual artists, I am working towards a future where I make a living solely through sales of my art. Barter would work for me as well, but so far, my only available offer would be living out in Vallejo, which I’ll have to pass on, thanks. But seriously, living solely off one’s artwork often remains just a dream for 99% of visual artists, mostly because the options available to sell or trade artwork in the “professional” market are few and far between, and those few options come with political and/or social filters…not to mention a standard 40–50% cut on sales!!! This often translates into overpricing one’s artwork in order to make a decent return on the materials and labor, therefore out-pricing most people and their art collecting budget. That is no good, for anyone.
In an attempt to parallel the traditional path of having gallery representation, I’ve decided to create a daily $40 drawing opportunity. $40 is the price of a night out at the bar, a fancy t-shirt or a concert. Why not invest in a life-long lasting work of art that inspires you to think, make and live to your full potential? Can my humble artwork do all that…well, yes, and maybe more, if you take the time to look and think about it: appreciation is in the eye of the beholder…
Get this: the highest minimum wage in the U.S. is $9.85 per hour. I’m asking $40 for each drawing I’ve posted to this site. If I sold one drawing per day, I could by rights work a half-day in my atelier, making new and great works of art, improving my skills and reaching out to the world with increased lucidity. Sure, I won’t ever own a house, drive a new car or probably ever pay off my college tuition going this route, but I’ll be living my dream as an Artist daily, right now in fact. Because I’ve chosen to ‘work to live’ over the awful ‘work to work’ option. You can choose this route as well!
Still, I need your support for this to happen.
This site will house drawings posted daily (fingers crossed…), from either years past or mere seconds ago. Two things to keep in mind: you are directly supporting an artist and gaining a beautiful object. Well, the beautiful object part is subjective…but just imagine the warm, fuzzy feeling you’ll get knowing that you will contribute to keeping me fed, housed and making more art!
If you see a drawing you like, email me, and if it is available, it’s yours, first come first serve, for $40. Sometimes a large work, sometimes small, sometimes a sketch, sometimes ???…but always for $40 (or at least until I say different). Availability should be pretty obvious. I take Paypal, check or cash. And if you aren’t local, I’ll mail it to you asap. And now, unfortunately, I have to say something about all the flakes who say they are going to buy a drawing and then never show up / pay up: don’t flake on me yo! It’s worse than never supporting me and this project in the first place. Just don’t do it…cause you’ll just get super bad karma, die a horrible death, then end up returning to this world as a HB pencil, which I will proceed to torture in my electric pencil sharpener and use you to draw pro-authoritarian anti-dolphin children’s cartoons, or sketches of athlete’s foot!!
Good luck.
Steven Barich is a visual artist living in the Bay Area. His work investigates such things as the psychology of perception, apophenia, multiplicity, and defining uniqueness of expression within a digital age. Mr. Barich is a graduate of Mills College (MFA, 2001) and the California College of Arts and Crafts (BFA, 1997). He has previously exhibited artwork in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Serbia, England as well as nationally at Southern Exposure (San Francisco, CA), the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art (Santa Ana, CA), Turchin Center for the Visual Arts (Boone, TN), Rowan Morrison Gallery (Oakland, CA), Pro Arts Gallery (Oakland, CA) and other venues within the United States.
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