Courtesy of Brendan O'Connell
Courtesy of Brendan O'Connell
Courtesy of Brendan O'Connell
Courtesy of Brendan O'Connell
Courtesy of Brendan O'Connell
Courtesy of Brendan O'Connell
Most people would be challenging -pressed to call Wal-Mart a supply of artistic inspiration. A area to acquire peanut butter, cereal and other mundane necessities? Yes. But a rendezvous spot with transcendence? Hardly.
But that is exactly what artist Brendan O'Connell sees in the sprawling huge -box merchants. For the past decade, O'Connell has been snapping photographs inside dozens of Wal-Marts. The images have served as inspiration for an ongoing series of paintings of everyday daily life much of which entails shopping, which O'Connell calls "that wonderful modern pastime."
"Wal-Mart was an apparent area " to look for inspiration, he tells The Salt. " It is sort of the home that holds all American brands."
Given that Wal-Mart now dominates U.S. grocery income, it's not surprising that pictures of foods pervade O'Connell's art. His paintings depict buyers examining ingredient lists, aisles that offer you limitless vistas of potato chip bags, Jif peanut butter jars standing shoulder to shoulder on the shelf.
I first spoke with O'Connell back in February, just immediately after The New Yorker ran a lengthy profile of him. (As that post noted, his work has garnered enthusiasm at Wal-Mart headquarters.) Considering that then, media coverage of his function has spiked. He's been featured on The Colbert Report and CBS Information, among other spots, and obtained many invitations to speak at TEDx occasions (he chose the upcoming event in Atlanta, where he grew up).
Some have likened his function to Andy Warhol's soup cans, but with no the overriding sense of irony. Other people see echoes of the publish -impressionists a comparison that amuses O'Connell.
Enlarge picture i O'Connell also crowdsources the images he uses as fodder for his paintings. This piece, which shows males purchasing candies and Valentine's Day cards for their sweethearts, was based mostly on a submission.
O'Connell also crowdsources the photographs he uses as fodder for his paintings. This piece, which displays guys getting candies and Valentine's Day cards for their sweethearts, was based on a submission.
"The submit -impressionists had been painting the business boulevards of Paris," he advised fake newsman Stephen Colbert, including, " I am painting the aisles of Wal-Mart."
Wal-Mart shops, he notes, are " in all probability 1 of the most trafficked interior spaces in the globe." In the tall, open, cathedral-like ceilings of Wal-Mart's massive -box shops, he sees parallels to church interiors of outdated.
"There is some thing in us that aspires to some variety of transcendence," he advised me back in February. "And as we've culturally turned from religious points, we've turned our transcendence to acquisition and satisfying wishes."
In conversation, O'Connell comes across as thoughtful and urbane. He's well aware that, as a business, Wal-Mart can be polarizing. But " regardless of your feelings about it," he advised me back then, "it just is. It can be like an irrevocable actuality that's portion of our knowledge."
And as artistic matter, it truly is a aspect of daily life that would seem to have resonated with plenty of men and women. Because the media blitz started two months ago, sales of O'Connell's work have jumped drastically, he told me this week. "I sold far more in a week than I did in some many years," he says.
Media reports have lingered over the truth that some of his largest paintings these 8 feet by 9 feet or so can fetch $ 40,000 or more. But O'Connell says it truly is the smaller performs in the $ 1,000-$ 1,200 array that have been selling. And the persons executing the obtaining, he says, come from all in excess of the nation.
"What I am struck by is this connection to brand names," he says, noting that customers have called to inquire about precise paintings: " 'Do you still have the Corn Flakes?... I want the Maxwell Property.' No matter what brand it is that they have a personal romantic relationship with. And that, to me, is fascinating."
O'Connell's work is probably out of the selling price assortment of the common Wal-Mart shopper. But he's passionate about a project to carry artwork to the masses. The concept behind Everyartist.me is to make a collaborative art project involving one million elementary school kids across the nation. And all the latest awareness on his Wal-Mart series has assisted leap - commence funding for the project which raised $ 100,000 in the past two months, he says.
The aim, he says, is to produce a widespread, available forum the place young children come to feel totally free to be creative. " It truly is just a seed which is put in," he says. "We do not know if it truly is going to sow, but it has the potential to be transformative."
Coca Cola collectibles eBay - Electronics, Cars, Fashion ... Find great deals on eBay for Coca Cola collectibles and coca cola collectibles lot. Shop with confidence. Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com The latest video from CNN and its networks on breaking news stories. Myspace Social Entertainment Myspace is the leading social entertainment destination powered by the passion of fans. Music, movies, celebs, TV, and games made social. RECORD STORE DAY - Quotes Quotes "Ever since I was 12 years old, when my fascination and obsession with music started, I would get on my skateboard and ride down to the local record store. The Prophet: Kahlil Gibran: 9781614270621: Amazon.com: Books In a distant, timeless place, a mysterious prophet walks the sands. At the moment of his departure, he wishes to offer the people gifts but possesses nothing. The ... Ask Questions - Get Answers [ Public Answers' Archive ] Welcome to AnswerWay - You Have Questions , We Have Answers - Ask experts anything and get a response or two back for free! Amazon.com: The Preacher's Daughter (Annie's People 1 ... One of Christian fiction's most beloved authors of the gentle read offers a new series called Annie's People, set in Paradise, Pa. It dishes up the same sort of faith ... Topic Galleries -- Courant.com - Hartford Courant - Connecticut ... Topic galleries provide easy access to stories and photos about people, places, organizations, events and subjects of interest to you. They bring together rich ... Walmart.com Shop for Walmart.com. Buy products such as High-Quality 4 x 6 Prints at Walmart and save. kiwitobes.com Walmart Growth Video The other day at work, I made this video showing the opening of Wal-mart retail locations over time. Its pretty fun to watch how it starts very slowly with the ...
No comments:
Post a Comment