The Art of Selling Out

When I first saw The Gap ad in the New Yorker, I thought the artists (some of whom I quite like such as Kiki Smith) had designed t-shirts for various charities. But after closer inspection of the ads and a visit to the website to confirm my suspicions, it seems these artists have designed t-shirts solely for their own and The Gap's profits. SEE PRODUCTS HERE.

I expressed my dismay to a friend who all but yawned. Apparently (I hadn't heard!), that's what artists do these days. And, really, why am I happy for an artist selling her paintings, but irritated at her for selling t-shirts? Or (a better comparison) posters? This is an easy way for the artists to promote themselves. Shoppers who would have otherwise never heard of these artists may seek out their other work.

Side note: Are fashion designers angry that sculptors, et al. are essentially claiming this fashion stuff is easy? Like when rock stars pen books of poems.

I do enjoy the irony of Rirkrit Tiravanija's t-shirt, which reads, "The days of this society is numbered." I wonder how quickly this one is flying off the shelves at small-town malls. And maybe I'm just jealous that poets can't sell out (or at least not as easily), although I'm already forming a list of poets who would make great Gap ad models. Frederick Seidel's t-shirt could read "I spend most of my time not dying," accompanied by that cover portrait on Ooga-Booga.   

Comments

[Ricardo]

Tiravanija's grammatical error irritates me. May I suggest: "After your first poetry reading
I shook hands with you and got a hard-on," Dugan, of course.