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Today, I have received a long and very interesting email from Karl, owner of 601. I asked Karl's permission to share his thoughts with everybody here, and he agreed. So here's what he wrote:
Hi Sala,
601 arrived this morning, it's perfect, thank you, it looks great on my home-office wall. Unlike many other buyers, my packaging was not damaged, the box was pristine and undamaged, and as many others have said, the painting was very well packed, well done!
601 has been hanging on my wall now for maybe 3 hours, and I have been looking at it and thinking about it. I'll share my thoughts with you, just in case you want to know!
Once I had unpacked the painting and hung it, I went to throw the box in the rubbish... then I stopped, and thought maybe I should keep the box, to "authenticate" my purchase, as part of the package. This was just a quick thought that flashed through my mind, I thought maybe one day if I want or need to prove my painting is genuine, having the original packaging dated and postmarked will help show that I have the genuine article. This started a string of thoughts in my mind, about people buying and selling these paintings in the future, people around the world trading your paintings on eBay or whatever, trying to collect short series of consecutive numbers, trying to build meaningful collections.
This thought led me to then feeling slightly guilty, like I am cheapening the artistic concept behind 'onethousandpaintings' by thinking of these paintings in terms of their financial value, as a collectible item... but then that's what a lot of art is all about, being collectible, rare, unique, and hence valuable, at least to those who desire it. I see historically significant paintings sell for millions, but I might not pay you more than a few Euros for such a painting if it is not to my liking, but the painting is still worth millions to a collector, because its appeal lies in the fact that it is old, unique, and a rare example of work from a particular artist. So beauty in art is very much in the eye of the beholder, and value in art lies in its scarcity and the significance attached to its age, its place in time. And of course, 'onethousandpaintings' is even more about financial value than most other art, because of your clever pricing scheme that automatically makes the paintings more expensive as they get closer to "selling out". This ingenious play on the classic human lust for things that are scarce is brilliant... when something is plentiful, abundant, we tend to show little desire for it, yet once something appears to be scarce, we suddenly 'need' it like never before.
So in my mind these thoughts started to lead to this sudden thought that I am an "art ignoramus", that traditional art dealers must be laughing at me and my fellow buyers. I don't generally purchase much art, I am no expert and I would never claim to be especially tasteful. I suddenly imagined these art "experts" laughing at us people paying money for some guy to paint numbers on a blank white background, what fools we are, it's not real art, it's just a gimmick, a product of the Internet age, a smart idea to make a fast buck. I don't think that's entirely true, but ironically, I got to thinking that in fact, a "gimmick of the Internet age" is EXACTLY what this is, and exactly WHY this is so brilliant, unique and genuinely valuable. You see, art has been around for thousands of years, and over the years art has been used to capture the essence of a time, a generation, a place, a mood... and so 'onethousandpaintings' does exactly the same thing.
We are now entering a phase of Internet development which industry experts call "Web 2.0". This is a phrase that signifies the shift from the Internet as an "open book", to more of a public-participation project. The Internet has, no matter how many people do not want to agree with me, changed the world we live in, significantly, and I personally believe it will continue to do so for the next 100 years, as the full power of all the possibilities that it has created will be fully realised and utilised. As the Internet has developed, the first major phase in the life of the Internet saw penetration reach out across the world into our homes and businesses, but the Net itself was quite a "dumb" agent in many respects. We looked things up, but we didn't participate. Now we're entering this phase called Web 2.0, where public participation and co-operative contribution is the name of the game. Look at Flickr, Wikipedia and the astronomical growth of blogging. So the Internet is now truly becoming something that is "for the people, made by the people" and now we will realise the incredible power of 2 or 3 billion people not only having access to the same information resources, but also all contributing to that collective wisdom. If we thought that the last 20 years were "information overload", just think what the next 20 years will be like.
And this is where 'onethousandpaintings' fits in. Your genius idea is a part of this new Internet, and incidentally this is why it is so important that you must put that page up on your site some time where we can all see who each other are. Out of 6.5 billion people on the planet, just 1000 of us will share this project, which makes us a unique niche group, connected by our ability to see the creativity and significance of this idea. We are not just buying art here, we're buying a piece of Internet history. Yeah sure the physical item on my office wall is just a piece of white canvas with the number 601 painted on it... but to assess its value based on that physical object is to entirely miss the point of all this, because the Internet is a virtual world, and the virtual asset that my painting represents is the true value, this represents not just a number, not just some artist who had a good idea, this is so much more, this is a time and a place, a moment in human history where the Internet was changing the world and how we all live our lives, a unique time where art became virtual, where the physical painting itself no longer really matters, because what matters is that I was here, in 2006, making Web 2.0 into a reality.
Do you see, do you agree? In 30 years, when art collectors are buying and selling entirely virtual art, the collectors will want 'onethousandpaintings' and other similar projects, like 'milliondollarhomepage.com' - that is a business idea today, but in 30 years they'll look back and see Alex Tew as an unknown Andy Warhol of his day, and 'milliondollarhomepage.com' will be considered iconic pop-art of the Web 2.0 age.
I am delighted that I have been a part of 'onethousandpaintings', I feel a part of today's switched-on, connected generation, I feel like I actually want arrogant old art dealers to laugh at me paying good money for a number on a blank canvas, I want them to laugh at me because they are so wrapped up in art that was painted 200 years ago that they cannot see the value and genius in art that is being painted today. 'Onethousandpaintings' blends art with technology in a way that makes a statement about the times we are living in. The painting that now hangs on my office wall says "I was there, at the birth of Web 2.0, I could see it, my generation witnessed this fundamental development and I was smart enough to see that it was happening."
I dunno, maybe I have been staring at 601 for too long, but it all makes sense to me, I feel proud of my number, I think these paintings will be valuable in the future, but mostly the value is virtual, it's personal... I could sell my painting in 5 or 10 years time and it wouldn't make any difference, the virtual value remains in me, because I bought the painting "at the time", and that value would not transfer to the buyer in 5 or 10 years time. In 5 or 10 years time, that buyer is simply a collector buying a canvas with a number painted on it, but here and now, the original 1000 buyers are buying more than just that, we are buying a time, a right to say "I was part of that", and that's what this project is all about.
601 arrived this morning, it's perfect, thank you, it looks great on my home-office wall. Unlike many other buyers, my packaging was not damaged, the box was pristine and undamaged, and as many others have said, the painting was very well packed, well done!
601 has been hanging on my wall now for maybe 3 hours, and I have been looking at it and thinking about it. I'll share my thoughts with you, just in case you want to know!
Once I had unpacked the painting and hung it, I went to throw the box in the rubbish... then I stopped, and thought maybe I should keep the box, to "authenticate" my purchase, as part of the package. This was just a quick thought that flashed through my mind, I thought maybe one day if I want or need to prove my painting is genuine, having the original packaging dated and postmarked will help show that I have the genuine article. This started a string of thoughts in my mind, about people buying and selling these paintings in the future, people around the world trading your paintings on eBay or whatever, trying to collect short series of consecutive numbers, trying to build meaningful collections.
This thought led me to then feeling slightly guilty, like I am cheapening the artistic concept behind 'onethousandpaintings' by thinking of these paintings in terms of their financial value, as a collectible item... but then that's what a lot of art is all about, being collectible, rare, unique, and hence valuable, at least to those who desire it. I see historically significant paintings sell for millions, but I might not pay you more than a few Euros for such a painting if it is not to my liking, but the painting is still worth millions to a collector, because its appeal lies in the fact that it is old, unique, and a rare example of work from a particular artist. So beauty in art is very much in the eye of the beholder, and value in art lies in its scarcity and the significance attached to its age, its place in time. And of course, 'onethousandpaintings' is even more about financial value than most other art, because of your clever pricing scheme that automatically makes the paintings more expensive as they get closer to "selling out". This ingenious play on the classic human lust for things that are scarce is brilliant... when something is plentiful, abundant, we tend to show little desire for it, yet once something appears to be scarce, we suddenly 'need' it like never before.
So in my mind these thoughts started to lead to this sudden thought that I am an "art ignoramus", that traditional art dealers must be laughing at me and my fellow buyers. I don't generally purchase much art, I am no expert and I would never claim to be especially tasteful. I suddenly imagined these art "experts" laughing at us people paying money for some guy to paint numbers on a blank white background, what fools we are, it's not real art, it's just a gimmick, a product of the Internet age, a smart idea to make a fast buck. I don't think that's entirely true, but ironically, I got to thinking that in fact, a "gimmick of the Internet age" is EXACTLY what this is, and exactly WHY this is so brilliant, unique and genuinely valuable. You see, art has been around for thousands of years, and over the years art has been used to capture the essence of a time, a generation, a place, a mood... and so 'onethousandpaintings' does exactly the same thing.
We are now entering a phase of Internet development which industry experts call "Web 2.0". This is a phrase that signifies the shift from the Internet as an "open book", to more of a public-participation project. The Internet has, no matter how many people do not want to agree with me, changed the world we live in, significantly, and I personally believe it will continue to do so for the next 100 years, as the full power of all the possibilities that it has created will be fully realised and utilised. As the Internet has developed, the first major phase in the life of the Internet saw penetration reach out across the world into our homes and businesses, but the Net itself was quite a "dumb" agent in many respects. We looked things up, but we didn't participate. Now we're entering this phase called Web 2.0, where public participation and co-operative contribution is the name of the game. Look at Flickr, Wikipedia and the astronomical growth of blogging. So the Internet is now truly becoming something that is "for the people, made by the people" and now we will realise the incredible power of 2 or 3 billion people not only having access to the same information resources, but also all contributing to that collective wisdom. If we thought that the last 20 years were "information overload", just think what the next 20 years will be like.
And this is where 'onethousandpaintings' fits in. Your genius idea is a part of this new Internet, and incidentally this is why it is so important that you must put that page up on your site some time where we can all see who each other are. Out of 6.5 billion people on the planet, just 1000 of us will share this project, which makes us a unique niche group, connected by our ability to see the creativity and significance of this idea. We are not just buying art here, we're buying a piece of Internet history. Yeah sure the physical item on my office wall is just a piece of white canvas with the number 601 painted on it... but to assess its value based on that physical object is to entirely miss the point of all this, because the Internet is a virtual world, and the virtual asset that my painting represents is the true value, this represents not just a number, not just some artist who had a good idea, this is so much more, this is a time and a place, a moment in human history where the Internet was changing the world and how we all live our lives, a unique time where art became virtual, where the physical painting itself no longer really matters, because what matters is that I was here, in 2006, making Web 2.0 into a reality.
Do you see, do you agree? In 30 years, when art collectors are buying and selling entirely virtual art, the collectors will want 'onethousandpaintings' and other similar projects, like 'milliondollarhomepage.com' - that is a business idea today, but in 30 years they'll look back and see Alex Tew as an unknown Andy Warhol of his day, and 'milliondollarhomepage.com' will be considered iconic pop-art of the Web 2.0 age.
I am delighted that I have been a part of 'onethousandpaintings', I feel a part of today's switched-on, connected generation, I feel like I actually want arrogant old art dealers to laugh at me paying good money for a number on a blank canvas, I want them to laugh at me because they are so wrapped up in art that was painted 200 years ago that they cannot see the value and genius in art that is being painted today. 'Onethousandpaintings' blends art with technology in a way that makes a statement about the times we are living in. The painting that now hangs on my office wall says "I was there, at the birth of Web 2.0, I could see it, my generation witnessed this fundamental development and I was smart enough to see that it was happening."
I dunno, maybe I have been staring at 601 for too long, but it all makes sense to me, I feel proud of my number, I think these paintings will be valuable in the future, but mostly the value is virtual, it's personal... I could sell my painting in 5 or 10 years time and it wouldn't make any difference, the virtual value remains in me, because I bought the painting "at the time", and that value would not transfer to the buyer in 5 or 10 years time. In 5 or 10 years time, that buyer is simply a collector buying a canvas with a number painted on it, but here and now, the original 1000 buyers are buying more than just that, we are buying a time, a right to say "I was part of that", and that's what this project is all about.
August the 8th, 2006
Christof from Switzerland has this nice picture on his blog:
The text on his blog says:
Cool, elegant and convincing. Today,
the painting finally arrived. And it is even more beautiful than
expected!
August the 4th, 2006
Bottoms up - just shipped another 37 paintings. If you look at the shipping page, you can see that all paintings have been shipped (except the ones that were ordered just recently). Time for champagne.
And now, we're going to take a weekend off. This sounds pathetic, and that's excactly what it is. We haven't had a single weekend off since those glory days in May when onethousandpaintings.com started to take off.
And finally, with all the paintings done, I will have some time again to care about the site and its marketing. There are still so many people that don't know about onethousandpaintings.com, and it's about time to change that.
There's a lot of data ready to explore (order of numbers purchased, places where paintings have gone to etc.). I'm planning a redesign of the website, with some interesting stats and mashups.
August the 2nd, 2006
Let's welcome Luxembourg as the 24th country to the list of countries where paintings have been purchased!
55 paintings have left the building, including one package with 8 paintings.
July the 31st, 2006
Today, more than 50 paintings will be shipped. The remaining paintings that have not been shipped yet will be shipped this week (except tuesday, first of August, which is Swiss national holiday, and SwissPost is closed).
More news about the paintings: Shelley (see Flickr photo 903, link below), wrote:
My yellow wrapper was also quite distressed, and I'm saving it... seems like part of the story.
And Duncan offered the best solution so far if you have a number that can be read upside down:
painting #609 arrived today in it's attractive yellow praktisch box and it's
in excellent shape... beautifully done, in its encapsulated topsy-turvy palindromic way. I want
to mount it on a turntable on the wall, give it a spin every once in a while.
And Russell wrote the following:
I wanted to let you know that I love the cost idea for onethousandpaintings.com. You, like Anthony White, have opened the eyes for many people to understand the great fundamentals of true art, that value of a peice is in direct relation with how much someone is willing to pay for it - great job!
In clicking thru your website at the various numbers still available, it occured to me that you do not have my favorite number, numeral "0". Since the site is not called 1001 paintings, i understand why you didn't make this painting. However, would you ever consider making a painting called "0"?
In clicking thru your website at the various numbers still available, it occured to me that you do not have my favorite number, numeral "0". Since the site is not called 1001 paintings, i understand why you didn't make this painting. However, would you ever consider making a painting called "0"?
Thanks for the kind words. Regarding 0: I guess I can't, for the reason outlined by Russell (it would be 1001 paintings then). But there is a solution to every problem, so let's not give in too early...
July the 27th, 2006
King Chung Huang from Calgary, Canada, wrote in today:
The numbers 499 and 501 arrived yesterday!
The yellow outside box was quite beat up, but the paintings
themselves made it through unscathed. It's been a long wait,
but they're totally worth it! :)
July the 26th, 2006
We're very busy getting the remaining paintings ready.
Browsing the web, I found this picture of 945:
(Here's the source.)
Look at how devastated the yellow packet is! Ok, I'm getting overly excited about packaging, but I am just very glad that the paintings arrive in original condition.
Talking about shipping: Antony wrote the following yesterday:
Just to let you know 820 has safely arrived in Beijing - many thanks!!
The painting was shipped on July 14th - which means it took only eleven days to get to China. Some paintings take a month to get to the US (same shipping fee). Postal service remains a miracle...
Also of interest: Shelley's 903 on Flickr (cute photo), and E's post about her mom who just doesn't get what Web 2.0 is all about (she's got 850).
And as I final note, Ken from Wall Street Journal's Smart Money informs me that the story on art including Anthony White and onethousandpaintings.com is most probably gonna appear in the October issue.
July the 19th, 2006
Arnaud from Geneva, Switzerland, owner of painting number 80, raised two interesting questions (by email). First, he asked me - ironically I think - whether I thought that the paintings had more value in 20 years time if one would leave them unpacked. He asked this because he read on this blog about a person making the statement - ironically again I think - that the "packing prowess is second only to your artistic capability". Later, however, Arnaud wrote me another email saying that he was sorry if he hurt my feelings. He was worried that my feelings could be hurt "by imagining that your art is only viewed as a collector product".
I wrote Arnaud that I think that anybody who would be hurt if his product is "only" viewed as a collector product should simply not sell it. On the contrary: I am very excited if people buy the numbers as a collector product, or as an investment. The whole value - demand relation is an essential part of this project (see also Anthony White's money series, who explores this relation in its fullest possible sense).
The second interesting question he raised was whether I sometimes hated the paintings. The answer here is no, I don't hate them at all, but sometimes the process of making them, especially 500 pieces within just two months, can be very stressful (see my post on "management" earlier on).
July the 18th, 2006
Quick update on shipping: another 21 paintings shipped today. We're working hard to meet the deadlines.
July the 14th, 2006
Today and tomorrow, we will ship more paintings, and I am verry happy to report that we could ship all paintings on time so far (i.e. all paintings that were estimated to be shipped in the first half of July have been shippped, with a few remaining to be shipped tomorrow).
I'm pretty confident that we can keep the timeline for the paintings that were estimated to be shipped in the forthcoming second half of July.
And here's a note that I received today from Oscar in Mexico:
Painting arrived in pristine condition, thanks so much - I love it.
July the 12th, 2006
George from Falls Curch (owner of number 9) sent me this message:
The painting made it here today. I was worried at first because the
box was crushed on one side, but you packed it well and it is
fine. You can see it on Flickr at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/orpost/187669532/ and
http://www.flickr.com/photos/orpost/187669476/
Thanks!!
Thanks!!
Thank you, George! I hope more people will put their paintings on Flickr.
I also had to realize that there is quite some variance in shipping time. George's painting took almost a full month to get to him, while other paintings make it in two weeks. I'm sorry for those who have to wait a little longer, but there is not much I can do about it.
Good things come to those who wait, I guess ;-)
July the 11th, 2006
Very quick update: there is more interest from the media. GOOD is a new magazine to be launched in fall 2006. They want to feature onethousandpaintings in their first issue. Check out their website, it's a pretty convincing concept. Secondly, Designtimes wants to feature the project too. Designtimes is a monthly South African design newspaper.
It almost goes without saying that I'm very excited to see these magazines running a feature on onethousandpaintings.com!
July the 10th, 2006
Exactly 70 paintings are ready for shipping - but I have to wait for some packaging material before I can ship them.
Here's an email from Ali in Poland:
I wished that my budget allowed me to order one of
your outstanding paintings. I like conceptual creation, because it talks deeply into
the feelings and feeds the mind with thoughts and inspirations. For me,
onethousandpaintings is more than just an art experiment; it is inspirational,
it provides an example of creativity and possibilities; it
is a great lesson, and I learned a lot from it.
Thanks, Ali - of course, not everybody likes onethousandpaintings, as can be seen from an
email that I received today from Matt:
What really makes it irritating is that you haven't really made any painting "unique".
They all look the same and would not affect my life in any way by purchasing them.
As much as I hate insanely abstract art, I believe it is much more creative and
exciting than this crap you are pulling.
I think I send this email out of jelousy.
That, I think, probably says it all.
I think I send this email out of jelousy.
July the 8th, 2006
Lots of paintings shipped on Friday, and about 40 ready for shipping in the first half of the coming week.
July the 6th, 2006
John from Tampa, Florida sent me this note today:
I wanted to let you know that I received your fine art today.
The shipping container was severely crushed, but the painting
was unscathed! Your packing prowess is second only to your
artistic capability.
July the 5th, 2006A quick update regarding upcoming media features: Bravo, the monthly magazine on national and international culture, will hit Brazilian newstands on August 10th, and the german magazine ARTinvestor will feature onethousandpaintings in its upcoming September issue (it's a bimonthly magazine).
Just shipped 35 paintings, more shippings tomorrow.
There is another number project that I just mentioned very briefly back in April on this blog. It is called "painting with number". I started the painting with number project right after I launched onethousandpaintings.com. With all the numbers between 1 and 1000, I thought it would be nice to have one exclusive, single number above 1000, but that is of course not possible within the onethousandpaintings concept.
The painting with number is one single painting with a red number on it. It shows the number of visitors to the project website and will be painted when it is sold. Each visitor to the website increases the number by one. In short, the painting with number is a painting that communicates how many people have looked at it before it was painted.
I mention the painting with number at this moment because the number has just very recently crossed the 1000 barrier (it was not for sale as long as the number was lower than 1001).
July the 1st, 2006
There is an increasing interest from the media about onethousandpaintings.com. I have been interviewed by three magazines, and I believe that this will significantly increase the publicity of the project.
The first is Bravo Magazine, Brazil's major cultural monthly magazine about the national and international cultural trends. The second is Smart Money, the Wall Street Journal Magazine. The third is ARTinvestor, Germany's leading investment magazine for the art market. These are all major players in their field and country, and I am extremely excited to have them write about onethousandpaintings.com.
June the 30th, 2006
Andrew Paris from Belgium is the first person I know of that got his number through musical inspiration. I love the story, since I am a music freak and musician myself. Here it is:
Last saturday I was reading De Morgen (belgian newspaper - weekend
edition).
Your website made De Morgen-website-of-the-day.
Your paintings were plugged as cool presents for father's day.
(They also mentioned that 666 had already been sold.)
When I was reading the paper I hoped 586 was still available.
(It was and I ordered it.)
As a longtime New Order fan I'm glad to own this particular number. Anthony Wilson (chairman of Factory records) asked New Order to record 20 minutes of "pap" to be played at the opening of the Hacienda (FAC 51)(Factory's nightclub) in Manchester. New Order recorded "Prime 586" - a long instrumental piece which included rhythm elements which later surfaced in 586, Blue Monday (the best selling 12'' ever (FAC 73), The Beach and Ultraviolence in febr. 1982. This instrumental piece was then played at the Hac's opening on may 2th 1982. In early may 1982 a rough mix of 586 (with vocals added) was recorded for a John Peel session. (first BBC-broadcast - june 1st-1982) A year later (may 1983) the definitive version of 586 was released on the second New Order album "Power, Corruption & Lies" (FACT 75)( track 4-side 1).
As a longtime New Order fan I'm glad to own this particular number. Anthony Wilson (chairman of Factory records) asked New Order to record 20 minutes of "pap" to be played at the opening of the Hacienda (FAC 51)(Factory's nightclub) in Manchester. New Order recorded "Prime 586" - a long instrumental piece which included rhythm elements which later surfaced in 586, Blue Monday (the best selling 12'' ever (FAC 73), The Beach and Ultraviolence in febr. 1982. This instrumental piece was then played at the Hac's opening on may 2th 1982. In early may 1982 a rough mix of 586 (with vocals added) was recorded for a John Peel session. (first BBC-broadcast - june 1st-1982) A year later (may 1983) the definitive version of 586 was released on the second New Order album "Power, Corruption & Lies" (FACT 75)( track 4-side 1).
Long live 586!
June the 29th, 2006
Jason Huggins is the owner of number 34, and he just sent me the following email:
I'm the creator of a web testing tool called "Selenium"... Of course,
Selenium is primarily known as the element in the periodic table. And
Selenium's atomic number is... 34! So, you could say "34" has been good to
me for the past few years... and it's time I returned the favor. :-)
Thanks Jason, and I wish you all success with Selenium (here's his website: http://www.openqa.org/selenium/)!
There is a new lowest number available: 37 (number 34 has just been sold). This reminds me that about a month ago, Tom Magliery sent me an email, saying that he is very curious about what's happening with 37, since it is his favorite number. He dedicated an entire website to the number, which is http://www.thirty-seven.org.
A lot of media activity is going on right now. It seems as if onethousandpaintings would make the jump from the blogosphere to the traditional press, which I think is the most important for any project. I will write more as soon as I have more info.
Also, Max, the 8 year old artist from anotherthousandpaintings, is very busy painting his nice artworks. He has updated his website significantly. Unfortunately, he seems to have gotten ill and has to stay in bed - get well soon!
June the 27th, 2006
More paintings received, this one in the Netherlands:
June the 26th, 2006
People start receiving the paintings, as can be seen on this picture that Joachim Rehm sent me:
June the 25th, 2006
With great pleasure, I have just noted that Anthony White has sold more than 40 paintings of the non-Euro Series since we have added him to our collection, and that his Euro Series, which is to be launched on July first, has reservations for more than 50 paintings. Absolutely impressive!
June the 22nd, 2006
I have received a couple of emails and read a couple of blogs about onethousandpaintings.com that have really moved me. You know, when I started this project, I thought it was a fun idea, and that it was an interesting concept at various levels (the conceptual context, the pricing, the fact that it is on the web and so on). However, I never dared to think that it would inspire other people. But John Firestone recently wrote the following on his blog:
My eyes have been opened to something I have really missed out on in the art world. I have recently bought two paintings. One is painting number 739 from an artist named Sala. He and his wife are the authors of onethousandpaintings.com. This is the most exciting thing to happen to the art world for quite some time.
...
It is a sign of our times. It is a wave I am glad to ride. I wish him the best and I will post the painting of mine when I get it (sometime in August I suspect - fine by me.) I found out about this whole thing from reading blogs - some great information out there - and from that reading I found other paths as yet untrod by my ignorant eyes. The next is Anthony White - he is the guy painting his own money, currency based work, making one painting after the previous one sells. Another web based idea since he sells some of them on Ebay and markets quite a few through his site - where I bought mine from. He has been written about quite a bit in the art blogs, along with Sala. I bought his painting for $60. I bought into some actually fun, interesting, exciting and highly conceptual work that is all about today’s day and age. I encourage anyone who gets a chance to see what they have to offer, to talk about it with them, me, or anyone else, to enjoy exciting art.
...
I am not just buying artwork, art lessons, and a story for my wall; I am buying a piece of my time and my age. Now how much is that going to be worth in the secondary market of my life. I have been working so hard on my own innovations that I missed out on a lot simpler and potentially more enjoyable aspects of the art world. That generated buzz - the novelty of the new and exciting - for around $200, I learned more about a side of the art biz I have always wanted to be a part of. And I have two stories on my wall (soon) that will constantly remind me of COOL art, not just how excited I get from it, but how exciting it can be for the whole world, how there is a community out there in love and lust with the power of thought and ideas.
...
It is a sign of our times. It is a wave I am glad to ride. I wish him the best and I will post the painting of mine when I get it (sometime in August I suspect - fine by me.) I found out about this whole thing from reading blogs - some great information out there - and from that reading I found other paths as yet untrod by my ignorant eyes. The next is Anthony White - he is the guy painting his own money, currency based work, making one painting after the previous one sells. Another web based idea since he sells some of them on Ebay and markets quite a few through his site - where I bought mine from. He has been written about quite a bit in the art blogs, along with Sala. I bought his painting for $60. I bought into some actually fun, interesting, exciting and highly conceptual work that is all about today’s day and age. I encourage anyone who gets a chance to see what they have to offer, to talk about it with them, me, or anyone else, to enjoy exciting art.
...
I am not just buying artwork, art lessons, and a story for my wall; I am buying a piece of my time and my age. Now how much is that going to be worth in the secondary market of my life. I have been working so hard on my own innovations that I missed out on a lot simpler and potentially more enjoyable aspects of the art world. That generated buzz - the novelty of the new and exciting - for around $200, I learned more about a side of the art biz I have always wanted to be a part of. And I have two stories on my wall (soon) that will constantly remind me of COOL art, not just how excited I get from it, but how exciting it can be for the whole world, how there is a community out there in love and lust with the power of thought and ideas.
I didn't find enough time to look at John's Site in detail, but I will as soon as I can (the address is http://www.johnfirestone.com).
Another blog I enjoyed was Andrew De Gabriele's. He wrote:
Arguably, any random squiggle is closer to being a masterpiece than a plain blue number painted onto a white background. However, what makes Sala’s work stand out is the concept – and the courage he had to do something so apparently ridiculous that nobody would even dream of in the first place.
In a society that is taught (and generally expected) to conform, avoid risk, and to stick to the beaten path, it is natural to look up to anyone who manages to pull off something that sounds impossible. People are inspired by stories that tell of success against all odds. And what Sala is selling is the chance for anyone who has a few bucks to spare to become part of something daring – and at the same time outrageously successful – without even leaving their armchair. What Sala is really selling are thrills!
In fact, the very outrageousness of this project is the seed of its success. It sounds so crazy that you want to tell your friends about it – and they want to tell their friends – and the whole thing balloons and suddenly hundreds of paintings are sold almost overnight. That’s viral marketing, and it’s very powerful indeed!
Sala’s art is not in the paintings themselves. His idea is 100% of his art.
In a society that is taught (and generally expected) to conform, avoid risk, and to stick to the beaten path, it is natural to look up to anyone who manages to pull off something that sounds impossible. People are inspired by stories that tell of success against all odds. And what Sala is selling is the chance for anyone who has a few bucks to spare to become part of something daring – and at the same time outrageously successful – without even leaving their armchair. What Sala is really selling are thrills!
In fact, the very outrageousness of this project is the seed of its success. It sounds so crazy that you want to tell your friends about it – and they want to tell their friends – and the whole thing balloons and suddenly hundreds of paintings are sold almost overnight. That’s viral marketing, and it’s very powerful indeed!
Sala’s art is not in the paintings themselves. His idea is 100% of his art.
Check out the entire article in Andrew's blog.
June the 21st, 2006
Just a quick note. I'm in NYC, and I didn't have the chance to update the blog. I will do tomorrow, maybe friday. For now, just a quick update - two more paintings sold, lots of paintings shipped. Smart Money (a magazine in New York) wants to have an interview.
(If you did send me an email since monday, and I didn't get back to you yet: I will, tomorrow or friday.)
June the 18th, 2006
More paintings ready for shipping today. While working through the emails, I found this one from David:
Greetings from Hermosa Beach, California. I used my
telephone to spell out my wife's name Nicole. So I
ordered 642 and 653. Those 6 numbers spell: NIC OLE on
the telephone. Very cool art and wish you the best
with the project.
Another creative way to choose a numbers - Thanks David!
June the 16th, 2006
30 paintings shipped this morning - updated shipping page - back to work...
June the 15th, 2006
After another long day of work, here's what goes through my mind:
When you sell 500 paintings in a couple of days, you have to become a manager. Of course, you were ready to paint a few paintings, but 500? You have to organize painting canvases. You have to organize color & varnish. You have to organize packing material, and you have to organize how your are going to ship 500 packages in 23 countries. You have to make sure that people who ordered their paintings early get their paintings first. You have to make sure you don't paint a number twice. You have to make sure that the paintings go where they should go. You have to make sure that you make no mistake with these authenticity numbers on the back of the paintings. You have to deal with your mailbox that constantly tells you that there are about 300 unread emails. You have to deal with problems that occurred with some of the orders. You have to keep your website updated. You have to give interviews. You have to deal with your provider who threatens to shut down your website if you don't fix that memory problem of your application. You have to cancel all your plans for the next two months.
And when you have everything organized, you have to stop being a manager, and start being an artist again. You have to sit down, and paint numbers.
I don't want to complain, of course. It's just what went through my mind today ;-)
June the 14th, 2006
More paintings ready for shipping. By the end of the week, we should have about 100 paintings shipped. After that, I will be in New York for 9 days. As promised, I have created a page with projected shipping dates. Since shipping is from Switzerland, you should allow 2 - 3 weeks until your painting arrives if your painting's destination is not in Europe.
More press: Feature in the Swiss evening newspaper "Heute".
June the 11th, 2006
Lots of paintings ready for shipping tomorrow morning. All paintings ordered before May 30th painted. I'll put up an extra page with shipping info for each number, e.g. if shipped or not, and expected shipping date. Tomorrow, work starts for the 322 paintings that were sold on May 30th and 31st alone.
Yesterday, I got this email from Max:
My name is Max. I am 8 years old and I live in WA in the USA. I heard of your website so
my dad suggested that I could do something like your paintings. So he helped me make my
own website.
I like your paintings and I hope you like mine... I want to be an artist like you. I am doing somthing similar to your idea. My website is called http://anotherthousandpaintings.com.
I like your paintings and I hope you like mine... I want to be an artist like you. I am doing somthing similar to your idea. My website is called http://anotherthousandpaintings.com.
I wrote Max back, telling him I wish I had been as clever as that when I was 8 years old!
Go Max go!
June the 9th, 2006
What a week... Things have calmed down, naturally. The paintings have increased in price, of course, because that's how the pricing scheme is set up. With the things to come in the future, I'm confident that all of them will go sooner or later, but it will take some time. Not everybody is as fast as blog readers ;-)
This weekend, I will upload pics from some of the paintings we made this week. The first load will be shipped tomorrow.
I hope you have seen the new collection section on this site. I plan to feature artwork that I find so nice that I can't resist buying it. The first is the work of Anthony White who is already quite well known for his money series. Check it out, it's an incredibly cool idea.
June the 7th, 2006
Today, many paintings were sold to Australia (but also to other destinations).
After some days of thought, and reading through many many emails, I have come to the following conclusion about the future of this project. Once all 1000 paintings are sold, every owner of a painting can tell his story about the number, or link to his website, or provide information about whatever he wants to, on the page of his number (of course, the masculine form used here is for readability only, as always). The number will be the user ID, and the authenticity number on the back of the painting will be the password which will be necessary to log in.
This means that after the 1000 paintings are sold, this site is very likley to become a great collection of stories about numbers. I am extremely looking forward to that!
June the 6th, 2006
Another 13 paintings sold - let's welcome the Czech Republic as the 23rd country! As soon as I find some time, I will upload the newspaper articles and radio interviews, put paintings have first priority, of course. Apparently, there was also a newspaper in Belgium that had a story on onethousandpaintings.com.
Again, thanks for all the emails, I'm reading all of them, and I'm slowly working through all orders and confirming them (current status is 29th of may).
June the 5th, 2006
The BBC Interview should be broadcasted tonight, on BBC Radio Five Live. Additionally, Switzerland's largest newspaper and radio will feature the site tomorrow. What a day that will be!
------
Teresa from the UK writes, via email:
This is such an amazing idea - I had been looking to purchase a piece of unique art online and this 100% fits the bill.
Reading through the comments from other purchasers I too would like to know more about the people who have bought other numbers - especially those either side of mine. I think this could make for a very interesting community.
Reading through the comments from other purchasers I too would like to know more about the people who have bought other numbers - especially those either side of mine. I think this could make for a very interesting community.
Thanks Teresa! You are very right - this is not only about 1000 paintings, but actually also about 1000 stories of people all over the world (22 countries so far), and I will definitely do something along these lines of thought once all paintings are sold.
June the 4th, 2006
Shawn wrote me an email with this interesting story about the number he chose:
I am a mathematics professor at an art school in Portland, Oregon, USA...
I think this project is fascinating, and I am sure I will discuss it in future classes
that I teach. The pricing strategy I find most creative. If I had known sooner, I would
have bought sooner. But 6x the original price is better than 10x the original price.
I thought about the number that I would want to purchase, thinking about the nature of
the number, or the factors of the number, or if it was prime or not, or whatever....but
heart won out over head.
3 days ago I purchased a new home in downtown Portland, with my girlfriend, and it will be completed in a year, with address 209. Your piece will hang as a great story, both about your project and our first home together.
3 days ago I purchased a new home in downtown Portland, with my girlfriend, and it will be completed in a year, with address 209. Your piece will hang as a great story, both about your project and our first home together.
Thanks Shawn!
June the 3rd, 2006
Bruno Giussani, writer for the Wall Street Journal, International Herald Tribune, Business Week and many more, has a very nice article on his blog about this project and other recent stuff about me. Thanks a lot!
------
500 passed. Wow, that was quick. Marilyn Langfeld bought the 500th painting, and you can read here what she thinks about it.
------
More good news: BBC wants to make an interview this coming monday.
------
It's a beautiful summer morning here in Zurich, the counter says 492 paintings sold, and I have this feeling that today could be the day of the magic 500.
June the 2nd, 2006
Both Switzerland's largest newspaper and largest radio station have interviewed me about the project, and judging from my previous experience with classical media (see blog entires below around the 9th of feb), this could cause another major increase in paintings sold. Both radio and the newspaper will feature the story this coming tuesday, the 6th of June 06 (that is 6-6-6). I'm happily expecting increased traffic on that day ;-)
June the 1st, 2006
Marcel from Ireland says (via email):
May I say that your concept is the most exiting I have come across on the
web - for so many reasons.. Simply brilliant ! I wish you the best of
luck.
A couple of more compliments like that, and I'm starting to believe it, so be careful :-))
------
I got this email from Hanna, which is absolutely amazing:
Great job Sala! You are a genius for this whole system you have set up! I am very excited
to be part of the worldwide art you are putting into effect. I just bought number 790 for
myself for my birthday and my dad is buying one as I type this email! Congratulations
from Ohio, US! You rock!
Wow, what a compliment - thanks Hanna, and happy birthday!
------
450! I've just seen that the ad on boingboing is up and running. Looks pretty.
------
Karl has written a wonderful email to me, and like many others, he is suggesting to publish some information about the owners of paintings on this website. I was thinking about this from the very start, but did not do it because I had the feeling that many people wanted to stay anonymous. But it seems that I was wrong. I will pick this idea up again once the paintings are sold. Of course, I want to add to this that I would not put any personal information online without having the permission of the owners. Here's what Karl writes:
I love the idea of this kind of "numerical brotherhood" in your creation, I
can envisage the way people will think once they are all sold - like I'm a
publishing company executive in Wiltshire in England, and I own 601, so who
owns 600 and 602, it could be anyone, anywhere - a Bollywood actor in Mumbai
or a barman in Los Angeles or a financial trader in Hong Kong. We are
totally diverse, yet oddly united through the numbers we own, each chosen
for some deeply personal reason. It would be awesome if you ran a page on
your site, in the future, once they are all sold, where owners could
voluntarily list themselves against their number, so we could all look up
who owns other numbers, who we are "linked" to in this joint-ownership
scheme.
------
Mike from the University of Illinois says (via email):
BTW, as you may have seen in my signature line, I'm an advertising professor
-- I'm definitely going to include your project in my Classic Campaigns
course when we focus on viral marketing and new media in the Fall term --
the way things have taken off, the idea itself, exploiting (in the best
possible sense) the unlimited possibilities of the internet, etc., will make
a perfect case study for my students to look at.
Very cool - thanks Mike!
------
Brian from 2000 Bricks has plotted the number of paintings sold per day on his website - nice!
------
I just wanted to mention to those who have ordered a painting: I get lots and lots of emails at the moment, and it is very hard to keep up with all of them, but you will get a confirmation soon. If you did not get an email from me saying that there was a problem with your order, then you're in the club ;-)
Also, to those people who email me about the project, with compliments, critique, ideas, or whatever: Thank you! I read all emails, but at the moment, I cannot reply to all of them. But please keep on sending me feedback, it's great and highly appreciated.
May the 31st, 2006
LIVE FROM ZURICH, SWITZERLAND
[02:39 Central European Time]
Again, a long night with emails, emails, emails... But what a day it was. More than 200 paintings sold within 24 hours. Just amazing. And I guess what everybody wants to know is: Is he gonna make it? Is he gonna sell all 1000?
Well, it would be great, and I think we could get there. I believe that you always have to have a couple of good cards in your hand. In my case, I had / have four of them. The first was the exhibition at V-Gallery in Basel last February. That event got the project going. Then, I made this websites as graphs applet, which attracted massive interest, >100'000 unique visitors in 5 days, and some of them started to buy paintings. The third card was boingboing - I was surely lucky to have them feature me, but as I have already written earlier, I was planning to advertise on the site, which would have had a similar effect, I assume.
The fourth card is actually the best card - I haven't played that yet. It was not necessary so far. But I will play it, should the way to a 1000 paintings be steeper than it looks at the moment ;-)
So once again, thanks for another great day.
------
[00:14 Central European Time]
Zach from Michigan ordered the wrong number: 232 instead of 242. He asked me if he could still switch, which was no problem. Now he's just sent me this funny email:
I was racking my brain thinking of a good number to pick and I remembered
that each letter in Hebrew stands for a number and my name (Zachary) is
Hebrew in origin. So I added the letters in the Hebrew version of my name
together and (thought) I had 232. (My boss at work was breathing down my
neck so I didn't spend enough time doing the research.) When I got home
from work I checked again and noticed that I was missing one letter! It was
Yod -- the little one that looks like an apostrophe and stands for 10! I
was off by 10! Hehe. Anyway, I really appreciate this! I think this is a
really cool project.
Thanks Zach!
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[23:22 Central European Time]
421 paintings sold - that number does not seem very special, but it means that today, on May 31st 2006, onethousandpaintings.com has sold 200 paintings in one single day.
------
[19:30 Central European Time]
A got this very important email saying:
I purchased two pieces yesterday afternoon (877 and 615) but noitced they
stayed on the availability list until this morning -- and 615 is still
listed as available. So, obviously, your list isn't updated right away. So
what happens if I'm not the first person to have ordered a certain number?
Alex from Germany orders 877 at 12:00, then I order it at 12:30 because it's
still listed as available, then four other people order it later in the day:
what happens?
The answer is: The list gets only updated when the payments are confirmed, which is the case with 98% of the orders.
The problem is, if your transfer is not confirmed by paypal, the painting will stay available. If somebody makes a confirmed payment in the meanwhile, he'll get it.
This is a problem with pending payments which I cannot easily solve. It was not an easy decision, but the rule I set is that whoever makes the first confirmed painting gets it. This may sound harsh, but pending payments are very risky for me, and it's not sure whether they will be cleared in the future or not.
So, if you order a painting, and the painting is still marked as available, you must contact me asap. If I can't get back to you before somebody else makes a confirmed payment, the painting will go to the confirmed payer.
Of course, any payment for a painting that has gone to someone else will be refunded.
------
[19:15 Central European Time]
Thinking about the rate of paintings sold per hour, I thought it might be of interest how many paintings have been sold when. Here's the data (Central European Timezone):
2006-02-09: 21 paintings sold
Rest of february: another 15 paintings
All of march: 20 paintings
All of april: 6 paintings
2006-05-07: 1 painting
2006-05-26: 5 paintings
2006-05-27: 8 paintings
2006-05-28: 9 paintings
2006-05-29: 21 paintings
2006-05-30: 115 paintings
2006-05-31: 194 paintings and the day is not over yet...
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[18:42 Central European Time]
400!!! Oh, man.... A bit more than 12 hours ago, the counter was just on 275 - that's a current rate of approx. 10 paintings per hour.
------
[17:52 Central European Time]
Here we go again. 395 Paintings sold. 400 approaching fast!
------
May the 30th, 2006
LIVE FROM ZURICH, SWITZERLAND
[03:11 Central European Time]
Aaah, 275, what a nice number. It is very tempting to watch the counter hit the 300 barrier, but it's quite late here, and I have been writing emails all night long. I guess I need some sleep now. I could not yet answer all emails, or confirm all orders, but I will do that as soon as possible.
Thanks for this night, everybody. It was fantastic.
------
[01:21 Central European Time]
250!
------
[01:06 Central European Time]
Sven reminds me by email that you can't buy 889 and then turn it around and pretend it was 688! True, but this is not because there was a sort of a "this side up" mark - it's simply that each number has a 'secret number' (up to 19 digits) on its back that marks it as unique. For more info, please check the FAQ and this page with detailed info.
------
[00:59 Central European Time]
Some people have suggested that I should "buy" some paintings for myself, and sell them later on eBay. Economically, this is a very good idea - but I won't do it. I did not buy a single number for myself since the project started, and I won't buy a single number in the future. I cannot really give you a good reason for that, other than it just wouldn't feel right to buy my own paintings. It's not that I don't like them...;-)
------
[00:45 Central European Time]
While boingboing has absolutely kickstarted the project tonight, I had also quite a bit of sales in the past few days, due to this post on my alter ego blog, aharef.info. For those of you interested in networks, you might want to check it out. Amazingly, this post attracted more than
Man, the web *is* a crazy place...
------
[00:29 Central European Time]
Richard writes me this amazing email:
Hey Sala. been watching your site since yesterday afternoon wondering whether to buy one. I have decided that I really want to go for one. Perhaps 873? What you think of that number? Only thing is that my dad has gone to bed and I'm going to have to wait till morning to borrow his card. Hope it doesn't go! And also hope that you don't sell another 70 or so otherwise I'll have to pay more! Love the site, only disappointed I didn't make decision to buy one 2 hours earlier! Your number of purchases are rocketing!
------
[23:58 Central European Time]
Caleb writes:
I found the site through Seth Godin's Blog. He is a bestselling author on marketing in the U.S. He speaks to Fortune 500 companies every day about creating unique engaging experiences. He wrote about your project, "it's so classically, perfectly viral. It will make him hundreds of thousands of dollars in just a few weeks. And it will make you smile. I bought painting 552. I may donate it to MoMA."
Well, I have no idea how much money this will make, we'll see. But it's surely way less than the milliondollarhomepage.com (The proof of this is left as an exercise to the reader ;-)
------
[23:44 Central European Time]
Jay (via Email) just told me that site has been featured on a prominent Middle East Blog, http://grapeshisha.blogspot.com/2006/05/another-example-of-status.html. Well, it is true: The world IS a village.
------
[23:36 Central European Time]
200!!!
------
[23:21 Central European Time]
Ok, so this seems to be the night! Here in Zurich, it's close to midnight, and I'm sitting here in my office to watch the counter tick. I am all alone here, so please stay a while with me, while we're watching a little internet history happening ;-) And drop me a line at sala AT onethousandpaintings.com, if there's something you want to say!
May the 30th, 2006
More and more and more paintings ordered - and new countries added to the list of buyers: Germany, France, and Sweden. Welcome to the club ;-)
For those who have seen the movie "The Life Aquatic" with Bill Murray: Waris Ahluwalia, the guy on the very right on the image below, has ordered a painting today. How cool is that???
May the 29th, 2006
I'm out of words! Another
Lots and lots of people are writing about the project, and I have just found this very nice quote on the upyourego blog:
...I suggest you think hard about getting yourself a number, this project has the potential to go down in history as another
great moment in the internet evolution.
...
The project launched in February and Sala has sold nearly 100 numbers so far - all it takes is for a major news agency (say the BBC) to write a piece on it and they will all be gone in no time.
...
The project launched in February and Sala has sold nearly 100 numbers so far - all it takes is for a major news agency (say the BBC) to write a piece on it and they will all be gone in no time.
May the 28th, 2006
Another
The way things are going right now, it might very well be that the 100th painting will be sold in the next few days.
One recent buyer, Bob, wrote to me just a couple of hours ago:
...some numbers are more than numbers... they're significant on a personal
level. Plus, I love the idea of owning one piece of an art project that is distributed
across the globe. Very cool.
May the 27th, 2006
11 paintings sold in one day (to the US, UK, Canada, Belgium, Ireland and Australia). Probably thanks to this post on my alter ego blog, aharef.
May the 17th, 2006
I am often surprised about the reactions of people towards this project. It is very often either a "this is nuts" or "this is great, I buy one" reaction. A classical example is the latest buyer, Kurt Keller, who recently saw me on television talking about onethousandpaintings.com, and he immediately got to the computer and ordered his number (personal communication). Let's see what the boingboing ad will do...
May the 9th, 2006
This might sound like a cheap sales trick (it is ;-), but I think now is the best time to get a painting. The paintings are still very inexpensive, and I have the gut feeling that we're approaching the 100 painting barrier pretty soon, when prices will double. I'm also expecting to get more press when 100 paintings are sold.
May the 7th, 2006
The counter keeps ticking, but slowly. Apparantely, Word Magazine has featured onethousandpaintings.com - cool. Also, I was busy working on another blog of mine, aharef (german only). But anyways, I finally decided to put an add on boingboing.
That should be an interesting experiment. Boingboing is the most read blog out there, with about 350'000 visitors per day, and I'm expecting some traffic. Frankly, this is my first experiment with online ads, so I have no clue whether this will really be a wise investment. But you never know until you try.
April the 14th, 2006
Yesterday, I had about 400 unique visitors on the site - more than ever since the site went online. It was simply due to this post. University of Notre Dame, Football Team? Hey guys, can't you also post something about this? Your visits would seriously accelerate the whole project ;-)
April the 11th, 2006
More paintings sold, and another one to the US. It's good to see that the site is getting more and more international attention, albeit on a low level, of course. Another Swiss magazine (Word Magazine) is gonna feature the site in their next issue, that's more good news.
Also of potential interest: One more painting with a number.
March the 29th, 2006
Ha, the first painting sold to the UK (Oxford)!
This Google ad stuff is really tricky. What's great about it is that you only pay per click, not per impression. But there are two problems: a) you have to figure out which keywords your ad should be associated with, and b) how much you are willing to pay per click. What you are willing to pay directly influences the position of your ad. Keywords like "art" are both rather expensive (about $0.3 per click) and also for a rather unspecific target group (I mean, who searches for art by just searching for the term "art"?). Despite about 3000 impressions, I only had 18 clicks so far. (Ok, I must admit that I hate ads too, but when you stand on the other side of the fence, things always look different...) I'm gonna give it a full week, and if the ads don't translate to sales directly, I'm gonna inactivate them.
March the 27th, 2006
After thinking really really hard ;-) I've decided to do the following:
- Use Google to place ads on art / number related search results (done)
- Translate this website to german (done, with the exception of the blog)
- Try to find another gallery to host an exhibition (in progress)
March the 19th, 2006
With the exception of one or two paintings, I'm again up to date - all orderered paintings produced and shipped. But: no orders for four consecutive days. The swiss press is not interested in the story, but that's not too surprising, since they usually have a delay of about half a year when it comes to stuff that's happening on the web. But without the press, how can I let people know about onethousandpaintings.com? Hm, I have to think harder... think, think...
March the 15th, 2006
I was waiting for the day when somebody in the US who I don't personally know would order a painting, because that would mean that the idea has spread across the ocean. Today is not that day - it's better.
The person who bought the number 420 is Jared Tarbell. Jared has done superexciting work with Flash and Processing (to get a glimpse, check his website levitated.net). Jared is also one of the four guys behind etsy.com. Plus, he has coauthored a couple of very inspiring books about programming Flash. In short, although I do not personally know him, I know who he is, and I like his work a lot.
I was wondering what he thought about the project, and he wrote
"There are so many interesting
things about what you are doing. First, the completeness of the series -
this is something I really enjoy. Also, the variable pricing with different
numbers and the increase in price with the rarification of the unpurchased
collection.
Then I followed the link to your website where I was equally impressed. It
is very well put together. I searched a few numbers before laughing that
420 was still available. It was just too easy to buy. I also personally
believe that these paintings are going to become very popular in the near
future. I'm happy to have gotten one early on."
March the 10th, 2006
50 sold!
The countdown for the magic 100 barrier has started. Be sure to get your number before it's gone (and don't forget: prices will double after 100 paintings sold ;-)
March the 6th, 2006
More paintings sold, and I have added some wikipedia information about the numbers below the detail page of each number (see, for example, number 151). If only I had known earlier that 151 is a palindromic twin prime!!!
March the 3rd, 2006
All paintings that were ordered before this week have been painted and shipped, or are ready to be shipped. I have had absolutely no press coverage this week and last week, but the counter keeps ticking anyways (slowly, but steadily ;-). Next week, I will send out press releases about the website. Maybe I should hire a twelve-year old kid to stick a gum on one of the paintings to get noticed by the big blogs...
The intermediate goal is to sell 100 paintings - and I'm almost halfway there. After 100 paintings sold, I guess it will be much easier to get coverage from the press (the critical mass phenomenon).
February the 26th, 2006
Finally, packaging material arrived. With one or two exceptions, all paintings are ready:
...and most have been shipped:
February the 19th, 2006
The counter keeps ticking... I had problems with ordering the packaging material, grmpf. Also, slight update of the website.
February the 14th, 2006
While browsing the blogs that write about onethousandpaintings.com, I realized that there is some discussion about whether this project is just a copy of the milliondollarhomepage. I would lie if I would say that I was not inspired by it. The milliondollarhomepage, at least to me, was proof that crazy things can happen on the web. In the late nineties, *anything* was possible on the web, but when the dot com bubble imploded, the general feeling was that the web is simply just another tool that supports us in our daily lifes. The milliondollarhomepage taught me that there is a HUGE potential for crazy ideas. If this project is a copy of anything, then it's a copy of the gazillion galleries out there. They sell paintings. And that's what I do, too.
Another two sold, and I'm busy painting.
February the 13th, 2006
Another 10 paintings sold, and the gallery event went fine (still waiting for the pictures here are the pictures). Today, however, could be the first day when no paintings are sold. This is a pitty, but it could also be a good thing. Above all, it was to be expected. Let me explain.
It's a pitty because, of course, I want to sell as many paintings as possible. In fact, I want to sell all thousand paintings. Right now, however, it's also a good thing, because producing these paintings is a lot of work, and I will be busy some time with the 31 paintings. Finally, it was to be expected, since nobody would have thought that people would buy 31 paintings in three days, and I haven't been very active in promoting the project yet.
I realize that a lot of people come back to visit the site, and I'm curious why this is so. Do people want to order a painting, but are unsure to do so? Or are they just curious about the number of paintings sold? Please let me know (sala@onethousandpaintings.com).
Also, I have initated a little contest: If you can guess which number will be sold next, I offer you a painting for free! Simply go to this page and submit your guess.
February the 10th, 2006
What a day... I sold 21 paintings during the first day of the project. It almost goes without saying that this is beyond my expectations.
February the 9th, 2006
Interesting things are happening. A local newspaper of Basel reports about this website in todays issue - before the project has even started!! I therefore decided to put the website online right now. Enjoy!
January the 29th, 2006
This is the first "ghost" post - a post that will not immediately go online after being written. It can't, of course, because the website will only go online in 2 weeks. I guess it's not so hard to understand that I'm pretty excited about this whole project!
The idea was born in Portugal last December. There are a lot of galleries in Porto, but most of the ones that I visited were selling paintings of flowers, or of fruits. What's so special about flowers and fruits? I'm sure that there are beautiful paintings of flowers, and I'm sure that a lot of people are excited to put them on a wall. But I'm not, and that got me thinking - thinking about the content of a painting, why somebody buys a painting, and the price of a painting.
The result is this website, and of course the paintings that I sell here. This is an experiment of art and mathematics, on the web, the first of its kind. I have no idea whether it will fly, or whether it will remain largely unnoticed, like the majorities of websites out there.
Today I finished this website, and I can't wait to put in online. The reason why I'm not doing it is an event at V-gallery in Basel on February the 12th. It will be the kickoff event for this project.