SF0 / samwise / Avant-Caricature

45 + 93 points

Avant-Caricature by Sam Archer

February 19th, 2012 8:54 PM / Location: 37.785060,-122.4030

INSTRUCTIONS: Modern, conceptual art has found a home in the scholarly walls of museums - but will it do the same on a street corner? In the hands of the everyman, will modern non-objectivism be appreciated?

Your task is to find out - set up an easel, a chair, and a paper pad and offer your services as a modern caricature artist. Think Rothko, think Mondrian. (If a bright eyed child sits in front of you, draw a yellow circle, for example.)

Make sure you document (photograph) your adventure, record your customer's reactions, and show us the art you made.

If people actually decide to pay you for your "art" - give their money back (still give them the drawing) , and explain sf0 to them.

Since I'm not in any way a painter, I started this task from scratch, stalking the aisles of Blick's, feeling like a fraud. Paints! Brushes! Easel! Paper! Clips! Palette! Bucket! Armed with a bag full of brand new art supplies and my artsiest beret, I walked to Yerba Buena Garden and set up shop.

The story is all in the photos. I did seven paintings over a period of about an hour and a half; once it got dark, the number of subjects dried up, and I packed it in. Earlier start next time.

I "signed" each painting with the URL to my sf0 profile, in case the recipients of my artwork wanted to find out more about the impetus behind it. If you are one of those people, welcome, and thank you for your help with this praxis! If you have time to make an account (it's free) and leave a comment here, I would be delighted to hear from you.

Update 2012/03/04: Did a few more.