TENNESSEE
Oil on canvas
3 × 5 inches
2025
Painted the Dollar Tree off Kingston Pike home in Knoxville and proposed a store credit trade with the manager. She said she didn't think she'd be allowed to do that, but that she had $5 in cash. Deal. With my $5 budget I bought superglue, ice cream, and airheads gum- I put back the Barbie cat because it drove my total past $5 with tax. Went home net positive around $0.30 because I spent $3.75 on a large fountain drink at Wendy's so I could sit in the AC and touch up details. What gives art value? What is more valuable, the experience of a connection facilitating a trade or the objects traded themselves? Regardless of the physical fate of my painting in the hands of Dollar Tree on Kingston Pike, the social exchange was more than enough to justify the labor. But regarding commodities and product, if I'm not right in deciding that 2 hours of work and material is equivalent to ice cream, gum, and superglue, who's to tell me that I'm wrong?
Acrylic on canvas
16 × 20 inches
2023
