Gifted art
{{Short description|Art distributed without cost}}
{{redirect|Free art|works free as in freedom|free content|the copyleft license|Free Art License}}
{{Original research|date=February 2010}}
File:Freebox.JPG, Germany 2005, serving as a distribution center for free donated materials]]
Gifted art (or free art) is any form or piece of art that is given freely, whether to a city, a group of people, a community or an individual. It refers to any art that is distributed at no direct cost. It is a form of conceptual art. It comes from a belief that art should be available for all people to enjoy, whether rich or poor, university graduate or junior high dropout. Since Gifted Art is an expressive form of art - an idea, it encompasses virtually all forms of art: movies, literature, music recordings, sculpture,{{Cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE6DF103AF935A25751C1A96F948260|title = SoHo Gift to Wall St.: A 3 1/2-Ton Bronze Bull|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 16 December 1989|last1 = McFadden|first1 = Robert D.}} painting,{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/arts_and_culture/7730285.stm|title=Artist leaves his art on streets|date=15 November 2008}} graffiti,http://www.france24.com/france24Public/en/archives/news/culture/20070512-swoon-street-art-moma-urban-new-york-paris-l-j-beaubourg.php{{Dead link|date=December 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} digital art, street performances, performance art, sticker art, comics, coffeehouse poetry and Internet-distributed art etc.
Short History
Gifted Art has a long history in the arts. Many artists have been known to give art freely to each other, in an effort to pass along ideas, etc. Picasso and many of his contemporaries were fond of this.
Duchamp was one of the first modern day artists to Gift to the public with his piece, Fountain, for an art show in 1917. He gave the piece under the name of "R. Mutt," presumably to hide his identity as the artist. He actually had to pay $7 to have the piece exhibited in the show, and never intended on making any money from it. He gave it freely for all to see and to push forward the Dada movement.
In the 1950s, Ray Johnson started doing Mail art. He spread the idea to many other artists{{Cite web |url=http://www.thegalleriesatmoore.org/publications/johnsoncp.shtml |title=The Mailed Art of Ray Johnson |access-date=2008-11-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080615003508/http://www.thegalleriesatmoore.org/publications/johnsoncp.shtml |archive-date=2008-06-15 |url-status=dead }} and it still occurs today. In 2002, a 6 ft X 53 ft mural by Roy Lichtenstein was installed in the Times Square Subway Station in New York City. It was given as a gift by the artist to all New Yorkers.http://www.artfacts.net/index.php/pageType/exhibitionInfo/exhibition/36702/lang/1 {{Dead link|date=February 2022}}
In recent years, Gifted Art has primarily been embraced by graffiti and urban artists, in particular the British artist My Dog Sighs is recognised as one of the pioneers.{{Cite web |date=2023-04-01 |title=My Dog Sighs - from Free Art Friday, to Inside and international stardom - the Portsmouth street artist celebrates 20 years |url=https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/people/my-dog-sighs-from-free-art-friday-to-inside-and-international-stardom-the-portsmouth-street-artist-celebrates-20-years-4086632 |access-date=2024-12-16 |website=The News |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Joanne |date=2014-10-17 |title=Free Art Friday |url=https://www.oca.ac.uk/weareoca/fine-art/free-art-friday/ |access-date=2024-12-16 |website=The Open College of the Arts |language=en-GB}} Many graffiti artists consider the work they do to be art for the public. Banksy writes in his books that he believes art is more important and more enjoyable when it is out on the street where people can view it in their everyday lives than when it hangs in a museum.
See also
References
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Further reading
- The Gift by Lewis Hyde, Vintage, 1983
- Wall and Peace by Banksy, Century, 2005
External links
- http://www.designboom.com/contemporary/swoon.html
- http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/magazine/16hyde-t.htm
- http://airamerica.com/category/topics/adam-neate{{Dead link|date=December 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
- http://www.netartreview.net/
- http://www.featherandfathomfreeart.wordpress.com
= Gifted Art Organizations =
There are now several art shows and organizations where art is gifted. Here are a few.
- http://contempart.org.uk/
- {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20080112124022/http://www.freeartfair.com/ Article title]}}
- https://web.archive.org/web/20090123013941/http://ugcunion.ning.com/
- http://www.freeart.org/
- http://www.artfundprize.org.uk/sponsor-and-supporters.php
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