or I suppose, more to the point- Why do I sell my art?
I suppose I could go on and on about the importance of conveying my ideas to my viewers or some other such art-y nonsense but the truth is, I sell art so that I may purchase car parts.
Yes, that's right, car parts. Specifically parts for my 1967 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia. I bought the car when I was 15 and have lovingly held onto it and dumped money into it ever since. I sold art and saved money to rebuild the transmission, I sold art and saved money to have it painted, I sold art and saved money to have the engine rebuilt.
Frankly it broke my heart to have to take it off the road roughly 7 years ago, but I have sold art and saved money and by golly, I'll be driving it by the end of the summer.
Perhaps its a weird cycle to be in, having a car so tangled into the cycle of making and selling art that I don't think i could separate them if I tried. I've been doing it for so long, I can't imagine anything else. In college I even went through I brief period of making at, if not about, than at least related to the car. That resulted in having an instructor look at me and say, "I just don't understand car people" and then refusing to spend any more time with me or my art. Looking back over some of those prints, they aren't bad and at the risk of being a little too obessive, I may even return to them someday soon.
Until then, a very very special thank you to everyone who has ever purchased my artwork. Today for the first time in 7 years I drove my Karmann Ghia into the driveway. Granted it was only from the street into the driveway but it was driving. I still have some more parts to buy (and some more art to sell) before it's truly roadworthy but I'm one step closer and that's what really counts.
