Join us as we celebrate a local treasure and his populist ode to art.
April 20 - August 27, 2017
Opening Reception April 20, 6PM-8PM
SECCA is proud to present a 20th anniversary retrospective of Art-o-mat.
Art-o-mat began in 1997 as a conceptual artwork by Winston-Salem artist Clark Whittington, repurposing cigarette vending machines to become dispensers for artist multiples, beginning with his own.Art-o-mat has since burgeoned into an international network of contributing artists, with collaborating host institutions, which invite the public to experience art collecting in a widely accessible and innovative way.
Over the years, Art-o-mat has become a resident fixture in many art venues nationally and internationally and the achievement of the project has been recognized in shows at SECCA, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and through sprawling artist-collector networking events called art swaps. Machines have been installed in museums such as the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and at locations as far flung as Australia and Texas.
This 20-year retrospective exhibition will include an armada of Art-o-mat machines, inviting all to see how an Art-o-mat is put together and customized. It will present numerous miniature art works that are dispensed from the machines, including an array of limited edition multiples. It will also present larger-scale artworks by the artists who produce editions for Art-o-mat, made on site in our galleries.
This exhibition is organized by Clark Whittington, Cliff Dossel and Cora Fisher.
Art-o-mat Swap Meet
Saturday, June 10, 2017 @ 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. | Main Gallery
Join us for a rare opportunity to meet some of the artists who keep Art-o-mat® machines across the country (and the world) filled with small, affordable works of art.
Open to the public, the Art-o-mat Swap Meet is an event to celebrate everything that is Art-o-mat! More than 50 artists will be at the event with art blocks to sell (and swap) as well as artists' demonstrations. Tour Art-o-mat's 20th Anniversary Retrospective exhibit in our main galleries. There will be live bands, food trucks and beer and other refreshments for sale. Come for an hour or stay the whole day!
The event is free and open to the public.
Past, active and future Art-o-mat® artists who are interested in attending and/or doing simple demos about what they create, please register by emailing studio@artomat.org.