Welcome to Wager

As the economy has begun sputtering and spitting with what seems to be, at certain moments its last breath, I would like to present my new project Wager. I find myself in a precarious position as an artist. I am in essence the maker of a "product" that in times like these, is considered by many as superfluous. As art is considered a luxury item it is in essence one of the first things to stop selling. Galleries are closing, art fairs are not selling like they have in the past and artists are (very) nervous. In many ways Damien Hirst couldn't have had better timing. The British artist who went beyond the gallery structure and sold 200 of his works at a Sotheby's auction which grossed a staggering $125 million on the first day alone. All of this happened about a month before everything went all wrong; like the country of Iceland going bankrupt.

Keeping all of this in mind I have set up Wager. Once every couple of weeks a work will be up for sale on this blog. The work will be posted on a Thursday. Anyone has the chance to obtain the work by making a wager or bet on the work. The wager can be based on what the viewer deems the value of the work is. The basic structure will be that each person will only have one chance to make me an offer via email. The bidding will last until the next posting is posted. The person who has offered the most amount of money for the work will receive the work after payment has been made.

Earlier this year I finished a year long project titled The 38 Project. This project was set on the premise that a work would be made available for sale on a blog for the sum of 38 euros. The catch was that the buyer had to be the first one to email me for the work. The works always sold out the day of posting. As that project came to an end, I was getting offers to buy the work both for double or triple the price and sight unseen. The project created a sort of frenzy of buying. That was in June - pre-economic crisis.

It is through Wager that I would like to question the essence of the value of (my) work. Although there are many questions to ponder, the most prominent one for me is how the value of art work is determined - especially in an economic crisis like this.


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Here is the first work for Wager



The Economy Inn
Digital print, 40 x 50 cm, 5 + 2AP edition