REAL TALK

I also thought it was great. I knew I wanted to be involved as an artist as soon as I heard about it. My only regret is that I didn't have time to frame my work. It would have looked better and maybe would have sold :/

It was really great to see people excited about collecting work. I think the show tapped into something that's unfortunately pretty rare. I'm going to use the "m" word here: good marketing. The idea is so simple and elegant, simply describing the show is brilliant marketing. I love that. I think marketing gets a bad rap sometimes (I've heard the concept be openly demonized in local public forums relating to the discourse around art). But marketing is just a tool like so many others. Marketing is a technique to communicate what you want someone to do in a way that makes them want to do it. In the service of buying shitty food or plastic junk, it's easy to see it as something bad. But when you use marketing to get people to invest in the local art scene, you get a sense for the way the tool can be used for really great ends.

There's no shortage of people and events and initiatives imploring us to support local art (and businesses, and food, etc). But 100 Grand is one of those rare examples where the whole thing is designed in such a way that people WANT to support local artists. Not because they're being guilted into it, or because they feel some obligation, but they truly want to. And honestly, part of it is selfish. People went to that show because they knew they could get good work for cheap, and see new artists, and hang out with cool people. That that little bit of selfishness is ok. It gets people to support the local art scene with absolutely zero arm-twisting.