$200 Art Collecting

A journal. A discussion. A hunt for art on a tight budget.

Interview: RJ Rushmore of Vandalog

I’ve been following Vandalog, a blog started by RJ Rushmore, for a while now. So when he forwarded me snaps of his latest project, a line of T-shirts by three artists — the shirts shown above, from left to right, are by Gaia, Other and Faro — I took the opportunity to ask him a couple of questions about collecting art for $200.

What have you seen that you’ve liked?

I was lucky enough to be in London for the Moniker Art Fair last month. That was a crazy fair. I think my favorite thing outside of the fair was a wall that Boxi painted, and indoors it was probably one of Brian Adam Douglas’s collage/sketch pieces. Also, I’m taking some students from my college on a bit of a field trip to see Jordan Seiler’s solo show at Vincent Michael Gallery in Philadelphia this weekend, and I’m really looking forward to that. The other thing I’m looking forward to seeing is whatever Armsrock has in the upcoming group show at Black Rat Projects. He can be brilliant and is super affordable.

Have you bought art pieces for $200 and under?

I’m a student at Haverford College and I’ve got a student budget for things right now, so I’ve definitely bought art for under $200. I have one of Escif’s posters from Pictures on Walls, a couple of toys by Tristan Eaton, a special edition of Very Nearly Almost with a screenprinted cover by Eine and a few other things. Maybe the best piece of affordable art that I have though is from The Dufala Brothers. I work at my college’s art gallery, and they recently had a show there. One work that they put in a lot of their shows is the “Free Wall,” where they cover a cork board in photocopies of drawings. Visitors are all invited to take a drawing of two home with them for free. So I took a sketch of a baseball player (with a huge and bat-shaped penis) masturbating.

Great tips, RJ! Now everyone, go buy a T-shirt.

(Above: Escif, “Red Carpet,” five color silkscreen print, ed. 100.)

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