Announcement

Regretfully, I have to confirm that we won't be carrying forward the wowlookwhatigot.com publishing project. We will, of course, honour all our commitments to our crowd-funders - the second month's mailouts will be going out soon - best hang on to them - they might be worth a lot one day!  As before, they will all be signed and numbered limited editions.

This was a tough decision. It was always my intention that I would continue to run the publishing venture, regardless of how few or how many subscribers we got, but other considerations have since intervened. Put simply, it is not seen as desirable by gallerists and dealers that I should be selling prints online, and I need to focus my energy on creating new work, so not only this project, but all the online print-on-demand shops etc. where I've been selling have now been closed down. You can read the full story at:

http://artedstates.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/closing-down-sale-big-momentous-decision.html

So ... many thanks to everyone who supported us. Life goes on, just a little differently! As part of the new era, there is a new website at martinherbert.com - please visit and take a look around. On the contact page you can sign up for the newsletter, which will mean invitations to gallery openings, news of new work available and other events.

This blog will close at the end of October.

All the best,
Martin

First prints in the mail!

"Ode to Creativity" : Handmade collage
Copyright © 2008 by Vivi-Mari Carpelan

As you'll hopefully have heard, we managed to raise just enough from our crowd-funding campaign at indiegogo.com to purchase a 2nd-hand pigment-ink fine-art quality printer, and after a little cleaning and overhauling, those who signed up for one of our indiegogo funding perks can see the results. The first prints are in the mail today! We hope you'll agree that the quality is everything we could have asked for!

As Vivi-Mari's handmade collage “Ode to Creativity”, featuring the Indian goddess of learning and creativity, Saraswati, was the 'poster girl' for our campaign, we thought it was only fitting that this should be the first print of our series. We hope you like this piece as much as we do!

News this month:

Congratualtions in order! Vivi-Mari sold one of the two pieces she had in the 'Outside In West' exhibition at the Museum of Somerset in Taunton, and has just heard that another work has been selected for the 'Shape' exhibition coming up in the Autumn at Bow Arts (“At the heart of London's artist quarter”!). More details of that coming up in the newsletter.

Meanwhile, I'm in the middle of 'changing course'... you might have seen via my blog or newsletter that I'm ceasing all online sales from the end of August in order to concentrate on more 'serious' work for the collector market. This means shops at saatchi-online.com, fineartamerica,com, redbubble.com, and etsy.com will cease to exist at the end of the month. All items in the stores have already been discounted, but in particular, at etsy.com, I'm offering 50% off everything for the final week (25th - 31st August).

To order from etsy.com and get 50% off, please go to www.etsy.com/uk/shop/Spiritvisions, make your selections, and enter the discount code CLOSING50 during checkout. (This code is active from Sunday 25th August).

Funders, we hope you enjoy our August mailout, and look forward to the next print in September. Until then,

Love from Martin & Vivi-Mari

Status ... we have our printer!! First mailings going out soon!

Hi,

Firstly, I apologise for the fact that it's been approximately forever since the last update - I've had to put a lot of time into other projects for a while, and also have a couple of hospital treatments (one done and two coming up...) to contend with.  Nothing serious, happily :-)

Two significant pieces of news ...

Firstly - thanks to everyone who contributed to the crowd-funding campaign on indiegogo.com, we have been able to purchase a second-hand Epson R2400 printer on ebay, and went up to Colwyn Bay a little while ago to pick it up from a lovely couple who were completely honest and conscientious about making sure we knew exactly what we were getting and what state it was in!  We had a nice day out as well into the bargain - lunch on the beach and a trip to Portmeirion, which has now become a favourite hangout.

So  here we are - installed in the studio...

The nerve-centre of wowlookwhatigot.com operations ...

Not the brand new A1 printer we were aiming for, but as we said in the beginning, the business concept was meant to be scalable.  The 2400 makes fine-art prints using fade-resistant pigment-based Ultrachrome inks (that's the important bit!) on heavyweight fine-art paper in sizes up to A3+ which is enough for us to get up and running. There was a bit of maintenance necessary to get it working properly - now done, so it's full-steam ahead!

The next task is to make some test prints to make sure everything is calibrated right so our subscribers get the best possible quality, then the first mailouts (to indiegogo contributors who claimed some of our perks) will go ahead ASAP!

At the same time, I'll be updating the wowlookwhatigot.com website to remove the crowd-funding links and 'go live', then we can start trying to get more subscribers .... hooray!

Second bit of news ...

"Tempest/Eymesti" : Ink, pencil and gouache on watercolour paper by Martin Herbert -The prize in our prize draw give-away !

Apologies for the delay due again ... but we did finally do the prize draw from the names of our first contributors for Martin's original dragon drawing "Tempest" (a.k.a The Eleventh Dragon - see the full story here).  The drawing, framed and ready to hang, was won by our neighbour Andrew Capel, one of our first and most encouraging contributors - congratulations Andrew!!

So - the next new should hopefully be that our first mailings have gone out and we're open for business!

Best wishes to everyone for now!

Martin & Vivi-Mari

End of the crowd-funding campaign = start of a new business!

Hi all, and welcome to what, in theory, is the last posting of the wowlookwhatigot.com fundraising campaign...

"The Tree of Love" : Handmade collage : Copyright © 2007 by Vivi-Mari Carpelan

So what happened in the end ?

By the end of the crowd-funding campaign at indiegogo.com, 13 lovely people helped us raise a total of $286. Our thanks to everyone who helped - we'll be in touch to thank everyone individually shortly! A tad short of our original target, of course, but as we've been saying all along, every little really does help. My worst fear was that we wouldn't raise enough to do anything useful, and we'd have to give everyone their money back but, strange as it may seem, even that total is enough...

The whole concept was meant to be scalable from the beginning, whether we raised enough to go into full scale production with a new major publishing business, or only enough to start a little 'kitchen table' enterprise. As it happens, we do have just enough to do the latter.

The other thing that happened in the end was that we immediately had to go and hang Vivi-Mari's new exhibition at the Art Cafe in Llandrindod Wells (continues until 24th May, hint, hint), and then complete and deliver the work for my new show at MOMA Wales in Machynlleth, which actually stated this week, ahead of schedule. (There'll be a private view on Sat May 18th at midday, just in case you're not doing anything). We then collapsed in a heap for a whole weekend and are now in the middle of preparing Vivi-Mari's submission for the ArtAngel Open using her pictures and my music. Hence the reason it's taken a little time to prepare this final update!

So what happens next?

Coming soon to a studio near us ...

We're going to put your contributions towards buying a second-hand A3+ size giclee printer (i.e. an inkjet printer which uses pigment inks rather than dyes, for permanent images, and can take heavyweight fine-art paper). We'll most likely go for an Epson 2100 - it's an old model but reliable and inexpensive, producing professional-quality prints. As soon as the money is transferred from indiegogo, we'll be looking out for a suitable one on eBay... We're hoping to get everything up and running so we can start redeeming those perks on schedule in a couple of months time, and then we can start accumulating some subscribers!

So - we'll keep everyone posted as to further developments as they happen, and once more, thanks to all our supporters! (If you missed the final campaign date and you'd like to contribute, you are most welcome, just drop us a mail at info@wowlookwhatigot.com)

Love

Martin & Vivi-Mari

Free gifts for everyone! - The wowlookwhatigot.com funding campaign closes soon, so here's a thank-you from us...

"Distant Shores" : Desktop wallpaper by Vivi-Mari - download from the "Free Wallpapers!" page above

Good news!!  Although nowhere near our original target, we have raised enough to buy a second-hand printer to start our new project.  That said, we also need fine-art paper, ink cartridges and other bits and pieces to get things up and running so YES, even though it may look like a small contribution wont help very much now, I can assure you it will.  If you've been thinking about contributing, NOW is the time! We really just need to raise another £200 or so - success is in sight, so please help!

The end of the crowd-funding campaign at indiegogo.com/wowlookwhatigot is fast approaching - please make your contributions by midnight (British time) on Monday 15th April.  This is my final posting before the end of the campaign, and actually I'm making it on Sunday evening because, wouldn't you know it, I have a hospital appointment way down South in Swansea tomorrow, for which I have to leave at around 6AM, so I'll be out of touch for most of the last day! Well planned, huh? Well, you could help put a smile on the face of the artist by helping to make sure we get the last bit of funding we need by the time I get home tomorrow evening!

The fact that I'm out tomorrow also means we're giving everyone a little gift our this evening - to everyone who has been so patient while being bombarded with pleas for support for the last few weeks, we got together and made some of our art into a few desktop wallpapers in a variety of shapes and sizes, which you can download here free! Yes, even if you haven't opted to have our artwork landing on the mat every month, you can still get some free pictures - just click on "Free Wallpapers!" at the top of this page, or just click here.

Thanks again to everyone!!  We'll be back soon, with even better news, I hope!

Love from

Martin & Vivi-Mari

"The Heart is the Fountain of Wisdom" : Desktop wallpaper by Martin. Download from the "Free Wallpapers!" page above.

"The Rafael" - Perk No. 7. Seeking an art angel...

Rafaello Sanzio : Head of an Angel : c. 1500

So I guess with only 46 hours to go and $195 raised of our original $8000 target (oops), there's no chance of getting anywhere near that total? Of course there is! We just need someone to be an angel and select our final perk...

"The Rafael"

$8,000 ( £5,000 / €6.200 ). Your opportunity to be a real art angel. Life membership (see 'da Vinci' above), PLUS an original painting in oils and egg-tempera on canvas by Martin on a subject of your choice. Allow a year for planning, completion, drying, varnishing and delivery. Includes delivery anywhere in the world. Note: of course this really goes against our democratic 'Art for Everyone' ethos. Do feel free to buy gift subscriptions for several friends instead! :-)

The ultimate art status symbol. No collector's life could possibly be complete without one. In return for your being a complete angel and funding our entire project at one stroke- you will receive our undying gratitude and a new piece of art every month for as long as we have the physical and mental agility to keep producing it. More to the point, though, you will also be able to commission one of Martin's stunning Mische-technique paintings. Built up from many layers of luminous translucent oil glazes with details picked out in each layer using white egg-tempera, the paintings achieve a depth and complexity of colour not possible with simpler traditional oil painting techniques. Because of the necessity of allowing intermediate layers to dry before proceeding, each piece can take months of time and many hours of work - hence the reason they command such premium prices. You will be able to specify your own subject for your unique painting (including a portrait of yourself or a loved one if you wish), and liaise with the artist at each stage of its completion. The result will be a treasured heirloom to be passed down through your future family, or an investment piece to tall about with your friends.

Of course, as noted, you could also pick 10 close friends and buy them all a life subscription! (See the "da Vinci" in yesterday's post). Whatever you choose, from just $1 to thousands, we're grateful for your support in kickstarting our new venture. Even if we don't meet our target, we will be able to get something new off the ground - a few contributions more would make it a lot easier, though!

Please go along to indiegogo.com/wowlookwhatigot and make your investment now! Remember, the campaign closes at midnight (British time) on Monday 15th April!

"Me da la Cabeza de Juan Bautista" (Bring me the Head of John the Baptist) : 96 x 53 cm
Oils & egg-tempera on canvas : Copyright © 2009 by Martin Herbert

Martin

The "da Vinci" - Perk no. 6

"Naiad" : Digital painting : Copyright © Martin Herbert

Into the final furlong (British horse racing expression, for those following us in far-off lands) - only 69 hours left to contribute to indiegogo.com/wowlookwhatigot! So - I thought we should tempt you with some details of one of the more expensive perks we're offering in return for your support...

The "da Vinci"

$800 ( £500 / €620 ) - Life membership at a reduced price – normally $1000/£600. A new print every month for as long as we both shall live, PLUS an original ink and pencil drawing by Martin or handmade collage by Vivi-Mari. Should raise an enigmatic smile! International shipping included.

This is one for the discerning art collector who wants no messing about. You want art for life with no fussing over monthly payments. Just one contribution of $800 gets you life membership of wowlookwhatigot.com, with a new piece of artwork every month - a veritable embarrassment of arty riches! We'll also give you one of our larger and more exclusive works, one of my large-scale renaissance-style drawings, or one of Vivi-Mari's exquisite handmade collages. In fact, you can come over and pick your art yourself (as long as you can get to mid-Wales, of course). You can get a flavour of what's on offer on our gallery page here, on my blog here, or on Vivi-Mari's website here... Then pop along to indiegogo.com/wowlookwhatigot and get yourself a da Vinci (our perhaps alternatively something a little easier on the pocket!).

The Mystery of the Feminine : Handmade collage : Copyright © 2008 by Vivi-Mari Carpelan

Martin

"The Picasso" - Perk No. 5

"Introspect" : Digital painting : Copyright © 2005 by Martin Herbert

In the final stretch of the fund-raising campaign now, and there's just time to have a look in detail at one more of the perks available in return for pledging support to the wowlookwhatigot.com crowd-funding project...

"The Picasso"

$150 ( £100 / €120 ) – a year's membership, PLUS an original 'Welsh Dragon' drawing by Martin). i.e. you get 12 fine-art prints AND a piece of original artwork! Something to hang in your cubicle ... NB: For INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING (outside the UK), PLEASE ADD $20 at checkout.

For all you people who plan to go along to indiegogo.com and add your support at the last minute (yep, you know who you are, all you lovely people who clicked on 'I'm going' on our Facebook event page :-), I reckon this is definitely the best value for money. You see, not only can you have a trial subscription to wowlookwhatigot.com for a whole year (that's 12 fabulously arty issues!), but also an original drawing from my 'Welsh Dragon' series. You can read about them here. Your chance to own a little piece of Mid-Wales art history! These original drawings are currently up for sale on etsy.com at $95 each, so hopefully you'll consider it a good deal! As always, of course, you get your choice of whichever piece you want in order of when you contribute, so the earlier you get along there, the more choice you get. Don't wait until the last minute - go claim your "Picasso" now!

(Oh yes, and I'd say this was the ideal gift for the Dragon lover in your life, wouldn't you?)

Whew! Nearly there - Vivi-Mari's exhibition opening tomorrow!

"Contemplating the Nature of Triumph" : Handmade collage : Copyright © 2011 by Vivi-Mari Carpelan

Well, we actually find ourselves in the position (almost) of having a free day, since yesterday we more our less finished all the preparations for putting up Vivi-Mari's exhibition at the Art Cafe in Llandrindod Wells. One would think, having done all this many times before, that it would just be a matter of chucking a few pictures in the car and hanging them on a wall, but there are always things that need framing, frames that need swapping, labels to make, cards to pack up, wrapping materials to get out of the loft, artist's statements to write, plus all the frantic attempts to actually make sure people know about the opening, which reminds me ...

In case it has slipped your mind,  you're invited to the private view of:

"Mindful"

An exhibition of handmade collages by

Vivi-Mari Carpelan

Join us for a glass of wine (tea, coffee & cakes on sale at the cafe), lounge on the comfy sofas, view the art and browse exciting crafts by local makers.

Friday 12th April 2013, 5PM

at the Art Cafe - Mid Powys Mind
Crescent Chambers, South Crescent, Llandrindod Wells, Powys LD1 5DH

Tel. 01597 82 44 11

The exhibition continues from Tuesday 16th April to Fri 24th of May 2013.

The Art Cafe is set in a delightful restored Victorian terraced house close to the centre of town and across the crescent from the Metropole Hotel. All the cafe's cakes are home-made and highly recommended, and the shop stocks a variety of crafts from local professional artisans. We look forward to seeing you there!

Please note: 25% of all sales go to Mid-Powys Mind (Reg. Charity No. 702833) - Mid Powys Mind is a local charity affiliated to Mind, running services in Radnorshire and North Brecknock that offers advice and support to those who may have mental distress. Mind also works to raise the public awareness and understanding of issues relating to mental health.

So, we look forward to seeing you there :-) Meanwhile, to avoid confusion, I haven't even started bombarding people with plugs for my own exhibition starting later in the month, but just in case you want to make a date in your diary, it opens on the 29th April in Machynlleth, and there will be a private view on 18th May - more details later.

Now, the last thing - just thought I'd better mention there are only 5 days left to contribute to the crowd funding campaign at indiegogo.com/wowlookwhatigot, so best get yourself along there now and check out all the lovely perks on offer... I do believe I'll be writing a little about that shortly.

Martin

P.S...

Spring is nearly here - honest! My exhibition is really
an attempt at pleasing the weather Gods so please come along and celebrate!
See you there, Vivi-Mari

Art in focus - some artwork explained

The following are some brief examples as to how one can read my artwork, these are mainly social, political and psychological commentaries. They are all handmade collages.

XPULSION (Part of 'Project X')

Foliage - the garden - suggests the cycles of life, and "the eternal return" of certain deeply imbedded patterns in life. This image is mainly about not having energy, and what may be there isn't compatible with external demands, or isn't where one might hope to find it... energy is all about growth and renewal but not really feeling able to be part of it. Of course, the death of certain elements in life is essential for renewal in many areas of life.

ENTANGLED FOR LIFE

This image is about the feeling of being connected to life in this world and the passage of time in both a negative and positive sense. It's about feeling that one has no great control over certain aspects of one's destiny such as a chronic conditions and other debilitating challenges that life throws at us - thus the sensation of drifting. The main figure is vulnerable, unassuming and fairly unaware of her destiny, but driven by a higher consciousness that knows where she is supposed to be going. In the end, it's all the way it's supposed to be.

WHY? The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl

Starting with a photo of myself as a child, this is a young mind questioning the absurdity of life as she experiences a loss of physical strength and parental support. 

The image of the girl is myself at age 4. The comb represents the sorting out of mess. Hair on the other hand symbolizes empowerement, so the loss of hair (e.g. due to stress) is an image of disempowerement. The page about Shakespeare represents the idea of life as a stage on which drama is enacted. The bottle indicates change in an esoteric alchemical sense, as in the growth of the soul.

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST

This depicts a host of impressions of America and society today. It's about vulnerability and conformity in a society that rewards those who are fit enough to survive the social competitions.

THE MYSTERY OF THE FEMININE

Although in some ways women have been "dismembered" and heavily stereotyped by society, there is great strength and mystery in the feminine. With its many aspects including birth and death, shallowness and depth, emotional intelligence and excellency teamed with the ability to gossip and manipulate, femininity is indeed very complex. 

In the background, employment for women in Sweden 1942 in a women's magazine - mostly maids of all sorts... E.g "ensam jungfru" means "lonely virgin", an old way of indicating an unmarried woman who needs employment. "Troende flicka" means "Christian Girl". "Obemärkt flicka" means 'Unnoticable girl" and"Frisk flicka" means 'Healthy Girl". Femininity symbolizes fertility but also death and rebirth... What will the true emancipation of women be like...? I feel women are well equipped to help dig out the skeletons from the closets ;-). When will women be considered whole people and not cut to form to fit a social agenda?

SOME THINGS SHOULD NEVER BE FORGOTTEN 

This symbolic collage is about emotional development, and specifically about the ambivalence of sexuality. While somewhat threatened, the female figure also expresses excitement and expectancy. It's paradox and part of the dualism of life as well as cycles of existence. Water is a frequent symbol in my work which depicts various emotional states. Here, the volcano in the background expresses suppressed feeling, maybe on the verge of eruption. The camera stands for the ambivalent experience of being observed and objectified.

THERE IS NOTHING TO FEAR

Those who are willing to grow as individuals often find that various fears that hold us back are illusory - often laughed at later as foolish ideas. What appears dark, is often a blessing in disguise.

Success or how to make creative things happen

Vivi-Mari Carpelan: "Emotions 1-6", six handmade collages (12x17 cm)

(First published in Vivi-Mari's own blog "Storms in a Teacup", Dec 2011. We're presenting this as part of our series looking at the philosophy and practice behind our enterprise "Wow! Look What I got!").

So here's the scenario: you feel discouraged and disheartened, not knowing what to do next. It seems as if everything is against you and you are losing faith not only in other people but in yourself as well. You feel stuck and uncreative. Personally, I have been in this place many times. It's almost as if each time it gets worse, but this could be evolution in action. Challenges get tougher as you learn from life, but the rewards you reap are probably also greater. Thing is, life is naturally dynamic, and this means there are always ups and downs throughout the journey. I find it helpful to think of it as the inhalation and exhalation of life itself. When you're in a phase of inhalation, you will feel more introspective and maybe even depressed. The point is to not fight this, but go with the flow. If you resist it, you make it harder for yourself. 

Artists are people who may feel these mood swings and roller coasters much more poignantly than others. People in creative jobs easily get distressed when they're in a low phase because it feels as if they can't produce anything worthwhile. The feelings of vulnerability easily make them feel victimized and as a consequence, they blame others for a lot of things rather than assuming responsibility in a more "grown up" sort of way. The darker aspects of one's being might come out and one will be a less pleasant person to be around. The way that depth psychologists who specialize in creativity theories explain this is that you are more submerged in your subconscious mind and the reason you cannot produce quite so well is because mental material is in a state of brewing. Don't panic, this phase is necessary. If you look into yourself you will probably find that you're battling with problems and feeling conflicted about many things. There is often one major issue to deal with but it usually connects with other more minor issues. You need to let it all go on for as long as it needs to go on.

Let this be. Don't panic, don't force yourself to be something you're not. At the most, be positive in the sense that you know this will pass, and that consciously dwelling on things is not necessarily of any use. I find talking to Martin useful, as it sometimes speeds things up a bit and makes me feel clearer, as well as helps him understand what's going on and why I'm acting the way I'm acting. But trying not to whhine and winge too much is better for yourself and everyone around you. Keep in mind that clarity will come when the time is right.

Then suddenly, one day, you have reached a decision - maybe even a major one. Time and time again, I find that reaching a decision about what direction I want to take is the turning point. I don't think there are any real short cuts to this. This is usually when you come out of your shell and start acting. You will no doubt be more extroverted than normal, which will enable you to communicate with other people about your ideas and your direction. In fact, just chatting to people about whatever happens in your life can lead to unexpected turns of events. Very often things happen indirectly, in a mysterious way that is not really of your own making. You're just being open and actively putting yourself out there. You feel more in charge of your own life, but don't make the mistake of thinking that you can control it. Control is not the point, and there is a very important distinction between the two. I think one of the keys is that you stop putting your destiny in the wrong hands and decide what kind of people you want to interact with. These people will then be the right ones who facilitate your journey. It's always a two way street so you really must avoid manipulating or forcing other people to make things happen for you. Luckily at this time and age people have woken up to the advantages of networking. I certainly feel that real, profound and honest interaction with others can be quite fruitful. It's about a balance between being self-sufficient and acknowledging the need for other people. The truth and fluidity of being is a paradox somewhere between the two ways of being.

When you overcome your own prejudices and expectations of life, you often end up choosing the path of less resistance. I think it's important to remember that there are often alternatives, and when we cease to stubbornly hold onto a particular path, it turns out there is an easier one which is much better for you. This is my experience, anyway. 

It's interesting how inner decisions will lead to greater flow and how things just start to happen. It probably feels great. During this phase, it's useful to be outgoing and generous. I'm not saying it's a ride without any bumps. But if you follow your intuition - and this is of paramount importance - you will probably finally achieve some important goals on your journey. By goal I don't mean an end, but rather a milestone. It won't last, because it's not in the nature of reality to be stable. Embrace the changes that will happen in one way or another, and enjoy the rush while it lasts!

P.S. These are my own thoughts but there are two classic books by Mihalyi Csiksztentmihalyi, "Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience" and "Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention" that you might like to read if  you're interested in the subject matter.

Vivi-Mari

What's it for and what's in it for you and who are we anyway?

Vivi-Mari Carpelan: "Elegy on the Eternal Dilemma"

You may be asking yourself a lot of questions about our project. Of course, there is no way for us of telling what might be going through your mind, but I will venture to answer some hypothetical questions, some of which have come up in the discussion with a good friend.

For starters, you may wish to support us because we're poor struggling artists, but you're not sure if it's really true. After all, we're all dressed up with nice props in the video, and Martin is having a sip of wine from a beautiful wine glass... well, we felt that some investment was necessary although we didn't have the means for any greater ones, so we got a bottle of cheap Spanish wine for £ 3.49 from the Co-Op. After all, it would come to some good use after a hard day's video filming as fear and anxiety about the outcome of the project was kicking in! Well... ok... the truth of the matter is that I love beautiful things so I have spent half a century collecting them (what?! that long?!), often at the expense of nourishment and by stretching my credit card... that's what you see in the film. We could of course have filmed it with ragged clothes in an old plasticky caravan out in the frozen fields... I'm only joking! In reality, we are currently struggling to pay the bills as our tiny income doesn't match the cost of living here in rural Wales. This is one of the main reasons Martin wanted to embark on this project and take matters into his own hands. We really need some hard cash, and soon - and we don't have the choice of doing anything else to improve a rather dire situation. 

As an artist, you're either working part time on your art while you're making a living doing something else, or, alternatively, you're dependent on random sales of original art work to random people at random times through random channels... neither scenario is working out for us at the moment. We wanted to break out of this rather distressing situation by finding a new way of selling art. That is, a lot of art to a lot of people for a lot of small sums of money! I'm sure you can see how we have tried to turn things around to benefit ourselves as well as others.

So how are we benefiting other people? Well, other people are really only benefiting if they feel that art is relevant to their existence. Though we can't affect this frame of mind directly, perhaps we can help indirectly by offering an opportunity to make a stand point by supporting our artistic careers? Perhaps we can encourage people to think about the implications of collecting art, even when you're not rich or even ever thought you'd be an art collector? Perhaps a look at our art will contribute to some thoughts about the meaning of art in every day life..? 

I know the time frame for our project is a bit tight and that some people might like to ponder all this for a much longer time. Unfortunately as with many things in life, we simply have to follow a dead line. As Martin has already stated, all contributions may potentially help us even if we don't reach our financial target. We will go ahead and try to get a good printing press so that we can at least do some small scale fine art printing (having someone else do it for us is financially unsustainable). 

It goes without saying that the internet allows us to reach people all over the world, but unfortunately the internet is a big noisy platform where it's quite difficult to get heard even when you're speaking English, the great universal language. Martin, who is more in charge of getting the word out there than I am, is trying to use various platforms for this purpose, but internet media aren't really all as great as they cracked up to be. The reason is very simple, and it's that there are too many voices calling out from our  boundless, echoing cyberspace. 

We are hoping that our ethical stance will speak to people. We don't want to be hard core marketers. We don't particularly like the way you have to sell yourself as an artist. But on the other hand, we want to engage with our audience and potential clientele in a personal and meaningful way. This is part of our ethos. We want everything to be fair and square and direct, without any funny business. We have a very deep conscience about these things. While you can't avoid the way the world is set up from a financial point of view, we're all about "conscious capitalism", i.e. a way of dealing with money that is as permeated with spiritual and moral consciousness as we can possibly muster.

What you can do is to support us a bit like you might support your local grocery store so they won't be out of business because of the big supermarkets that shoulder their ways into your neighbourhood. In this case, "the supermarket" is the elitist art market, which on the one hand favours the big brands that make the financial turn over really profitable, but on the other sells badly painted landscapes by the dozen, just to go with somebody's sofa. We're not condemning any of this (neither the supermarkets nor the art market - or even the sofas) but we do want to say hey! we're here too! and we can offer an alternative! 

We want to provide a service that is fun and meaningful for all concerned. Of course, there is only so much we can do! We can't really engage you in the process directly... though... hang on! Who knows what we can do? If there is an audience, there are always ways in which people can become part of the process. For instance, I would love to talk to people a lot more about the kind of art that speaks to them, and that could affect what kind of art I do! After all, I want to communicate, not just indulge in a self-absorbed artistic practice. Personally, Martin and I have become much more involved with each other's creative processes through this project, and that's been beneficial to us. We are also on the look-out for other artists. If we had a sustainable business, then we'd be able to commission other artists to come and do some art specifically to go out to our clients. Really, there is no end to what one can come up with in conjunction with an interactive audience!

Vivi-Mari

What art will you get?

From Martin's exhibition "Synthesis" in November 2012 in the Radnorshire Gallery in Llandrindod Wells - Renaissance style drawings on 100 % recycled handmade paper.

From Vivi-Mari's exhibition "The Art of Becoming Human" in a gallery in Cardiff, June 2012 - handmade collages on paper

From these pictures, you'll get an idea of what kind of art we have been creating recently. When you start subscribing to our art, you'll get a small format fine art print (i.e. non-fading pigment based ink on fine art paper) which you can either start collecting for yourself or give as a gift. We have also put some thought into the packaging of your print, but the final result still remains to be seen. If the business takes off, we'll be able to suggest frames and maybe offer some beautiful albums in which you can collect them too! A lot of things will naturally depend on the amount of subscribers that we get. This is really only for starters... by subscribing to our newsletter, you'll find out more as time goes on! You can also read quite a bit about the project on our project website.

Please visit our gallery for a taste of the kind of art you'll get in the first few months. You may also like to rummage through some of our online galleries, for instance my own website, or Martin's blog. There will be a cross section of what we think of as interesting pieces... once we have a sustainable practice, we will commission other artists to participate in this project, as well. It really shouldn't get boring, as we will send work made in different styles and with techniques. And you can always unsubscribe at any time if you feel that we're not meeting with your expectations.

If we don't raise enough money to raise a big printing press, we hope we'll still raise enough for a smaller one. In that case, whoever has contributed and chosen one of the perks, will receive the fine art prints. If things don't go according to plan, the money will be returned (minus the ten percent commission we have to pay the crowd funding site).

What art are we doing at the moment? Well, Martin is working on an amazing drawing of a hat and a lady with some intense eyes... let's see if you recognise her... He's preparing for a show in MoMa Wales. and I'm doing  the demo for a multimedia show involving my abstract photography (for which Martin will do the music!). We hope to keep feeling encouraged by you, the audience, so that we'll feel even more motivated to go on creating art... ;)!

Vivi-Mari

"The Hockney" - Perk No. 4 - Cheap art for a year!

"Crocodiles, Hens, Beetles, Armadillos & Fish (do not evince any remarkable partiality for man)"
Ink, pencil, gouache and transfer print on tempera-washed handmade Khadi paper
Copyright © 2012 by Martin Herbert

Time to look in a bit more detail about another of the perks you can get in return for supporting our fine-art publishing startup wowlookwhatigot.com. Today we'll explain:

"The Hockney"

$75 ( £45 / €60 ) – a year's subscription at a reduced price – normally $80/£50 per year. PLUS another month FREE! i.e. you get 13 fine-art prints. It wont buy us a new swimming pool, but you will have our immense gratitude. We will not automatically re-bill you – we'll ask nicely whether you want to take out a subscription when you get close to the end of your first year. NB: For INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING (outside the UK), PLEASE ADD $20 at checkout.

A regular subscription to wowlookwhatigot.com can take one of two forms - pay monthly or pay yearly. It's cheaper to pay yearly, but on the other hand if someone pays monthly then they can cancel at any time. The regular price for a yearly subscription will be £50, for which you would get a piece of artwork every month for the year - i.e. 12 pieces.

As a perk in return for supporting us during the startup phase we're offering that year's worth of art for the reduced price of £45 AND then throwing in an extra month free! Sounds like a good deal to me :-)

As with all of these 'trial subscription' perks, you aren't committing yourself to a regular payment, nor do you have to remember to cancel the credit card payment before the year is up - we will not re-bill you. We'll just send a reminder before the end of the year along with an order form so if you would like to continue the subscription you then have the option.

So - 13 months worth of art for less than the price of 12- and don't forget - if you'd like to buy this as a gift for someone, we'll send (either to you or direct to them - you choose) a signed gift card for you to present to them. We're halfway through the campaign now - this week would be a good time to remember those birthdays coming up!

De-clutter your space, your internet, your mind, your emotions...

Studio? What studio?

I guess spring is in the air because spring cleaning seems to come to mind in somewhat unorthodox forms! People with pagan belief systems would say that it's all in tune with spring equinox. I believe that de-cluttering one's physical space is necessary at regular intervals. This also goes for the computer and the internet. A thousand e-mails have been deleted, newsletters have been un-subscribed from, personal photo albums have been deleted from the internet, several internet accounts have been closed down, and on it goes. One must re-centre, re-focus and re-prioritise. The internet is a kind of ghost land, and maintaining a presence there most certainly requires energy. Equally, I can sense people's presence, but I can't see their physical shape... so it's like moving in a haunted house with a lot of ghostly presences. Don't get me wrong, I am all for technological advancement, but there are obvious pitfalls in the form of the amount of time and energy it requires from you, and the way the illusory aspects of virtual reality mess with your head.

Although good things occur, I have also found that social media and forums consistently create stress and unwanted emotional ups and downs in myself. So the advantages of keeping in touch with some people and sharing aspects of my life that I want to share with others have to be weighed against the disadvantages. Martin and I have talked about it long and hard and come to the simple conclusion that the internet isn't serving us well enough to warrant all the energy we're putting into it; there is on top of everything that feeling that one should do more, and more and more... and it really is endless, and never enough. We also feel that social media is not all it's cracked up to be. One reason may be that novelty value is wearing off. We feel that people are maybe getting jaded and aren't quite so interested in responding to other people online... the responses are so inconsistent and random, and quite few and far between, that it's starting to look futile. No one likes being bombarded with so much stuff all the time... While internet developers are working on making the internet easier to use, there are more and more adverts and more general noise. This is possibly a time of great transitions, but at the moment it's really all quite strenuous and not very user friendly. Learning new technology all the time (for instance, just setting up a simple account somewhere) is very time/energy consuming too, so it's worth thinking about which bits one feels a real need to learn. Perhaps one could talk about de-scattering one's brain!

While social media gurus abound, it seems to us that there's a lot of hype but very little real substance to the claims that the social media can help you reach people's consciousness. We are fully aware that it may still work for some people who have certain advantages, for instance youth, glamour and the ability to engage with people in real life through performance. Having a really cool gadget to develop is also something that wakes people up. Through our current project and fundraising campaign we have found out quite a lot about the way it really works, or doesn't work. While some truths are painful, I feel that my own online presence has served several purposes and it has certainly not all been in vain. However, it may be time to refocus and rethink one's attitudes and strategies. Trumpeting one's truth into the void when no one is listening is certainly pointless, and it scatters the mind. I don't intend to abandon the internet altogether, but I'm going to make my presence more restricted and focused. Feeling too dependent on the internet for solutions to one's own life issues and feeling too desperate to be heard is a bit like entertaining a co-dependent romantic relationship (in real life, of course), and it's not healthy.

It's too soon to say just what our crowd-funding campaign has taught us, as it's running for another three weeks. Real media such as newspapers and Finnish TV have shown a lot of interest, but for many lay people out there it's still a bit hard to grasp the concept. My own dad said he hoped we weren't embarrassing ourselves by begging for money from our friends. He may be excused due to his age. Of course, most people understand that it's not about that at all. It's about showing support, which you can do either by sharing the idea with your own friends, or by donating a sum of your choice. My own Achilles' heel is that I expect people to be loyal and supportive in ways that most people aren't able to be. On the other hand, some people feel they want to support by giving unsolicited advice, and that's something I'm not happy about at all as it often takes the form of a patronising attitude. But dealing with my own reactions and deciding not to hold onto some relationships is all part and parcel of my own process of "growing up" and finding the steps I have to take in order to minimise exposure to stress in my own life. "Letting go" is that one thing that keeps creeping up in my mind... 

So what happens to us middle-aged artists? Well, if one direction isn't fruitful then another one will surely appear if one keeps an open mind. It's tempting to abandon art as another pointless exercise - if it tends to be a one way communication and you feel that your whole existence depends on whether you reach other people or not, then it's not healthy. Of course, giving up is always an option if you're truly better off doing something else. But - my feeling is that Martin really wants to make art (he just needs to spend more time doing it in the real world) and that as he's evolving as an artist, he should by no means give up at this point. We are really, really struggling with the finances but on the other hand there aren't any other jobs available for him in this region either. As for myself, well I have to find ways of minimizing the impact of stress in my own life. My health is a priority. I could imagine doing lots of different arty things that demand time and energy if my reality was not restricted by health issues, but as it is, I have to live with them and organise my life around them. In discussions with Martin I have started to see some new ideas emerge about the role of art, and how some of my work fits in with these ideas... We'll just have to see where it takes me.

Vivi-Mari Carpelan

March 2013

"The Emin" - Perk No. 3 - Get even more free art!

"That Tracey Emin Says my Art Looks Like a Plane Crash" : Ink, pencil & transfer printing on handmade paper : Copyright © 2012 by Martin Herbert

Another update in our series looking at the various levels of perks you can claim in return for contributing to our project at indiegogo.com/wowlookwhatigot. This time we're looking at ...

"The Emin"

$25 / £15 – 3 month's trial membership, PLUS one extra month FREE! i.e. you get 4 fine art prints. Worth getting out of an unmade bed for! We will not automatically re-bill you – we'll ask nicely whether you want to take out a subscription when you get your first artwork. NB: For INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING (outside the UK), PLEASE ADD $10 at checkout!

The point of the perks we're offering is to give people a chance to try out the service and see the quality of the artwork before they decide to take out a regular subscription. So - none of this '30 days free' stuff where you have to hand over your credit card details and if you forget to cancel you suddenly find you've been charged again. Nope, you just get to try it out and then we'll send a letter asking you to sign up if you liked the trial - that's the deal - no pressure, no automatic re-billing, no hassle :-)

To end up with a viable business in the long term we need two things - the equipment and consumables to produce the goods, and someone to sell them to. Crowd-funding is ideal in that in theory it will give us both at the same time - we raise the capital we need to get started and in the process get a list of people who we know are at least potentially interested in a subscription. You get a really good deal on some art, with no pressure to continue ... a win-win situation for everyone, no?

So, this weekend would be a really good time to take the plunge and give it a try - nothing to lose, after all - so please take a few minutes to pop along to indiegogo.com/wowlookwhatigot, contribute to the project, and recommend all your friends and relations to do the same! I highly recommend you get yourself an "Emin", before they all run out!

News feature - getting famouser and famouser ...

Newtown, Powys County Times, March 15th 2013

In the news again! A great feature for wowlookwhatigot.com in this week's County Times newspaper - thanks to reporter Bronwen Jones!

In the news

Brecon & Radnor Express, March 7th 2013

An entertaining piece by Nigel Evans about crowd-funding in last week's Brecon & Radnor Express, featuring wowlookwhatigot.com ! Thanks Nigel! (And thanks for the assiduous research finding the photo of us impersonating Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera at Llani Fancy Dress ... I think!).

Is there really a place for art in modern society?

"The Blessing" : Handmade collage : Copyright © 2008 by Vivi-Mari Carpelan

Is art important to everyone, and is there a truly positive attitude towards art within the framework of society? I've been giving some though to some of the prevailing attitudes towards art and creativity in general in modern society.

Firstly, there certainly is a lot of art around! In fact, we're truly saturated with images in modern society. The fact that any images we may want are so readily available, and that we're also bombarded with images that aren't significant to us personally, surely has a negative effect on people's perception of the value of images. Secondly, as people have been made redundant or find themselves out of a job for other reasons, or even on disability allowance, suffering the consequences of the recession and the fast pace of modern living, they often turn to arts and crafts. Authorities usually care very little if people make art while they are living off benefits, as it's generally speaking not regarded as work. There may be the illusion that we have freedom to do what we want because basic needs are met, but does it help if the attitudes within society aren't supportive of creative freedom and nobody wants what you do? Perhaps this is one of the reasons why there is such a great flux of creativity within modern society but not a truly deep and overarching appreciation of it.

I would say that neither creativity nor art is being held in great regard because it's usually not supporting the economy in any significant way. In fact many in the higher ranks of society consider it a unnecessary evil that sucks money. I'm not an economist but it's pretty obvious to a lay person like myself that there is a deep seated attitude within society today that pure labour that creates goods that in turn are easy to sell is still more valuable than anything else. Perhaps the future will see a different attitude, where robots have taken over all the labour and people are being given the blessing to be creative in any way they want. I myself have experienced the kind of pressure authorities put on their citizens in order to force them to perform like marionettes in a predetermined reality show. Unless you have independent means of some kind, you will be subjected to pressure. If society gives you anything, you must give back what society wants from you. And it's probably not going to be a work of art.

We often tend to forget that society consists of real people. Some of them are career minded go getters and others are numb clerks who only work nine-to-five because they don't see any other option. What we can safely assume is that most of them were not encouraged to be creative while they were at school. As long as the school system promotes logic and productivity over intuition and inspiration, attitudes aren't going to change. If the foundation of society isn't supportive of the "deviant personality", then art is not going to be considered a necessity. It's quite obvious that the artists who thrive are the ones who are also go getters and have an entrepreneurial mind (for instance Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst). They make millions because they have the talent to make money, not necessarily because they are artists. The rest of us are paddling against the stream.

When Martin started to work out the details for our artistic enterprise "Wow! Look what I got!", we naturally discussed the possibility of selling the idea to the general public that anyone can become an art collector. Do people want to be art collectors for very little money? Do people prefer to sustain the myth of art as a luxury product that only the rich can afford? Or do people simply not care about art at all? By asking people to share our project with their friends, we were in fact encouraging them to make a statement, to have a standpoint... While we need money in order to make it all happen, and the fundraising campaign is crucial to the business idea, we still feel that checking out the attitudes towards art is our main objective. Obviously, we can't start a business without a state-of-the-art printing press, which we hoped that in these dire times, we could acquire through the support of many, many members of the public. There are deeper questions at stake. What we really want to know is whether the art that we make actually makes a difference, and what manner of consumption we should expect from the audience. Does the general public want our art in the first place? Is it in any way meaningful to them? Is it at least meaningful to some of them? Is it meaningful as a body of work, or are only single pieces meaningful? And finally, are potential friends of our art willing to commit to paying subscriptions in order to get a print every month? 

We knew that market research is of the essence when you're building up a business, but we didn't have the resources for that. Instead the market research has been built into the project. The crucial bit is whether people feel interested and impressed enough to share the idea with their friends. It's a gamble, but we felt that this idea just had to be tried and tested. If we didn't try this then we'd never know whether an alternative to the typical way of selling art through galleries was an option at all. The campaign is still running so there is still time for reactions from the general public. 

We feel that there may be a lot of creativity about, but I feel that it doesn't necessarily involve many deeper, philosophical musings about the nature of art and life. Why would that be? Well, most people's basic necessities in life may well be met (cf. Maslow's hierarchy of needs), but most people are still struggling to survive. Survival may be a relative terms so for some people it means managing on £1,200 a year while for other it's £40,000 ... Sums are not of any importance in this respect. What matters is the sense of struggle, the sense of not having enough time or energy for the deeper layers in life. People generally speaking live with a sense of dissatisfaction with life's basic set up, are jaded, and will possibly be paying for a Sky TV subscription each month rather than for any kind of artistic product, let alone a subscription for art. I would love to be proved wrong!

In fact, I would suggest that people are fleeing the deeper questions in life, whether they be religious/spiritual, moral or artistic. From this point of view, it's not about the money, i.e. it doesn't really matter what art costs. In this kind of setting, art is definitely a luxury product that people only pay for because it raises their status within a particular peer group, or because their inner longing for something more soulful becomes strong enough to put them on course for an exhibition of some kind. I would like to think that the soul's yearning will gradually override a lot of the kind of "noise" we are subjected to in today's world... I would like to think that there are already a lot of people out there who feel this yearning and who realise that hanging on Facebook all day or watching X Factor or Eastenders every day is not satisfying a hunger that stems from deep within a human being, on the level of what I would call essential humanity. I like to believe that there are infinite dimensions within us all that call out from the deep, with persistance and pure passion for that which sustains human life through art, culture and other expressions of creativity. This is where art comes from, and also where it goes to.

Vivi-Mari Carpelan

March 2013