These are hard times. These were hard times before the ascendancy of Donald Trump; before the fascist human dust of the United States became emboldened; before the incoming administration started planning a series of social policy arsons. Times are even harder now.
To pay for these hard times the Dollar Art House is selling out; or rather we are selling artwork and putting on some first rate poetry and musical performances. From 5pm to 11pm on Friday, December 9, the “Dollar Art House Sells Out” will feature music and performances by Poet X, IndyBlack, Sunni Hutton and Jesa D’Or, along with artwork by Craig E. Ross and Adam Turl.
There is a suggested $10 donation at the door (no one will be turned away for lack of funds). Artwork will also be for sale. Ninety percent of the cover donation will be allocated to the performers. Ninety percent of funds from sold artworks will go to the artists. The remaining ten percent will help underwrite the Dollar Art House’s ambitious projects for the new year.
In addition, donations at the drinks and refreshments table will go to help fund the organizing efforts of the St Louis branch of Socialist Alternative.
While we are anti-capitalists we believe that categorically opposing the sale of artwork is something of a petit-bourgeois conceit. Artists have to eat, pay the rent, buy clothes, etc. An art world in which art pretends it is not for sale will tend to be an art world made up of relatively privileged artists.
At the same time, we think art and culture should be made affordable to working-class patrons. The narrowing of the art producer and audience both reduce and minimize the content of work. This narrow band explains the dull echoes of minimalism that too often adorn the walls of our museums and galleries – and the bourgeois conceptualism of the world’s Kenneth Goldsmiths and Kelley Walkers.
So come on down to the Dollar Art House’s holiday party and art sale – celebrate working-class artists, poets and musicians – and get ready to resist the coming year.
"Evicted Art Blog" is Red Wedge editor Adam Turl's investigation of potential strategies for contemporary anti-capitalist studio art.