National Portrait Gallery!

(c) Matt Larson, Tall Ships, iPhone

Well, my little project has taken me (aka ToyCameraPlay) all the way to Washington! Below is an email I received today from a new collector, John Wachtel. Thanks John for the email! I love hearing stories from folks that have purchased one of my pieces. Very cool indeed.

(c) Matt Larson, Art-O-Mat Artist Bio

"You can add another city to your list! Washington, DC at the National Portrait Gallery A co-worker of mine told me about the Art-O-Mat and said there was one in the National Portrait Gallery, which happens to be a couple blocks from our office. Three of us stopped over during lunch and each purchased "an art". I have mine at my desk to spruce the place up. It also serves as a little reminder during the day that there is a whole world outside my cubicle wall, even if I don't see it. My particular photograph is of a ship's mast with a blue sky and clouds in the background. Thank you so much, we were all inspired!"
John Wachtel, Washington D.C.

BOXFOTOS Launches This Month!

Rebecca and I have had a vision for several years now about having our "own space" where we could exhibit works of photography that we thought were relevant to the genre of alternative works on paper in contemporary art.

Our growing collection was the spark of it actually in that we realized we were basically curating our own exhibition in our home/studio. As collectors, we learned early on to buy what we liked and buy what we could afford. Our works are small in nature but solid, strong works by regionally and nationally known artists (photographers, print makers, etc.).

It was a gathering at our house with a local museum's collectors group that confirmed to us we were on the right track. It was a wonderful evening and we realized our "home exhibition" was just that to the group -- an exhibition. We returned to our sketch book of ideas for our future gallery and BOXFOTOS was launched a month later.

Boxfotos will be "a space" and that space will change over time (we have some fun ideas down the road), where we will share with our readers and followers art (works on paper) and artists we enjoy having on our walls. You'll get to see exhibitions, be able to purchase the works from the exhibitions, get an occasional book review, meet an artist we feel you should get to know, discovers our LOVES, go on a photo trip with us and much, much more. For this alternative space can be so much more than a physical space. That in itself is exciting!

So we hope you FOLLOW our new Alternative Space and see and enjoy exciting works of art from our colleagues and artist friends. Subscription is FREE and you don't have to get a baby sitter, get all dressed up, fight for parking or pay an admission fee to visit us. So sit back and come on over to our space for a visit ... wear what you have on. Just click here!

BOXFOTOS

Alternative Works.

Alternative Spaces.

Thanks!

Matt Larson

Art-O-Mat Project

Just wrapped up another 50 blocks and dropped them in the mail today. A few weeks ago, I heard from Tina Agullar, a writer in Dallas who purchased one of my blocks. She ended up doing a nice interview with me for an online site called ArtAndSeek.org. Very flattering and I feel lucky to get that kind of exposure from this fun project. I thought it would be a great way to promote the blog here and it's been just that.

Art-O-Mat Piece from ToyCameraPlay, (c) Matt Larson, 2010

I really enjoy hearing from all the Art-O-Mat collectors. On my insert that comes with each one of my pieces, I put a mention for folks to let me know where they've purchased their piece. I'm amazed at the number of folks that I've heard from via email. Last week I heard from yet another collector who writes,

"I'm attaching some photos of the whole experience. I actually chose the Random Fun option and was pleasantly suprised. Thanks from Dallas, TX." --Margaret Barajas

Attached to the email was six photos that showed the whole experience from the first look at the Art-O-Mat machine to her purchase of one of my iPhone images taken at Bok Tower & Gardens in Polk County. Thought I would share her email with you guys ...

Photo #1 from Margaret

Photo #6 from Margaret
Courtesy of Margaret Barajas

To all of you that have made a purchase from the Art-O-Mat machines ... thanks so much for sending the emails and becoming fans and collectors! And oh, keep the emails coming ... always good to hear from you!