Warhol quipped that in the future everyone would be famous for 15 minutes. People ask celebrities for their autographs.
Miami–December 6, 7, 8–Art/Basel Miami, Aqua Hotel, Flow, Art Now, Red Dot, Pool, Aqua Miami and Scope, 2007.
Tools: wood art pencil with yellow discount sticker, 5×8 blank page artist’s moleskin stretch book (100 pages), business cards with my name & Ph.D., email and titles–artist, art historian, behavioral scientist, economist and the phrase “by appointment.”
Statistics:110 autographs. I asked 112 people.
Process: I asked one person in a group for his autograph. Yes mostly his. Only people who are anonymous to me. I thanked them and hand them a card. I did not answer questions about the project. We talked about art and the fairs and other things. I did not collect their cards or contact. Conversations made, but questions about the project answered by email.
Time and Place: Art/Basel Miami Thursday, Friday and Saturday, December 6, 7, 8 2007.
Questions:Art and celebrity. Relational. Material for making the most simple small gestural mark. A drawing? Art? Art market, celebrity, identity, name brand, document(s). What is private and what is public? And who are these people? What type of relationship can we have under these circumstances? Other issues: identity theft. Can you be approached by a stranger in a public place, an art fair, and give some your mark, your autograph. Autograph is a personal document that is public physical mark of the individual. It goes beyond a name and is sometimes not readable as a name.
No videos. Just two simple photographs were snapped. The book is an artifact of the relationships and situations.–Holly Crawford