06 Feb 2010

Holly Crawford - Orphans Offered Up: What will you offer me?

Call for Participation, Art Needs YOU!

'But, art as a practical precedent is forever young and physically here with us. Works of art, as theoretical constructs, hold their place in a field of knowledge. As historical artifacts, they speak of ancestry and parental origins. As practical precedents, works of art are orphans, ready to be adopted, nurtured and groomed to the needs to any astonishing new circumstances.'—Dave Hickey, 'Orphans,' Art in America, January 2009


Orphans Offered Up is participation installation in a space that was formerly an art gallery that is now empty.

Orphans that I'm offering up are a series of conceptual oil paintings that are very small, 4' x 4', and intimate. They are fragments that appear to be abstractions. They are offered up in several different ways.

Offer is defined as: act of worship or devotion: sacrifice; to present for acceptance or rejection; to propose or suggest; to try or begin to resist; to threaten; to make available; to present in performance or exhibition; to propose as payment; to make an attempt; to present itself; to make a proposal.


What will you offer me? All offers will be document accepted. Some will be accepted. Suggestions: Stocks, bonds, a house, another painting, a manuscript, or something else? Something much less tangible? What are you willing to sacrifice? If you insistent on money, then the price will be determined by random walk, and that price will be a number between one and five hundred, that will be generated randomly by RANDOM.ORG, Trinity College. They provide a 'random number service that generates randomness via atmospheric noise.'


The inspirational sources for the paintings are the invisible engraving marks found in old postage stamps that belonged to my late father. These painting were first started in 2002. They are not studies. They are not miniatures. They are finished paintings. I have completed more than fifty.


Suggest a name. Email it to me or come in and write it on a piece of paper and place it next to the painting. The images and suggested names will be documented along with what I was offered. Again, names maybe also submitted by email. Peter Selz has already done just that.

I would like to thank the Pinetree Group for the offer of the space for this project.