I made 14 baseball card-sized mini works of art (collaged and painted abstracts created on gallery promotional postcards) to trade at this event. The ease with which I could acquire original art from artists around the globe, simply by selecting a piece of their baseball card-sized art that struck my fancy and replacing it with one of mine, was uncomplicated and democratic. The etiquette of trading was simple and very satisfying because 1) creating small works of art is quick and uninhibiting, 2) it’s being shared with artists who enjoy it and 3) one gets acquainted with other artists’ styles in this edited framework. In the end I acquired a screen-print from an artist in Australia with gold painted detail, an ink and marker abstraction from a Swiss artist and a print from the Zurich artist who started this art project (what he aptly deemed as “collaborative cultural performance”) in 1997, M. Vänçi Stirnemann. I traded for his 12,905th art card, to be precise. Knowing that my art will be sent overseas to the artists I swapped cards with is a thrill. My only disappointment was that there weren’t more people participating. Then again, this project is still getting underway in the States with local artist John Essex spearheading efforts locally. I recommend visiting www.artist-trading-cards.ch/index.htm and downloading the work of Max Hofmanner from Switzerland to see the caliber of participating international artists and find out about future opportunities to participate. Event was January 29, 2005; 317-631-3301. - Mary Lee Pappas
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