...and sometimes even three can make it perfect. Wow, I always get an education when I visit my local Giant Hardware Store. This is over 100,000 square feet "under one roof" and they have everything you might ever need to build or refurbish a house. My kind of store. They also have a "Junk Room" although they do not call it that. It is their "up to 75% off" Room, pretty big too, maybe 60 feet by a hundred feet, all discounted, some damaged but mostly in perfect condition. The kind of place where I can find mismatched paint for $5 bucks a gallon! Today was "China Day" and not the normal import stuff, this was "China Art Day," or more exactly, Chinese Metal Art and they had over 100 feet of it, stacked up on tables and leaning against the walls, piled deep. Like a garage sale.
Chinese Wall Metal Art by the box load. Trellis's by the rail car load and even row after row of little creatures (Chinese, I presume) with spring necks so their cute little heads bobble! And about a million leaves from two inch to two feet, nicely shaped and powder coated!
Everything 75% OFF. Such a deal. This would be discouraging if these were the wares of an individual Chinese Artist but I would bet money these are from a Chinese Gulag, the work of beaten prisoners or the labor of factory workers at two dollars a day and they have to feed themselves.
I know people buy this crap. I have seen them walk out with armloads of it at the Spring Home Show where vendors are allowed to sell anything that people are willing to buy. I just do not know why?
I wonder if there is a book on compulsive buying? or the buying of crap. Stuff that will fall apart before you get it home.
The funny thing is even at 75% OFF the store is still making a profit. That should tell you something right there. Like buying jewelry I guess. The value is in the idea.
This is the reason that I am not a fabricator and seldom make the same thing twice. Three times and I am out of there and on to something else for sure!
It was discouraging to see it. I have seen paintings at Walmart, thousands of them against the wall, all imported and churned out like making butter. Same kind of thing.
Chinese Wall Metal Art by the box load. Trellis's by the rail car load and even row after row of little creatures (Chinese, I presume) with spring necks so their cute little heads bobble! And about a million leaves from two inch to two feet, nicely shaped and powder coated!
Everything 75% OFF. Such a deal. This would be discouraging if these were the wares of an individual Chinese Artist but I would bet money these are from a Chinese Gulag, the work of beaten prisoners or the labor of factory workers at two dollars a day and they have to feed themselves.
I know people buy this crap. I have seen them walk out with armloads of it at the Spring Home Show where vendors are allowed to sell anything that people are willing to buy. I just do not know why?
I wonder if there is a book on compulsive buying? or the buying of crap. Stuff that will fall apart before you get it home.
The funny thing is even at 75% OFF the store is still making a profit. That should tell you something right there. Like buying jewelry I guess. The value is in the idea.
This is the reason that I am not a fabricator and seldom make the same thing twice. Three times and I am out of there and on to something else for sure!
It was discouraging to see it. I have seen paintings at Walmart, thousands of them against the wall, all imported and churned out like making butter. Same kind of thing.
3 comments:
It is so disheartening, isn't it? And at the same time I can see why people are drawn to it (the cheap price). Sigh... Of course, one thing I do know, quality always costs more money and usually proves to be worth the extra in the end. Now...just to find that extra money in the pockets!!
yES, it's the cheap price for all of it.. knick knacks (can't believe I said that word.)
And it falls apart real fast.
In 1983 I worked for an artist in Deerfield Beach, FL . Giant sized paintings that were worked on like an assembly line.. in a huge warehouse building.
He did one original ( I assume) of some beach scene with a few reeds sticking out.. sky , water,
fast, easy, but BIG .
I was one of the artists that stood for 8 hours, half hour for lunch,and then he signed his name. I think I made about $4.00 and hour.. They sold to hospitals, offices all over the country. and probably to Wal-Mart now!!!
Google it ... you'll see. 30 years later, he's still in business. Walcutt Studios
See? the price was right.. so today he's probably a millionaire and I'm still a starving artist. Hey, If I move back down there I bet I could get a job. !!! BJ
See, Barbra, I told you! Prisoners making art!
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