Ikeart

Considering that the Atlanta location of the Swedish superstore is offering free breakfast this weekend to entice shoppers, Ikea has been on ours minds lately, and we've meant to link to this great Flavorpill post about art inspired by its products for some time now. The fact that its pieces generally require assembly makes them well suited to create all kinds of art, from the more practical Ikea Hacks to Joe Scanlon's coffin assembled from Ikea bookshelves. We've also always found their instructions, while occasionally tear-your-hair-out frustrating, nicely designed to work sans text, and at least the standard ones that precede every piece (get a friend to help; call if you're confused; etc.) to be both clear and cute. What other company could provoke so many different kinds of artistic reactions?

An "Amazon for the arts"

CultureLabel is a new online shop offering items from more than 70 museum shops, galleries, artists and culture institutions around the world. United Kingdom politicians see the site as a “tool for museums’ survival” and are backing the business. Its creators have called it an “Amazon for the arts” because of the wide array of art-related products.

The site was co-founded by Peter Tullin and Simon Cronshaw, has seven staff members and works with outsourced software and Web designers. CultureLabel has a variety of items, from simple and inexpensive to large and pricey. Such pieces as an Andy Warhol magic cube and an Anish Kapoor limited-edition print are available.

This Andy Warhol magic cube is available on CulturLabel from the Tate.

Popular brands on CultureLabel include the British Museum, the Royal Academy of Arts and the Museum of London. The company is attempting to do more than just sell museum items. CultureLabel is helping the Courtauld Gallery (London) sell e-tickets for exhibitions, developing an iPhone application for the Museum of London and digitally publishing a catalogue for Oxford’s Ashmolean.

Executive chairman David Gilbert said that CultureLabel is currently trying to get three (unnamed) U.S. institutions involved. Click here to learn more about the site and keep it in mind for the next gift-giving occasion! 

Folk Art!

Those of you who don't keep up with the folk art world may not realize that the spring sale at Slotin Folk Art is coming up this Saturday (March 28, 2009), with 960 items and objects of art up for auction, from face jugs to paintings to tramp art and advertisements. Slotin's catalogue is always a great deal of fun to flip through, and they've got everything listed online if you're not on their mailing list. The B.F. Perkins painting above is on the cover of the print catalogue, and it's a stunning piece, one that reminded us of his paintings that appeared in the exhibition and catalogue Amazing Grace: Self-Taught Artists from the Mullis Collection, the latter of which we still have for sale for a mere $48 through the museum shop (we also handle wholesale sales), which will be launching its web presence soon.


The museum also has a fabulous R.A. Miller show in the works, also drawn from Carl's collection, which will be up at the Lyndon House Arts Center this August. We're working on the exhibition and catalogue right now, so keep checking here for updates.