When I was in college in Tennessee I worked for one of the (then) three outpost stores for the J. Peterman Company. This was in the mid-90's, and at the time everyone who walked into the store already knew something about the ethos of the brand because they were part of the bazillion people who watched Seinfeld. This gave the enterprise the biggest boost of free advertising it could ever ask for by writing in the president of the company as a character in the show and having Elaine work as his underling, writing fluid and fictional copy for his catalog. When customers walked into my workplace in Chattanooga, Tennessee, they felt that they already knew something about the kind of thing the company was trying to achieve, that it was a different kind of retail experience—quirky, for-the-people, but somehow exotic at the same time. Folks also seemed really comfortable with the fact that they were already familiar with the store before ever walking into it, through the magic of teevee (admittedly some even confused which came first, Seinfeld or J. Peterman).

All of this preamble is to say that word-of-mouth works. When people really get what it is you're doing, and when what is you're doing is something really appealing and unique in its approach, quality or efforts, then these people will tell other people about this great new thing they've found. They'll share it on their blogs, on their twitter feeds, sometimes even in the way they style and comport themselves. It is the highest praise if you're in any kind of business, and it is on the winds of the words of others that we at 20x200 have been finding ourselves in the past month.

Firstly, the design blogs. We found ourselves flatteringly featured in the design section of rentedspaces, in a post on how to begin to deck one's walls in a fashion that will not make your digs look like a page out of a Pottery Barn or IKEA ad. Eva Hagberg totally gets us, writing:

Bekman's cause un-celebre is to get people interested in collecting art, and each of her editions arrives with a perfectly-designed tag that say "Congratulations! You bought art." And with everything from contributions from young photographers like Youngna Park, drawings by established graphic designer Kate Bingaman-Burt to brilliant text-based pieces from Mike Monteiro, browsing the archives of 20x200 is both more pleasant, and more personal, than getting lost in the online version of the uncategorized library that is the online poster world.

See? She gets us. We love it when people get us.

Then the good people at Make gave us a shout-out, citing our edition by Clifton Burt, a "Maker haiku art print." (I've always loved this print too, and thought how great a culture-jamming project it would be if some business or church marquis were switched around in the dead of night to be replaced with such resplendent pondering).

think-make-think by Clifton Burt

Then a few other places started chiming in, like Maryann Devine showing us off as a stack-of-prints (and listing the artists that she's collected!) awaiting framing, or like Anna at The Quilted Giraffe showcasing selected prints already graciously adorning the walls whilst promoting us to her readership.

Perhaps our favorite most recent declaration of love and devotion came during the art fairs of the past week, when artist Michelle Vaughan dyed her hair the same vintage blue as our ravishing art totes before hitting the Armory show:

(I love that blue too...but my hair would never ever do that)

In the past week we've also seen our name splashed tongue-and-cheek across the likes of the ridiculously clever Hyperallergic labs site, and then discussed in that unabashedly populist way that MetaFilter seems to exceed at in this recent feed about the same Powhida edition.

Why You Should Buy Art by William Powhida

When Andy once said, "Don't pay any attention to what they write about you. Just measure it in inches," we think he'd be fascinated and obsessed with the data metrics and usage stats that have replaced the smeary printed page. Now you know that we are, and that we appreciate the free love and the free press. Thanks for all your support and keep it coming!