Tuesday Edition: Jason Polan

Happy Super Tuesday, voters!

Hopefully all of you States-dwelling, party-declaring citizens have carved out a few moments in your day to head to the polls. Having already performed my civic duty at the old folks' home down the block, I can say: "It's good! And good for you!" In other political news: In the wee hours of this very morning, I completed a silent coup, installing myself as the President of The Jason Polan Fan Club.

I type this communique from 20x200 HQ aka JPFC HQ, where the man himself spent many hours among us yesterday, signing Certificates of Authenticity and pairing them up with each unique numbered piece that comprises the edition of 200.

This is a most ground-breaking and unique 20x200 edition. With it, I ask many of our regulars to take a somewhat bolder step into the arty unknown. I love pretty things and animals just as much as the next girl (I'd hazard to guess even more maybe, especially when it comes to birds and say, pandas...) The fact is, art is so much more for me than pretty, cute or cuddly; part of my mission with 20x200 is to show scads of people the many and various ways that art can enrich one's life.

Jason's work is about a lot of lofty ideas, but those ideas are grounded in the most mundane of media and happenstance. The ideas center around his ambitions to interact authentically with both the media he chooses to work in and the collectors who buy his work. With The Hand Project he achieves this with materials that most of us are lucky to have, or have easy access to: a photocopier, paper of varying weights and qualities, goopy black ink, a firm handshake, a Polaroid camera.

I say lucky because I mean it, and that I mean it is part of the art of it. This might sound totally cheeseball coming from a sassy cynic like myself, but honestly speaking, I have really and truly found meaning in my life by having gratitude for the simplest of things. Calling attention to this simple good fortune is something that makes the art work for me. The fact that Jason uses these things in ways that would never occur to me reinforces my admiration for the mind of the artist, a mind that functions so differently from my own.

Thinking about my hand, and everything (yes, everything!) it allows me to do, thinking about a photocopier as an artist's tool, recognizing the immediacy, intimacy and authenticity that springs from the in-person interaction required for an actual handshake - these are all things I'm happy to notice and to honor.

I'm grateful that Jason's thoughtful interpretation of the structure of 20x200 has given me the opportunity to do so. I'm equally grateful that he does it without gravitas or arch hipster irony. He makes me think sure, but oh, how he makes me laff! (I am pretty sure that he means to do both.)

It's a rich experience for me, and it's my very own. Kind of surprising considering that, in theory, what Jason's done is something that almost each and every one of us can do. Here's the thing though: he did it. And by doing it, he shifted my thinking a little bit and for the better. To me, that's art. Living with that art, as I plan to do, will always remind me to remember it.

Previous Email : Edition Announcement #38 -Rebecca Loyche

Obsessed? Follow us on Twitter.

Browse the remaining editions: $20, $50, $200, $500, $1000, $2000

These editions are almost sold out: Grab them now!

Jen Bekman Projects is hiring!....

Forward this email to a friend

Update my subscription preferences...

Unsubscribe me from this list.