Artomat.org are doing the unthinkable, or rather it would have been just a generation ago. The fact is the art market is brimming over with talent, more and more of us have chosen to follow a creative career path, wherever it may take us, be it poverty and obscurity or fame and fortune, and of course the vast majority in between. So society, and in turn the market, will always need new and novel ways of promoting and selling art to the masses.

Art-o-mat ® deliver art on tap, they sell art via a network of vending machines, and for me personally, it makes total sense. I've seen all sorts of products delivered this way, drink, food, books, umbrellas, ties, maps, you name it someone somewhere is vending it.

But art? Real art? Not the mass-produced Christmas cracker junk you'd normally expect either. All they sell are handmade items produced by genuinely creative individuals and automatically delivered with love via the vision of the famed left-field entrepreneur and artist Clark Whittington. In one word 'yes', it's an automated network of miniature art galleries in mechanical form,  I'm sure if Marcel Duchamp were alive today he'd approve, the reduction of the art market to a simple mechanism of delivery, the estrangement of all those dealers and auctions scrabbling around for a hefty commission, the truly honest way of providing the 'man (or woman) on the street' the chance to engage, it may just be the way forward.

This is no fly-by-night operation either, Art-o-mat ® was established way back in 1997 and have since been followed by an army of imitators who I'll explore later on, however let's stick with the originator for now. Art-o-mat ® machines are retired cigarette vending machines that have been converted to vend art. The first was created by Whittington to sell his own art, soon demand outstripped supply and so he took on more and more artists to help fill the machine. That's now ancient history, with over 82 active machines in various locations throughout the US Art-o-mat ® must be the world leader in art vending. I'm surprised I haven't seen more of the same over here in the UK, who knows it may be on the cards, then again, Britain, the arts, not exactly two peas in a pod. As a pupil at a suburban grammar school I was ridiculed by the headmaster for deeming to presume there's such thing as a future career in the arts.

My school was a bank clerk factory, even though it had managed to squeeze out the likes of Mick Jagger, it would be another decade an the ousting of a man with an obsession with Etonian decorum and nostalgia for WW2 before they'd finally blow their own trumpet. My point is there are two sides to the argument, if there even is an argument – either that this kind of malarkey is denigrating the inherent 'value' of art, or, as I'd prefer, in the most simplistic terms, 'the more the merrier'. There could be a blurring of the divide between art and craft, the enmeshing of the retail trade with the fine arts market, but what the hell, it's happening everywhere you look, so why not take it straight to the public. At university my course leader told me that the opinions of the public didn't matter, it was the arts elite, the arts media, the galleries and critics that called all the shots. I never backed down on that particular point of contention, I'm sure he would now.

There are around 400 artists from across the globe contributing to the project, in fact if you think you can make the grade then read about their submission process for more details. Then again you might want to hold back until you've seen the competition, your choice.

A Flip Book by Jenna Adams

Jenna Adams is a NJ based photographer and publisher, you may have come across some of her limited edition art books at The B Press. This is a real piece of fun, a flip book of photographs that animate what I'm assuming is a little cooking in the kitchen. I wonder whats' on the menu?

Retro Toy by Matthew Anderson

I'd love to tell you more about this guy, I've found a few old links, but I can't tell if any of them are the artist in question. It'd be nice to see Art-o-mat ® pull out all the stops and give each of their contributors a proper profile page, but then again that doesn't guarantee they'll update them. Still what a cool piece of retro angst we have here, everything from the fully non-poseable figure, (love the way he's made that a selling point), to the gorgeously antique packaging, this is a must for art nerds everywhere.

Figure by Martha Schermerhorn

Again I'm not familiar with Martha Schermerhorn's work however I do love this piece, a unique blend of the polemic and nostalgic. What I do know is Schermerhorn is well known around the Rochester area of NY, and has exhibited her photography at the Image City Photography Gallery in what I assume is her home town.

The whole idea of an art vending machine may seem somewhat whimsical at first glance, however how seriously this  enterprise has been received is reflected in the locations of Art-o-mat's  locations in such prestigious institutions as the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. Sure they're usually placed in more humbles corners of such galleries, such as spaces in cafeterias and gift shops, but this might even contribute to the massive appeal of these machines – their lack of pretension, their approachability.

Keep an eye out for an Art-o-mat in your area (if you're in the States). For $5 you can buy a mystery art piece the size of a cigarette packet, and yes it will be an original. You can choose by artist and guess what the piece may resemble by the title, but hey, that's half of the fun!

Other art vendors include distroboto, butter vending machine, hot cakes, art buy the inch, art-o-matic, cheap art, vendart, pac-o-matic, and button-o-matic which all deserve at least a brief mention, if not for originality, at least for furthering the cause of bringing art to the masses. Although I can find little or no information for most of them…

If you're in Montreal CA then distroboto have 5 machines they regularly stock with original art, they've been going since 2001 and offer a commission of $1.75 on each piece sold. Maximum dimensions for submitted pieces are 4" x 3-3/8" x 5/8".

The Campbell Works Art Gallery in Stoke Newington, N. London has a vending machine that delivers a print from local artists for £2.

The Butter Vending Machine NY – check out this erm… infomercial?

Art Buy The Inch – seems more like a tiny gallery than a machine.

Button-o-matic – vending individual button badges from respected artists around the world, they've even released a 24 carat gold series …gulp!

So there you have it – automatic love sold on tap by machine. Ever seen The Large Glass? If a piece of art every was ever a prophecy, then that must be the one. Machines of desire, machines that provide a little slice of humanity in a cold and calculated technocracy, still that's probably best left for another post

Check out hundreds more art works delivered by Art-o-mat ® at www.artomat.org.

This post is tagged art vending machines, art-o-mat, artomat, artomat.org, automatic art, Duchamp