Barnes’ History of Art — Chapter 13 — @tweetandgoseek

Scavenger hunts have always been one of my favorite things to do. I used to love the hidden image game in the Highlights for Children magazines too. Geocaching? Funnest! Brain teasers and actively seeking things out with my eyes is my jam, also too. Obsession is one of my finer traits as an artist. If I’m going to do something, it’s going to be magnificent in scale. Like make 800+ collaged squares. Each were hand cut from sheets of birchwood, hand sanded, primed, hand painted, delicately signed, composed, glazed for protection, and then hidden around cities for people to find through a photo clue posted on Twitter (now Instagram).

In 2006 on my first trip to Art Basel, I took down a handful of trinkets I’d made from old women’s shoes and broken tail light pieces, a few blocks with found images glued on to them, and some broken toys glued together. I wrote my name on each one. Barnes. That was it.

After a few weeks went by, I googled Barnes + Art Basel Miami Beach and found a short blurb about one of my pieces that had been found by the Miami Sun Times. (Which is no longer available, but here’s a link to a story in the Columbus Dispatch) It was a form of validation that my work had made it safely to another destination where it would have a new life online without it coming directly from me. My intention all along. I gave away the work for others to find in hopes they would share it or care for it. I wanted the works to be coveted. They are original pieces, relics left to be collected. My hope is that the originals end up online and sold back and forth for high dollars one day. A separate market for the sale of my work without a connection to it. While I’m alive too. My intention is for it to drive up the value of the actual work I make, to which I am connected, while I’m alive.

Again in 2009, I went down to Art Basel Miami Beach. This time a little more prepared. I took 50 pieces down. I spent three weeks on Twitter combing #artbasel related hashtags and reaching out to others who were going. When I got to the convention center I started leaving them everywhere and photographing the collaged pieces in the environment, giving away visual clues to the specific location and tweeting the pics. This time, on the back of each piece, I left my name, email address, and a promise to send an official certificate of ownership once they emailed me. I sent 17 certificates upon my return home.

After calculating my success in business terms, I realized I was on to something. I reached out to a few local businesses and asked if they wanted to participate by adding a redeemable value to each piece. I landed my first client who gave me $5 & $10 coupons to her menu of restaurants. I made the same type of art again for this one. 50 collages from junk mail and semi-vintage magazines. I gave each of her restaurants a check sheet with a picture of the pieces, a serial number, the value of the piece, and a blank spot for the total bill of the client. This ensured an instantly measurable ROI and accountability against fraudulent use of the promotion. The results after the campaign were a redemption rate of 85% and an average total spent at 195% over the value of the giveaway.

I’ve continued the campaign for the last 6 years working with tons of clients from different parts of the country. I tapped out at making just over 800 collaged squares. I transitioned the campaign to include my Instagram photos, other people’s Instagram images, or brand selected objects. I even made a video to explain how the game works. The campaign has really turned into more about the photograph of the object in the environment than about the object itself. The players don’t really care about the prize or the object, they care about being the first to the spot. Because the game is currently centralized in Columbus, Ohio, the redemption time from tweet to first on the scene is about 6 minutes.

I really miss making the square collages. They were some of my favorite work to make. They resembled physical tweets. Random thoughts and ideas, an odd mix of images and words. Sometimes everything would make sense, other times nothing. I had no real theme for any of them. Just a bunch of magazine and newspaper clippings. They are something you can hold in your hand. Unobtrusive yet memorable. You can place them anywhere easily. I’m not sure anyone will understand the labor of love I endured making these pieces. I spent thousands of hours in my studios clipping away and composing, signing and gluing these pieces over those three years. I made sure to make my signature in the bottom right corner as consistent as possible by hand. Just like a branded product. I invested such a massive chunk of my life to this project in terms of time commitment and unabashed love. It’s definitely been one of my favorite avenues of creative expression.

I recently began a new series of collages on larger canvases. I can’t wait to share those with you. They are definitely my favorite works to date.

If you’re interested in viewing all 800+ pieces, check them out here. Each and every one of them. You’ll laugh, you’ll think, you’ll go, WTF is this guy on? These are best enjoyed with a hot cup of coffee and an open mind. Enjoy!