Thrift-Store Art

Todd Morman of Monkey Media Report offers a short, solid summary of the inspiring tale of Mingering Mike:

A self-taught artist, music-lover and one-time AWOL Vietnam soldier loses his beloved stash of 70s-era songs and fake album covers after getting behind on payments for his storage spot. The stash is found by the right kind of crate-digging djs in a D.C. thrift store, who not only have the heart and soul to track Mike down but—can you believe it?—actually manage to find him.

In the meantime, the DJs posted what they'd found on soulstrut.com, word spread through the blogosphere, and soon thousands of people had seen the man's album covers. By the time Mike turned up, there were "gallery owners scrambling to offer him shows and folk art collectors 'salivating to get their hands on this collection.'"

Who can blame them? You can see the man's work here. It's great stuff.

Comments

[Hank]

(cough) crap (cough)

[LauraN]

What baffled me was the initial blog note by the DJ to the effect of “…what if he wants the stuff back and doesn’t want to pursue this sudden fame? What should I do then?” WTF?! You give the man his stuff back and you move on. What is it with people and their need for fame these days?! Was it all those kids left in daycare grown into attention whores or something? Argh.

As for the artistic value of the goods – it’s not good art in my opinion but if I am not buying it nor paying for it with tax dollars, I have not a care in the world about it.

[dhex]

bah humbug, hank.

his art was a manifestation of what goes on in most of us, but he took it a further step. you don’t have to like it – i’m not hugely fond of it myself – to not be impressed by his efforts.

i mean, i know art in general isn’t a big hit for a lot of hit and run posters but still…

[Critic]

Well, all the power to him. I think it’s hilarious when hacks and quacks (whatever their motives) unload their creations on pseudo-intellectual art “lovers.” Remember the graffiti-art craze a few years ago?

[dhex]

indeed.

but as unpopular as the notion might be here, even graffiti works as art in some cases. in a lot of cases, actually…though i guess that depends on who owns the building. 🙂

then again, i live in a neighborhood where factories and warehouses have “no graffiti above this point” signs so it’s just part of the landscape here. for better and for worse.

[dhex]

and what makes this particular case even more interesting is that it was found and then brought back to the creator independent of his own actions (outside of losing the lot in the first place)

[some guy]

I am completely underwhelmed. But, hey: if Mingering Mike can find people willing to part with good money for this crap, then more power to him.

[Jesse Walker]

Stop looking at it as “art,” folks, and just look at it. Could I possibly be the only one here who thinks this stuff is just plain cool?

[Pavel]

Could I possibly be the only one here who thinks this stuff is just plain cool?

Yes.

Besides. “Cool” doesn’t hold any water. You have to say something like “I was visually forced to confront my inner racist psyche.”

Seriously, can someone explain what about this is the least bit interesting?

[Critic]

“Seriously, can someone explain what about this is the least bit interesting?”

Certainly. It’s the inner child…expressed as a lonely man-alien, yearning for…

No, I can’t. Sorry.

[Jesse Walker]

For people who like to mock artcriticspeak, you two don’t seem able to look at this as anything but art critics…

[Pavel]

For people who like to mock artcriticspeak, you two don’t seem able to look at this as anything but art critics…

Artcriticspeak is what one is forced to resort to for a gutlaugh when confronted with something that appallingly fails to:

A) Stimulate any sort of prima facie response.

B) Have any cool background story to inform its holistic appreciability value.

While:

C) Inducing throngs of other people to wax artcritical about it or, conversely, to refuse to wax anything and simply plead the 5th on the grounds that they may incriminate themselves on one count each of Feloniously Inexplicable Posting and First Degree Weirdness.

So Mr. Walker, you’ve almost completed your journalistic duty. We have the WhoWhatWhereandHow. Now just tell us WHY GOD WHY?

[Jesse Walker]

Artcriticspeak is what one is forced to resort to for a gutlaugh when confronted with something that appallingly fails to:

A) Stimulate any sort of prima facie response.

B) Have any cool background story to inform its holistic appreciability value.

As someone who likes both the album covers and the story behind them, I can only plead a difference in taste.

Besides, they forced me to confront my inner racist psyche.

[dhex]

it’s a neat story – he makes this stuff, it disappears and then finds him again years later. that’s what’s cool about it.

[Douglas Fletcher]

For some reason that site just breaks my browser. Anyone else have that problem?

[MALAK]

Neat story, unimpressive art. I will agree with dhex as to the ‘art’ of bringing his vision to fruition, though. As to artistic taste, I favor representative art myself. Carl Brenders is my favourite. Amazing stuff, that.

[Critic]

Uhhh…”great” art?

[dhex]

he created an entire world, populated with mystery and wonder, and helped make it real through recording and painting his own little catalog.

so yeah, that’s pretty great art. while i may not like the drawings very much – i’m not much for record collecting outside of religious material and older ethnographic stuff for sampling – but i can appreciate the work and effort that went into making it real.

[dhex]

douglas – only when i use mozilla firebird. it gets all wiggy and shit on me.

[kevrob]

I’d have a hard time judging whether Mike’s work is “art” without seeing it in 3-D, and maybe hearing his tapes. Some of us appreciate the untrained rawness of “outsider” art, just as we enjoy folk music that comes from authentic “folks,” as opposed to professional performers. Given Jesse’s well-known affinity for the DIY aspects of music, especially from his book on microbroadcasting, it doesn’t surprise me that he was grabbed by this stuff. De gustibus, cats and kittens.

Kevin