I'm pretty sure I blogged Art-O-Mat several years back. When I originally came across the Art-O-Mat site (a veritable Horn & Hardart of culture), Jude, Geree and I discussed how the concept might be adapted to bypassing the Art-O-Mat the corporation and converting vending machines locally to sell ATCs ~ or rather ACEOs ~ and other suitably sized art objects.
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via Eccentric Roadside by Gunnar and Sherry on 10/15/09
There are 82 Art-O-Mat machines around the country and each have their own distinctive retro graphics. The machines feature art from 400 artists from around the world.
My selection was a distinctive pin from Weener Ware. Cool!
I took Mom to see the Georgia O'Keeffe exhibit at New York City's stupendous Whitney Museum of American Art last weekend. Very impressive. But what really caught my eye was an unusual contraption on the bottom floor next to the book store called the "Art-O-Mat". At first glance it looks like a cigarette vending machine from the '60s. Wow, I thought, a cigarette machine. When was the last time you saw one of those? Upon closer inspection it turned out to be an ingenious device for vending original art in cigarette pack-sized boxes. You buy a token from the cashier at the book store for $6.98 plus tax. You then put it in the Art-O-Mat's coin slot and make a selection of the "brand" of art you want. Little descriptive labels occupy the spaces above the levers that used to say "Marlboro," "Newport" and "Chesterfield." There's a thrill to pulling that nob all the way out and having your purchase fall in the trough below. My choice was from an outfit called "Weener Ware". Inside my fancifully festooned box was a decorative pin made from a bottle cap with a picture of a dog in it. Cool! The Art-O-Mat at the Whitney is one of 82 retired cigarette vending machines that have been converted to vena Lark, I'd walk a mile for one because you've got a lot to like and they've come a long way, baby. And I'd rather fight than switch.
