It's an Art Trading Card Exchange at I've Been Framed

4125

Something I tucked toward the end of the post, two back, about IBF and our new M'Reptunian friend is something that deserves to be broken out on it's ownsome, so here I go with that.

Artist Trading Cards are a delightful thing, and in this era of existential dread about AI ruining art for artists who want to make their livings in it and just make it a commodity, ATCs are just the tonic we need to remind us that art is a personal thing and a human thing and can still not only be an industry but also a personally liberating thing.

There is literally nothing wrong with ATCs. They're small, 2.5 by 3.5 inch (64 mm by 89 mm), the same size as a sports trading card. You put some art on it, your own stuff, simple or complex, whatever moved you. You meet other artists. You trade cards.

Seriously, that's all there is to it. Simple, honest, elevated, personal. Democratic? You bet. Literally anyone who likes to art can do this; they can't keep you out.

They've been around for a bit. They were started in 1997 by a Swiss artist, name of M. Vänçi Stirnemann, at his second-hand book shop in Zuerich. They've been a presence ever since, a low-stakes way of doing and sharing art with a highly emotional payoff. Better info you can find at the Wikipedia page. 

Here's how you can get in on the conspiracy (they aren't all sinister and evil) and have some fun too:

In June, I've Been Framed Art Supply Center is staging a gallery show. If you get an ATC to them before the 15th of May, you'll be included in the ATC swap after that show. Basic details are available in this photo I've inserted above, or, hey, how about going to IBF at 4950 SE Foster Road some time and ask them about it? They'll tell you all you need to know and send you off with an ATC blank to do your bit on, and you return it to them. No money required, they just do this because IBF is a revolutionary place that way (small quiet revolutions are just as important as the big noisy ones). Pick up a pencil or a brush or a little paint while you're at it, you're on the way.

And you're doing it just the way the founder did, back in Zuerich in '97. 

There is literally no reason not to do this, all else being equal.