Sept 2-Oct 18 SHIM Art Network: “The Global Gift Shop”

The Global Gift Shop: The radical politics of the small art object

Can the art world become less elitist without sacrificing quality? Can we find a new path towards a more inclusive, expanded, and “democratized” creative ecosystem that allows more artists to experience the benefits of high level art gallery benefits; such as international art fairs and digital art markets like Artsy? Can we expand the viewing audience for fine art by making art events more like interactive, communal trading spaces than the corporatized current model of Art Basel etc.? The Global Gift Shop exhibition will offer a modest first step in answering all these questions with a resounding “Yes”.

The Global Gift Shop, as the show title suggests, re-imagines the experience of how one typically leaves the
museum, and transforms that into the foundational act; the very focal point of the art experience. The choice is deliberate. The intention is to invert every primary tenet of the modern art object practice. Making fine art accessible, affordable, and easy to ship. The act of treating fine art as a small beautiful thing easily acquired and simple to transport radically undermines the very nature of what most believe modern art stands for. This is a small gesture that signals big changes. At the heart of this re-imagining is the encapsulated fine art object.

SHIM Art Network in collaboration with Art Pics art cards are excited to announce The Global Gift Shop international exhibition coming this September 3rd through October 18th at Imagoars, Cannaregio, in Venice, Italy. Though modest in size, this exhibition is ambitious in its scope and objectives. The primary feature of The Global Gift Shop is the encapsulated art work. Encapsulation refers to a unique, “one of a kind”, high quality art work archivally preserved in a machine sealed, vacuum packed plastic container, that simultaneously provides both the artist and collector a unique numbered and registration system for the purpose of authenticating and recording ownership. These encapsulated art works are small (6.8 cm x 8.9 cm) self-contained original artworks that will allow for creatives of all disciplines to now engage in global exhibitions, and gain access to the critical digital art site Artsy.net- the world’s largest art e-commerce platform- and a critical tool in the promotion of all serious artists that has, until now, been unavailable to the 99% of artists without large gallery representation. In creating this concept of a new small, unique object this exhibition radically re-imagines the idea of what fine art can be, and in turn opens the art world to an enormous new class of younger, and more diverse collectors. For years the art world was a space reserved only for the wealthy. Now the democratization of the art object via encapsulation makes possible a new universe of buying, trading, and sharing for both the creator and the viewer.

This fresh and innovative model was conceived by ArtPics Cards founder Gareb Shamus, who has a long and successful understanding of trading collectibles and building an enormous community of those who love them via his founding of Comic Con. Shamus has dedicated this new concept as a way to reinvigorate the art world, a system that will add a velocity of transactions against an industry with falling revenue, gallery closings, and the costs of participating in art fairs; while a younger, increasingly restless global art audience eagerly seeks out more playful and affordable art model that actually connects to their needs rather than the exhausted current version represented at the huge, corporatized art fairs. Realizing the art world could not change itself he enters this arena with the fresh eyes of an outsider who loves the creation and nurturing of young artistic talent without the weight, and baggage of the traditional gallery model.

The Global Gift Shop is curated by French artist and curator Alexandra Mas, co-founder of The EDGE Magazine,
a luxury and cultural biannual; and by Peter Hopkins, artist and founder of the SHIM Art Network. Resident artist
Samantha Heydt will simultaneously create a micro-installation within this show dedicated to her own interpretation of the small and curious history of unique collectibles that she has showcased this past year with her solo exhibitions at Aqua Art Miami, and the Newport Art Museum. During the 7 weeks of the exhibition multiple live interactive events will also take place on site including AI Art Confessional. Further collaborators include Casa Lienzo Art Residency of Mexico City run by Graeme Luey, artist and owner of #Hashtag Gallery also of Mexico City, Mexico, ODETTA Gallery of New York City, run by artist/owner Ellen Hackl Fagan, with a traveling exhibition of 10 x 10 inch works titled, Color’s Healing Force, by Any Means Necessary!