Titles Left to Right: Me, Our Movie, The Camden Market Free Art Man, and Walls Please! 2026. Oil on canvas board, (4) 10 x 10"
My friend Mike and I have a tradition every summer to take a couple long drives to Cooperstown to exhibit our paintings at the Smithy Gallery. A beautiful daytrip through the Burned Over District of Central New York. The National Baseball Hall of Fame is in Cooperstown, but it’s better known for its local art and hoppy pints that Mike and I look forward to more than the art. Unfortunately the gallery curates theme-based shows, which I believe is a nasty ask of any artist who longs to usher in the new of the world. But for $30 you’re guaranteed a set number of works to exhibit in the oldest stone building in the village. The first show’s theme this year is “Ten Inches Square” (or cubed if sculpture), and each artist gets to show four pieces. Well, that’s a pain-in-the-neck theme, like all themes in art will be. But “when in Rome”, and I’ll be damned if I miss out on the rolling countryside and a rare excuse for day drinking...
So I made these QR’s. Each one links in order to the website or video below. It’s Advertism! And it’s one of the futures of art. I figure if they want to give me a theme, I’ll give one back. A couple hundred (maybe more) people will see these and be curious with their smartphone appendages.
Here is an interesting coincidence. The QR link to the Camden Market Free Art Man (
I like that full circle stuff.