ART-O-MAT VENDING MACHINES DISPENSE ART!

One of the many styles of Art-O-Matic machines out there

I believe in reincarnation--well, for vending machines, anyway. Haven't you ever wonder what happens to a cigarette machine when it stops vending packs of cancer sticks? It dies and comes back as an Art-O-Mat machine. Check out the one to the left, there. What's an Art-O-Mat machine, specifically?

Well, it's an old cigarette machine that has been restored and repurposed to sell small pieces of artwork. Yeah, pretty cool, huh? This is an interesting bit of competition for Mold-A-Rama, I should think (check out [http://thepete.com/thespecialpages/mold-a-rama/index.html|my Mold-A-Rama page]).

Art-O-Mat art designed by folks at Toyism.com

I think this is an awesome idea--the artworks sold by the machines are small, but very cool. While the machines aren't everywhere, I think the potential is there for them to appear in many more places. I mean, what better way to help put more art out there in the world? Make it cheap and easy to buy--who needs galleries when you can buy small, inexpensive art from vending machines? It sounds kind of weird, granted, but why not embrace this? Hey, museums can be fascinating--but they can also be boring as hell--a vending machine that dispenses art is cool because of all the different types of art you might end up with. It's also fun because you get to work a machine--and EVERYone enjoys working machines, I think--right?

So, check out ArtOMat.Org and [http://www.artomat.org/machinesbystate.html|find an Art-O-Mat machine near you]. Supporting art has never been easier, cheaper or taken up so little wall space! :D

Thanks to RetroThing.Com for [http://www.retrothing.com/2006/03/the_artomat_a_c.html|blogging on this]!