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Artists In Cellophane, Vikki Vassar
9
makezine.com
ART-O-MAT
ARTOMAT.ORG
What do you do when something ubiquitous
like the cigarette vending machine becomes
illegal for use? For Clark Whittington,
the response was to sell works of art. The
North Carolina-based conceptual artist has
spent 25 years repurposing now-prohibited-
in-the-U.S. vintage cigarette machines
to vend small, handmade creations —
paintings, drawings, sculptures, jewelry,
mini-macramé, and whatever else over 400
contributing artists come up with to stock
170 Art-O-Mat machines nationwide. “Some
are real active, others are there waiting for
the right person to come along,” Whittington
says. “With Art-O-Mat, I feel we’re teaching
people that art is not scary.”
It’s easily the most accessible art gallery
anyone will ever come across, and may
be the cheapest, with each work costing
just $5. Each machine is a piece of art
itself, being uniquely designed to fit the
interior of each location — a Whole Foods
Market in Boston, the Cosmopolitan Casino
in Las Vegas, or the True North Barber
Shop in Phoenix, just to name a few of the
diverse businesses that host these pieces
of American nostalgia, now serving as a
doorway to the independent art world.
In 2018, Art-O-Mats moved 90,000
pieces. But like most retailers across the
country, sales took a dive in 2020 due to the
pandemic. However, Whittington is confident
“people will be foaming at the mouth” for
new experiences in the post-Covid world, so
he’s already anticipating his stockpile will
quickly deplete once more businesses open
their doors again. “We’re always looking for
artists,” he says. “We need art that is really
good, that really makes people want to
reach out to them two steps away from the
machine after they vend it.” —Greg Gilman
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