I spent a good 5 hours at the shops today, mainly looking for some term-time work. But in my travels I visited and perused every art shop I could find. I started at Athena. There was the usual Vetriano collection, black and white cityscape photography, some quirky animal posters, blue washed beach scenes of John Miller, the odd Dali image and whordes of black and white photo prints. These prints showed Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, Muhammed Ali and John Travolta doing their stereotypical thing. Four inspirations for the current generation, one has Parkinsons, one is a Scientologist, one was overweight and died from it and the other did nothing but look pretty until she also died. Great. Do I seem bitter about this? Yes I am. In every single shop I went into I was greeted with the exact same art prints, photos and four icons. Sometimes there was the odd Beatles or Al Pacino addition. But in all SEVEN shops I visited there were the same prints and images. Nothing at all remotely interesting, intellectual, brilliant, beautiful or inspiring to me. Seven different shops run by seven different companies stocking exactly the same shit obviously contracted from the same bulk provider. There was not ONE original image in any of these outlets. It's no wonder people are turning to the Internet to purchase all their goods, the high street sells all the same tacky-kitsch stuff conforming to the lowest common denominator for the unrefined masses to decorate their stereotypical lounge or bedrooms with.
Labels: Life
By 
, at
October 05, 2005
Haha welcome to Leamington Spa, the most pretentious yet totally chav town in existence
You should try Birmingham, it's the only place with any culture in a 30 mile radius
By , at
December 15, 2005
Hello FofR or whatever your name is. My name is Thomas Barbey and I enjoyed reading your post. The reason for the stores in Leamington Spa / Coventry stacking up with posters of the usual Vettriano collection is quite simple. Nobody has the guts to pre-pay for different stuff. They're all afraid to have it collect dust instead of moving the merchandise. That's all it is to them. When Anne Geddes was hot, she had posters everywhere and today you can't force people to buy her posters because she isn't hot anymore. The posters aren't there on consignment but have to be purchased by the store owner. They have to pray it's going to sell. Therefore they all follow like sheep because Vettriano happens to be hot right now.
You have good taste (mmmh, if you like my images) and it's very cool to not like what everybody else likes anyway. Usually when art is good and has something to say, it will never sell as much as celebrity shots. This has nothing to do with Art. Posters of Orlando Bloom or Paris Hilton will sell more than M.C.Escher or Michael Sowa.
The store owners, bless them, are quite clueless at times and they're just waiting to be told by the customers who is "hot" and who is "not".
You are obviously more educated than the average person on the street. Just look at "Jay Walk" on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno to see how ignorant the average person is.
By 
FofR, at
December 15, 2005
Re:Thomas Barbey
I am privileged to have you post on my blog. I love your work and hope you continue to create such stunning pieces.