More Stuff I Make

Scott Snyder

Artwork - Deep-Fried and Ingots

Regarding Deep Fried Art and Plastic Ingot series (below):

I have taught, curated, and worked as an artist. From these three occupational vantage points, I see the beauty and absurdity of culture and the art market. I play with the notion of low art versus high art through the use of kitsch items deemed by some to be collectable. Speculation and hyped talk of the collectability of the Ty company’s Beanie Babies © in the 1990s mimicked the insanity of the “high art” market in that artists’ careers have risen and fallen (and sometimes risen again) based on the well-timed words of a few critics and collectors. Much like candy and junk food that permeate our consumer culture, there are parallels of popular consumer culture to fine art or object collecting. For some, consumption and collection is purely dictated by (perceived or impulsive) need. For others, collecting is based on research and speculation of a “market” (i.e. beanie baby or abstract expressionists). Yet for others, ownership gives self-worth and legacy within their caste, whether it be acquisition of a ‘millennium bear’ or a de Kooning.