Cushicle Screenprinted Poster (misprint) by Mat Daly (19' x 25')

Item Purchased: Cushicle Screenprinted Poster by Mat Daly (19' x 25')
Location Purchased: Mat Daly / Renegade Craft Fair / 1419 W. Blackhawk / Chicago, IL
Price: $10.00 w/tax

Review: Renegade Craft Fair did a bang up job curating their winter craft fair. Not only were there a more diverse group of crafters, artists and artisans this time around, but I felt that the crafts appealed to a more diverse audience. Yes, the primary browser/customer was the 20-something female, but as a late 20-something guy with varied tastes, I found a lot of things that piqued my interest amidst all of the cutesy jewelry and knitted everythings that were on site.

One of those piquing products was the printwork of Mat Daly. Daly is one of the few Chicago artists who is a regular with the now famous silk-screen print shop, The Bird Machine. His work is stark and heavy on the contrast, making use of bold geometric shapes arranged in a seemingly chaotic jumble that takes the viewer by surprise with its inherent (yet dischordant) harmony. Those elements couldn't be more perfect for this poster.

The particular print I purchased is an ad for the free jazz group, A Cushicle, who perform intermitteantly on Tuesday nights at Rodan in Chicago's Wicker Park. Dischordant harmony is a perfect description of their sound.

Though Daly's official prints nearly all cost $20.00, I found this one in a stack of misprints that were half price. I would gladly hand over twenty of my hard earned dollars directly to an artist for a piece of his work that I like, but in the month of December, during the holiday shopping season, I had to take the low road toward high art. Luckily for me, slight misprints and off-center layers of print don't bother me. To me, imperfections are perfections in the art world. I would even say that Daly's style lends itself to the beauty of mistakes. Either way, this print makes a dischordant harmony out of my apartment's otherwise empty wall. Perhaps after the holidays, I will head over to The Bird Machine to purchase more of Daly's work.

Daly-fy your walls: Matdaly.com / TheBirdMachine.com

Rating: 4.5 / 5

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6 - 1" Buttons from Re-Conceived.com @ Renegade Craft Fair

Item Purchased: 6 - 1" Buttons from Re-Conceived.com @ Renegade Craft Fair
Location Purchased: re-conceived.com / Renegade Craft Fair / 1419 W. Blackhawk / Chicago, IL
Price: $5.00 w/tax

Review: Again with the buttons?

Yes... Again with the buttons.

I don't know what it is about these kids these days with their button making machines and the bowls upon bowls of these little badges of nostalgia crowding up every DIY fair I go to. I don't know what it is about me being drawn to these bowls, plunging my hand into them as if they were fine grains or accupuncture needles that instantly cure me of all of my ills. I like buttons. I like the personal decoration they provide without necessarily being categorized as jewelry. I like the advertising some buttons achieve (hint hint). I like the recycled art ethic that button making highlights (of course, the plastic and metal used in making buttons isn't necessarily recycled). My name is Kevin and I am a button addict.

Standard price for 1" buttons nowadays hovers right around $1.00 (except in some cases). In addition to the time and materials used in making buttons, what else am I paying for? I suppose I am paying the button maker for their haphazard design luck or their keen eye (I'd wager 50/50 between the former and the latter). The buttons at re-conceived.com's table at the Renegade Craft Fair were priced at $1.25 each or 6 buttons for $5.00. Though a little steep when compared to the other buttons at nearly every other table, re-conceived.com had the widest variety of found-art buttons of the vendors. I spend nearly 15 minutes scooping buttons out of a bowl and examining them one by one until I came up with six I liked. By the looks of my choices, I can now wear on my lapel my fondness for happy clouds, coffee/tea, baby ducks/chickens, fans of paper currency and 1970's era abstract design that resembles a tree from an Ed Emberley book.

Hooray me.

A part of me thinks I should get my own button making machine and tailor my flair more accurately to my personal taste, but half of the fun is in the hunt.

Rating: 3.75 / 5

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