Affordable art Issue #30

Learn how to replace your Salvation Army macramé work with something more pleasing to your eye — and your wallet

By Dina Zwiebel
Published: December 1st, 2006 | 12:00am

While some people consider $1,000 a reasonable price tag for an original Andy Warhol print, it’s not in the budget for most of us. It is possible, though, to cover your walls with affordable art (read: less than $100) that comes directly from the creator’s hands as long as you know where to look. Here’s a sampling of work from a community of artists who make their work readily available to beginning collectors. Looking for even more recommendations? We’ve gotcha covered — we asked the artists to recommend some of their favorites.

1 Hideout/Touch and Go Block Party
by JUDGE
$30
Scratchboard transferred to Vellum, burned into a screen, and silk-screened onto paper (judgeworks.com)
JUDGE RECOMMENDS: Steve Walters (screwballpress.com); Keith Herzik (keithherzik.com); Cricket Press (cricket-press.com); Mat Daly, Jay Ryan, and Diana Sudyka of Bird Machine (thebirdmachine.com)

2 Mia Doi Todd
by Lucy Jones of Mount Pleasant
$20 (includes shipping)
Screenprinted with a run of 26 (itsmountpleasant.com)
LUCY JONES RECOMMENDS: the same artists as Dave Bailey

3 Elvis Costello
by Leia Bell
Six-color screen print (leiabell.com)
LEIA BELL RECOMMENDS: Tara McPherson (taramcpherson.com), Kelli Brat (kellibrat.com), Dan McCarthy (danmccarthy.org), Guy Burwell (guyburwell.com), Mr. & Mrs. Buchanan (thelittlefriendsofprintmaking.com), Casey Burns (caseyburns.com)

4 Regina Spektor
by Dave Bailey of Mount Pleasant
$20 for four black-and-white posters (includes shipping)
Pen and ink printed on recycled paper (itsmountpleasant.com)
DAVE BAILY RECOMMENDS: bongoût (frre.fr.freee.frfr.e.free.fr), Leia Bell, Seripop (seripop.com), Simone Lia and Tom Gauld (cabanonpress.com)

5 Modest Mouse
by Diana Sudyka
$30, 19” x 25”
Four-screen poster on 100-pound cover stock (dianasudyka.com)
DIANA SUDYKA RECOMMENDS: Carson Ellis (carsonellis.com), Eleanor Grosch (pushmepullyoudesign.com)

6 My Brightest Diamond
by Jason Munn of The Small Stakes
$20, 19” x 25”
Two-color screen print (thesmallstakes.com)
JASON MUNN RECOMMENDS: Dirk Fowler (f2-design.com)

7 Belle & Sebastian and the New Pornographers
by Strawberry Luna
$25, 14” x 22”
Three-color screen print on Cougar White paper 100-pound cover stock; edition of 75 (strawberryluna.com)
STRAWBERRY LUNA RECOMMENDS: Miss Amy Jo (missamyjo.com), Oona Peterson (runamok.etsy.com), Julie Meredith (etui-etui.com), Mike Budai (myspace.com/mikebudai)

8 Psychic Powers
by Johanna Wright
$40, 5” x 5”
Original acrylic painting on stretched canvas (www.johannawright.com)
JOHANNA WRIGHT RECOMMENDS: Nat Davis (artificialmemory.com), Dan Price (moonlight-chronicles.com), Penelope Dullaghan (penelopeillustration.com)

9 Comfort
by Catia Chien
$60, 9” x 11.5”
Archival art print; limited edition of 100; signed and numbered catiachien.com)
CATIA CHIEN RECOMMENDS: Vickey Jang (birdinaskirt.com), Jill Bliss (jillbliss.com), Moira Hahn (moirahahn.com), Carson Ellis, Saelee Oh (lemonademaid.com), Karyn Raz (karynraz.com), Yoko Tanaka (yokotanaka.com), Jaime Zollars (jaimezollars.com)

10 Split
by Linnea Gits of Binth
$85, 16” x 20”
Matted, signed and numbered, screen-printed using hand-mixed water-based inks; limited edition of 250 (binth.com)
LINNEA GITS RECOMMENDS: Aesthetic Apparatus (aestheticapparatus.com)

WEB SITES • Gigposters.com: Most of the artists who are featured in this story can be found on Gigposters.com, which is essentially an aggregator of those who have at some point designed a band poster. You can type in a designer or band name and access contact information and examples of the artist’s work or all of the posters in the system designed for that particular band. Fantastically overwhelming.

• Etsy.com: Anyone can sell her work on this egalitarian site, which includes loads of handmade stuff — ranging from jewelry to photography to paintings to sculpture — for great prices. Transactions go directly through the artist.

STORES
• Needles & Pens (needles-pens.com / 3253 16th Street, San Francisco): The boutique features rotating exhibits of local artists as well as a strong loyalty to the DIY movement.
• Sacred Art (2040 West Roscoe Street, Chicago): This store showcases the work of emerging artists priced at $75 a pop.
• Creativity Explored (creativityexplored.org / 3245 16th Street, San Francisco): This organization uses art as therapy for individuals of all ages with developmental disabilities. It is a studio and gallery with work available for sale.
• Little Otsu (littleotsu.com / 849 Valencia Street, San Francisco): Sharing an office with McSweeney’s publishing house makes this store a little unusual, but so is the art they sell. Work ranges from fold-out calendars to handmade books to posters. All well done and unique.