Artist creates a Ripple with Scarcity

How do we create value? Why, for example, are diamonds so expensive?

One answer is that unscrupulous Dutchmen are keeping millions of the rocks locked up in vaults so they won't flood the market and drive the price down.

Austin artist Sean Ripple has adapted this model to create a little forced scarcity of his own in this project. He took photographs, distributed 5-by-7-inch prints in various cities and posted them on flickr. He then moved all the digital copies onto disks and threw them out the window of a moving car after deleting the image files from his flickr account.

Last weekend he set out to find the disks by the side of the road. If he found them, they'll be for sale. If not, the 5-by-7 prints and a few blog site copies will be all that remain of the work.

Poof, and voila: instant, artificial scarcity.

We've got to admit, those stud earrings are starting to look a little more sparkly....

Sean Ripple: Artificial Scarcity

Mackey Gallery

Opens Saturday, Dec. 12, 6-9 p.m.

Glasstire is a nonprofit Web site that covers the visual arts scene in Texas.

• Artificial Scarcity, Glasstire, Mackey Gallery
• Sean Ripple

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They had a ball, literally, at Hermann Park Golf Center

Clowning around at NotsuoH

Update: Glasstire/Fresh Arts Coalition ball rescheduled

An artful twist on the traditional

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