Cool Hunting

Artist Jason Polan's work involves a playful examination of the nature of the artist/collector relationship. His skillful drawings are often packaged in a way that involves a thoughtful interaction with the buyer .

Hand Project, for example, offers three takes on the artist's hand. He created 200 unique photocopies of his hand which are available for purchase for $20 each, as well as twenty original ink drawings of his hand which are available for $200 each and for $2000 Polan will come to your home and shake your hand. The event will be documented with a photograph and Polan and a certificate signed by both the artist and the collector to commemorate the occasion.

Polan's new project "Every Person In New York" is his attempt to document every person that he encounters in New York City in a drawing. He began by drawing people in subway stations, museums, restaurants and on street corners but he has also sent out a call for people to set up informal appointments, letting him know where they will be at a certain point of your day. Polan then draws the subject from a distance taking care not to take up more than two minutes of their time and the drawings appear on the website later that night.

Also offered on his site is One Hour of Art where for $60 you will receive an original artwork created just for you within the time frame of one hour.

Polan's book "The Every Piece Of Art in The Museum Of Modern Art Book" is a collection of line drawings of every piece of art that was visible to the public at the museum from 19 January-31 January 2005. (Click above right image for detail.)

When not thinking up his part performance, part conceptual work, Polan hosts the Taco Bell Drawing Club an informal meeting of friends and artists who meet to eat Taco Bell and draw. We like how the simple concept (holding an artist salon in a setting not generally associated with creativity) both literally puts ideas about high and low culture on the table and also defies the unwritten laws of fast food consumer culture by choosing to linger in a place designed to get people in and out as quickly as possible.