The Art Machine: a mixed media novel
Type password, namaste, to get inside!
Max Poe knows the art business, and his artists’ business, and their collectors’ business; but there’s something he doesn’t know, and that’s how to convince his star artist, Punch, that he’s in a rut. Prodding the recalcitrant Punch by signing on younger, more exciting artists, including the headline grabbing prank artist Peter Monday, only launches him into flat out rebellion. And when Poe, convinced that a joint project will cement Monday’s image and breath new life into Punch’s career, throws the two artists together, their enmity pulls them into a public conflict that draws down still more negative press. For the first time in his career, Max Poe finds he’s not holding all the strings…
I started The Art Machine as a blog, very irregularly posted, that was committed to examining the machinations of the art market through stories that follow collectors, dealers, galleries, curators, artists and institutions involved in the sale and trade of fine art. It focused on art world news, art events, and trends which affect buyers and collectors.
After many years of interviewing dealers, gallerists, collectors, curators, and artists, visiting art fairs, attending openings and previews and open studios, and discussing art storage, maintenance, and sales, I have decided that what I have, is a body of information that can be used to build a novel which will do better, what I’ve done with the blog: that is to say, “examine the machinations of the art market” through stories.
And so it is that The Art Machine has found new purpose. It is now a photo-collaged and illustrated novel built around the further adventures of the author, Cat Weaver.
My Plan is to post bits of the novel in serial form, editing it as it moves along. plan as well, to add news about my progress, as well as appropriate interviews, meetings, musings, and commentary — even (I warn you) some poems, etc. I will also post artwork created by my fictional characters.
The novel will change form, as I move along. The first draft will be archived after it is built and subsequent drafts posted as the novel develops.
The novel may have a chronological plot but will also contain asides in the form of background stories, faux reviews and articles, and synchronicities. I may set up a separate TOC for these. For now they will be on Pages that are accessed via the top (main) menu.
Cat Weaver 