I was born in Washington DC and I remember vividly from an early age hearing my father talk about how overworked the DC civil servants were taking care of people from all over the world.  What I didn't fully realize when I was 4 and we moved abroad is that although Washington DC gets all kinds of special perks from being at the center of the American "Imperial, Republican Democracy"  we residents (well, until I was about 2) don't get a voting congressional representative and we don't get any senators period!  What kind of crazy democracy is that?! 

 

Oh, I think the Sunni's in Iraq have a bit of a clue perhaps?  Although they, unlike DC residents, actually have people who serve in their interest AND have a real vote.  It is no accident that hypocrisy rhymes with democracy and that is what makes the world go round I suppose...  At least these United States are relatively stable as is Washington DC to a greater or lesser degree.  Good to be living in an empire still sort of on the upswing I suppose...  Did you know Guam and other places send representatives to the capitol that share Eleanor Holmes Norton's dubious distinction of being a legislator without a vote?

 

Anyway, part two of my project (apart from trying to make money like a good United States citizen) is India's place among the nations of the world and a more general statement about the functioning of the United Nations.  India's prime minister Manmohan Singh might have gotten into hot water in terms of India versus other powers who want to a share of the current five member UN Permanent Security Council.  However, I think it is only natural for a country with such a huge and youthful population to demand (and get) more of a say in what goes on in the world.   The fact that they're nuclear is naturally a difficult issue but one I hope won't get in the way for too long.  What of the fact they're a "democracy"?!  Anyway, I'm not sure what to say about Brazil, Islamic countries and others who may be aligned with but not 100% in agreement with "India's take" on making the world better.

 

Well, now for the actual art I hope to deliver to some of you out there:

 

All items are on 9"x12" or larger watercolor paper.

 

Here is the first item that was sold: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicholasthompson/368715693/

All 534 remaining members of the 110th congress as of 2006.1.23 are for sale in the same basic style (D = blue, R=red and I=green).  I'll post them online as and if they are sold.  more on individual pricing later. 

 

the items that require special bids are: 

Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton of Washington DC in blue wash.

President XLIII George W. Bush of the United States in red wash.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India in green wash.

 

OK - here is the weird part.  Any purchase of a voting legislator is a bid of that amount towards which ever of the three special people you wish to own.  So, if you spend $50 bucks buying a few Senators you (at no extra charge) can have the winning bid of $50 for Rep. Norton if no one else wants her (I hope she's not so cheap!).  You can also add to your bid above whatever you've spent on voting legislators.  If there have been no bids on someone for 30 days I'll give that "special person" to the highest bidder.  Maybe Bush will sell for a couple of bucks?

 

Anyway, as an extra incentive to get window shoppers bidding now I've concocted a weird scheme (kind of borrowed from http://onethousandpaintings.com ) that penalizes people who wait to bid.  Byrd or the most senior person availabe will always be the most expensive legislator on offer.  Byrd's current price is $535 + $1 = $536 because I've sold one legislator so far.  If at some time most legislators have been sold the remaining ones (perhaps a muslim?  who knows...  maybe no one will buy this stuff at all...) will cost about what Byrd costs right now if they're new in this 110th congress.

 

Well, it does get complicated and it sort of makes EBAY style "buy it now" pricing impossible unless I'm willing and able to do lots of programming.  I am not...  For now a simple old check or money order in the mail after corresponding with me personally will have to do.  Please email 110thcongress@gmail.com ASAP if you're interested.  State who you wish to buy! I will try in the very near future to have an "almost up to date" list of legislator prices available.  This will help me:

 

Thanks for reading.  I hope you like it whether or not you can afford to or even care to buy anything at all!

 

best wishes,

 

Nicholas Thompson XLV 2006.1.25

 

17th of October 2005, Saint Petersburg, Florida, USA

 

Topic:  Machinations of the subconscious of an artist's mind

 

If you've read this website since it was launched ( https://notsang.tripod.com/sendit.html ) you may have felt I seem to needle some people with implied profanities.  For instance, many believed that in referring to Senator Clinton as a "major mother" on the EBAY letter for sale that I implied MMF.  In fact, I wanted the recipients of the art (Clinton included) to decide for themselves who or what a "major mother" might be.  The fact that many apparently concluded I must feel the junior Senator from New York is a MMF was only the most popular opinion that people who found out about my art had.  Naturally, I'm not a raging supporter of Clinton but I had formulated my entire idea for the "Send it to the Senate" project before I actually wrote it out and I only added "major" on the fly.  Of course, I did intend people to think about Clinton and they did so I was somewhat successful.  However, I felt I implied far darker things about future political events in general but that's what I felt and not what seemed to be most widely discussed.  People who think know the United States won't be the most powerful country indefinitely though so I'm not too dissatisfied.

 

Anyway, there's a chance that something I've done quite recently (though not online) that wasn't intented to be interpreted as letters or Roman script or an acronym or anything besides purely visual art was.  If that's the case that's OK because whatever people choose to think about what I did is their choice.  All I can say is I had even less intention in drawing controversy in this situation than I did when I got people thinking about Senator Clinton.  In fact, I was really just trying to enjoy myself and share that with others for a few seconds.  My feelings (although perhaps not perfectly postive whatever that means) weren't tinged by politics to the same degree that they were for the Sent it to the Senate project.  I guess it is good that I've got a good memory of what I've done in the past but it can haunt you when you realize how people are misinterpreting or overinterpreting your actions.  Well, thanks for reading and thinking and I'm sorry the second piece of art wasn't online so that everyone would know what I'm talking about! 

 

20th of September 2005, Saint Petersburg, Florida, USA

 

Autumn is arriving!  There are few enough hits to this website now that I think it is just the search engines asking if there have been any changes (Tripod doesn't automatically record much information on free accounts).  I'm now living with my parents in Saint Petersburg, Florida and I suppose little exciting has happened in my life compared to what went on in San Francisco.  However, I did scan in some art on a recent trip to Canada:

 

 

Furthermore, it is possible that I'll do some activities (or at least piggyback on existing events) to get youth involved in the arts outside of formal education for as long as I'm here in Saint Petersburg.  I thought I might test an email address to see if gmail does get spammed at least a little:

 

 

I know a New England female painter and the International School in Bangkok among many others use "Art Now" to promote their activities.  I'm sorry if you don't feel my use of it is additive...  I'll link to you if and when I do make a formal website for Saint Petersburg or other locations!

 

Well, thanks for reading even if you're an inanimate bot...

 

 

Well, it is about that time of year when everybody tries to get money things "right" or at least postpone the issue properly.  In keeping with being a "real" artist I've done neither.  Luckily, in this "unprecedentedly" personal difficult time, I feel at least some strange "financial fate" comradery with the Omaha Oracle and those who are assumed to be less above board than he. 

 

My personal issue is that I've managed to end up owing my landlady more than half a year's rent in addition to the normal defaults and burgeoning non-payments.  I'm not reporting income in 2004 and so far in 2005 I've made zilch too.  Not quite as bad as being a Llyod's Name for sure but I keep thinking it could have gone differently perhaps.  I could have made peers, underlings and bosses and or myself quite miserable by being employed traditionally as I've done in the past.  Or, I could have lucked out and actually made money on EBAY or in some similar "wildcatter" venue with my mastery of artistic provocation.  I think my auction fees are well over a nice dinner for two at this point...

 

Anyway, at one point when I did feel quite wild ( but perhaps not lunatic asylum ready ) and a professor at Cal told me that some artists can be quite content in an institution.  At this point I don't feel nearly so out of it but maybe that is in fact the best time to leave the worldly cares of money and status behind?!  No fun being somewhere and actually making professionals do real work for their money is it?!  Or perhaps I could be a writer for Zweig or some other contrarian instead...

 

So, I'm not sure what to do about money in the near term but I do feel that I'd be tipping my parents towards even more "controlled living" if I badgered it out of them.  Or maybe it would be great therapy for all of us if I lived with them and repaid my landlady one mown lawn at a time.