Getting people to care about my artwork is the second in my Quest Of The Four Questions (right after getting more human beings see my artwork).

There was a time when no one cared for Picasso's silly triangles or Damien Hirst’s gaudy gold art because tomorrow’s masterpieces are unloved today. Or worse, unnoticed.

So I did two things this week with my World’s 1st Ever Honesty Box Gallery Exhibition to inspire care (and a thief - or the wind - but more on that in a moment).

First, I displayed my hand written sign that explains the story of the Honesty Box on a prominent window ledge in Clarence Street.  I’ve learnt the voodoo magic of a story to ignite human imagination (and watched as passersby read it).

Second, price is the town crier of value so I added $120 price tags to some of my personally signed original prints.

What happened? Upon returning less than an hour later they were gone (accompanied by a spike in visits to my website from that location).

Some may be shaken by the prospect of a thief in my midst who took valuable unattended goods but what better proof that a human being cares about my artwork? (after all, the greatest artists have been subject to art heists).

On a quainter note I also shared this Emma and Tom’s juice print with the owner’s of that brand and gifted a number of similar pieces to the architectural firm whose window ledge I used above. It showed me the power of telling a story not to passing foot traffic but one on one, to individuals that inspires care.

There was also a near-miss for serendipity. I wrote a note on facebook to Gumption Coffee (in The Strand, Sydney) after a print of mine was collected by their wait staff. I was contacted by someone who’d flown in to see the Archibald Prize and missed finding it by merely 15 minutes.

Where will the Honesty Box take me next? I’ll soon find out.

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Previous post: What happens when art is left on a seat? (and other public places)

The whole journey: 'World's 1st Ever Honesty Box Gallery Exhibition' Adventure

My 'World's 1st Ever Honest Box Gallery Exhibition' took a sharp turn to the unexpected this week by leaving the safety of a room with four walls for a room without and a gigantic blue roof called the sky.  

Yes, my next experiment went into the big wide world...

To mark the occasion I created four new works of unnoticed objects specifically for everyday locations with tales to make the audience think (you can also purchase one for yourself here!)

These works became personally signed artworks encased in a plastic covering, marked with a price tag and instructions on the back then left around the city of Sydney (two were signed in white ink with a larger price tag).

Of course trading venues presented challenges unfamiliar to great galleries of the world like the Guggenheim Museum or the Tate or the Museum Of Old And New Art.

• When people aren't expecting art, will they notice it?  
• A thoroughfare has people but does it have attention?
• Would my artworks be mistaken for rubbish and disposed of?

These questions (as part of my bigger Quest Of The Four Questions) and more will be answered next…

In the meantime, I’d love to hear from you (contact me here) if you’d like to place some of these works around your city...

Or if you work at the Guggenheim Museum or the Tate or Museum Of Old And New Art perhaps you’d like to take my Honesty Box inhouse?

If you'd like to follow my adventures I'd love to keep you in the loop by subscribing to my newsletter here.

Previous post: The world first of a world's 1st...

The whole journey: 'World's 1st Ever Honesty Box Gallery Exhibition' Adventure

Every first is a swirling storm of anticipation, rueful regret, what-ifs and if-onlys. I imagine it was that way before the Wright Brothers first flight or the first brushstroke of a young Michelangelo.

Equivalent feelings preceded Saturday when the world saw its very first glimpse of the World's 1st Ever Honesty Box Gallery Exhibition (with my personally signed original prints) at a special book launch in Newtown, Sydney.

It was the first step on my Quest Of The Four Questions, a voyage of discovery and experimentation. Yes, there will be failures and successes but I hope human knowledge will be pushed forward with each tiny step...

What happened?

Until an idea leaves the warm glow of an optimistic mind and into the cold, stark lights of the real world it is infallible. But real ideas are more influential than imaginary ones so they must travel that road.

Likewise with the World's 1st Ever Honesty Box Gallery Exhibition. So I introduced its first incarnation to group of more than five hundred people at that book launch event and here is what happened…

More humans saw my work (Question #1 of my Quest)!  But did humans pay for it (Question #3 of my Quest)?

Of course the first step to many people buying my work is a single person buying it. After an hour I glimpsed the honesty box and yes, there was cash! I'd succeeded. Let's not underestimate what happened: there was a human being - a stranger - I've never met who let me into their mind and been persuaded to exchange their money for something I had created.

Over the next hours four more people including a journalist joined the club of first owners from the first edition of the World’s 1st Honesty Box Gallery Exhibition.

But of course this is the start of my journey not the end. As I watched, hidden in plain sight as strangers picked up my works and absorbing them, I began to scheme about how more people would give me money in return for my work.

 And that’s to where I turn next...

Previous post: The unveiling the 'World's 1st Ever Honesty Box Gallery Exhibition'

The whole journey: 'World's 1st Ever Honesty Box Gallery Exhibition' Adventure

If you'd like to follow my adventures I'd love to keep you in the loop by subscribing to my newsletter here.

My name is Oscar Finch and I’m an artist and storyteller. But let me confess something. I can’t use oil paint to reproduce a majestic scene or breathtaking Renaissance portrait. But neither can Damien Hirst. Nor Tracey Emin. Nor Banksy. Nor Picasso.

But we know their names because they answered the questions few artists ever do (...4 by my count).

How can more humans to see my work? What will make them care when they see it? What will make them care enough to give me money? And before I'm dead? (I’m looking at you Vincent Van Gogh).

Those are the questions I'm hoping to answer as I set sail on the most daunting adventure of my life and I’m inviting you in to see where the road leads (and for help along the way). It’s a tale of one artist but also all artists and I’m calling it 'The Quest Of The Four Questions'.

My first adventure (white walls, poor artists and beautiful people...)

This year I entered the famous Archibald Portrait Prize held in the magnificent Art Gallery Of New South Wales. At the opening night I realised I was surrounded by mostly poor artists painting in the hopes of rich, immaculately beautiful (and sartorially eccentric) people noticing their works in a giant building with white walls. It’s a wonderful and curious world but not the natural habitat of humans.

So the first adventure on my quest to answer the four questions is to do the very opposite. It will bring my art and tales to where humans walk and talk and stand and think.

How?

When I a boy, my family passed an unattended roadside fruit stand with a sign that read $2 per bunch. Alongside it was a simple container with ‘honesty box’ handwritten on its front. I gazed, awestruck by the inexplicable magic happening right before my eyes. There was an invisible meeting of human beings around that box called trust.

I’m going to try replicating that very magic as I hold...

In public places I’m going to display personally signed original prints with an honesty box. Then I’ll start to experiment.

What will happen? I'm unsure, but I’ll share the ride here on my Oscar Finch's Adventures Blog.

These are just a few of the personally signed original prints of my artworks I'll display first (you can also purchase one for yourself here).

I have some radical plans afoot...

If you'd like to follow my adventures I'd love to keep you in the loop by subscribing to my newsletter here.