The idea is simple:
One thousand numbers = one thousand paintings. All beautifully painted on canvas (approx. 12 x 12 x 1.5). Each number is unique - the number and the demand define the price. An experiment of art & mathematics, on the web, the first of its kind. Paintings have been sold to the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy and Portugal.
-from OneThousandPaintings.com.
I thought this was a novel idea. First number I thought to search for was my birth month and year, which for October 7th, was ‘107′ — it was sold.
Then I looked for ‘666′ (I know, go ahead and say it but… I couldn’t resist!) — sold. Then ‘999′ and, again, sold.
I wondered if ALL the triple repeating digits were sold and started working my way through: 111 — sold, 222 — sold… I was surprised to find that ‘555′ was still available and, wouldn’t you know it… that’s my girlfriend’s all-time FAVORITE number so…
I bought it! Yep, snatched that baby up right then and there. As of the time I’m posting this, I’m the 88th purchaser of a thousand paintings.
As with all collectors items, this series may or may not be worth something someday. Of course, I hope it will be but, even if not… I’m happy to have gotten my girlfriend her favorite number whether it’s ever worth anything or not.
22 responses so far ↓
1 chow-stl // May 29, 2006 at 9:40 pm
nice. As for your gf’s favorite number. There was an all black airborne battalion in WWII called ‘555th’ They were nicknamed the ‘triple nickles’. When the japanese starting sending balloon bombs to nort america, those ballons would land on american and canadian soil and start forest fires. This units mission was to jump into the fire and put it out. Quite a coragious effort if you ask me.
Best Regards, CHOW
2 Richard // May 30, 2006 at 12:30 am
Fascinating story! I’m going to share it with her and I’m sure she’ll be pleased to hear it.
Thanks for sharing!
3 chow-stl // May 30, 2006 at 4:40 am
There are some sites which sell replica’s of unit insingia’s. while the triple nickles are a somewhat vague unit, i may be able to find one which has it availible. Let you know if I run across it.
4 Brian Baute // May 30, 2006 at 5:07 pm
Brilliant! It reminds me of the 2000Bricks project, which is also starting to take off.
5 Richard // May 30, 2006 at 5:14 pm
Hi, Brian. It’s definitely an intriguing business model, one I’m trying hard to imagine how to use for my own benefit without duplicating others’ ideas.
You’re is pretty novel, too. Best wishes to you!
6 Brian Baute // May 30, 2006 at 10:22 pm
Thanks, Richard.
555 sure would look nice on a brick, too. :)
7 Richard // May 30, 2006 at 10:27 pm
LOL!!! Now how did I know that was coming? :-) I think your idea is pretty cool, actually… not sure if I’m up for a brick at this time but you’re site is now immortalized in my comments so maybe, over time, I’ll get a hunkerin’ for some triple-nickel brick…
Take care and very best wishes in your patio campaign! :-)
8 Richard // May 31, 2006 at 8:02 am
Chow–
That would be really nice to see/have. Thank you!
9 Brian Baute // Jun 1, 2006 at 9:22 am
I graphed the sales history of One Thousand Paintings and posted the results at 2000 Bricks. It’s interesting stuff.
10 RichardHarlos.com » Blog Archive » Websites as graphs - an HTML DOM Visualizer Applet // Jun 4, 2006 at 12:33 pm
[...] The graph was generated by an applet, written by a guy named Sala. He’s the same guy who did the OneThousandPaintings.com project, where I was fortunate enough to be buyer #87 (you can read more about that event in my blog post entitled I just bought ‘555′ at OneThousandPaintings.com. [...]
11 Belinda Moxham // Jun 4, 2006 at 9:29 pm
Anthony White started his Money Series at one Australian dollar and it continues up in one dollar increments. When he sells one painting in the series for the dollar amount on the canvas he then works on selling the next one in the series. He has also branched out into British Pounds and US dollars. You can see his work at http://www.anthonywhite.net
I think I find the simplicity of Anthony White’s pricing of his “Money Series” more interesting than Zala’s One Thousand Paintings. White probably highlights the relationship between art and money better.
12 Andrew Paris // Jun 7, 2006 at 5:09 am
Hi Richard,
Last saturday I ordered 586 from onethousandpaintings.com.
586 is the title of a New Order song from the eighties. As a New Order fan I couldn’t
resist passing on this painting.
By the way, 555 also rocks. It’s the title of a Frank Zappa guitar tune
from his “Shut up and play your guitar” box.
Best wishes,
Andrew
13 Richard // Jun 7, 2006 at 3:24 pm
Belinda–
I see your point about White’s pricing simplicity and from a purely art point-of-view I cannot disagree.
For me, as a consumer for the sake of personal novelty rather than any ‘true’ art considerations, it would be impractical for me to [a] wait for White to get up to 555, and [b] actually shell out the $555.00 for the painting (vs. the $40.00 I paid for my 555 from Sala).
Again, not disagreeing with you at all, just highlighting the difference between my personal perspective and a broader, more art-centric view.
Thank you for taking the time to contribute a comment; I hope you’ll do so again!
14 Richard // Jun 7, 2006 at 3:27 pm
Andrew–
Between Chow’s “triple-nickels” insight and your “555″ musical insight, I’m seriously considering a project to accumulate as much ‘555′ trivia as I can find and have it printed & framed for my girlfriend to display near her ‘555′ painting.
Thanks for sharing that and if you, or anyone else reading this, knows of any 555-related trivia, please do share your insights as a comment here!
Thanks in advance!
15 Andrew Paris // Jun 8, 2006 at 1:45 pm
Richard,
I just checked out that Zappa song and it’s called
five-five-FIVE and not 555. Sorry about that. (I posted my first
message at work so I could not take a peek at the sleeve…)
.
I found some 555-trivia I’ll share now.
555 is a boat.
http://www.boat.no/asp/boats/show.asp?id=15218&mid=78781
555 is a guitar.
http://item.rakuten.co.jp/ishibashi/01-sp-1519/
555 is a cigarette brand.
http://64.49.196.55/PhotoGallery.asp?ProductCode=555+Classic
555 is a Lego hospital.
http://www.peeron.com/inv/sets/555-1
555 is an anime series (Masked Rider 555)
http://store.animearigato.com/61901.html
Have fun,
Andrew
16 Richard // Jun 8, 2006 at 1:50 pm
Andrew–
Wow and WOW! Thanks a lot for sharing all those things! Looks like I’ve got some compiling to do…
I think Deb’s gonna be really happy with this 555 trivia list. Hm… when it’s done, it might be fun to post about it as well, linking to this post for reference.
Thanks again; have yourself a WONDERFUL day!
17 Richard // Jul 5, 2006 at 6:37 pm
For anyone still following this thread, I received my ‘555′ painting just a couple days ago.
Excellent quality, very carefully packed so as to avoid damage during shipping.
My girlfriend absolutely loved it and now we’re just trying to decide where to hang it. I suggested framing it but she seems content to leave it unframed.
How about any others who’ve received their paintings: did you frame it or not?
18 Christian Soeder Online » Dreihundertdreizehn // Sep 2, 2006 at 12:37 am
[...] Noch rasch ein Verweis auf RichardHarlos.com, der die Nummer 555 für seine Freundin gekauft hat. Gratulation! [...]
19 Rene // Oct 17, 2006 at 10:42 am
Hi Richard
Great to know the owner of 555. I have been looking for this number. But instead i found this artist selling paper-cut minutes.
So I got my favorite minute 21:15. Whats the big difference between the minutes and the numbers? Well, there are just 1440 minutes. That’s it. Its like a circle. Once they are sold its gone. Numbers you can go for the next thousand and so on. Even so, one day you wish to sell 555 let me know.
20 Michael // Dec 19, 2006 at 9:37 am
You can still purchase ‘555′ at a similar concept site. It’s completely different than Sala and Anthony White. Here you got this guy in the Caribbean, going to the beach for you, get the sand on canvas, puts thte number on nit and ships it off. He also has a video on Youtube showing the process: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-rziqmwPCQ
The site: http://www.thousandlotsofsand.com
21 Peter // Feb 8, 2007 at 11:22 am
I do like the idea of the sand on canvas. It’s pretty unique. I remember the Navajo Indians found this to have some magical powers I believe.
22 Sarah // Aug 8, 2007 at 2:57 am
Check out: http://www.artinitials.com
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