Overheard at Art Festival: "I Could Have Made That."

"I could have made that" was the the phrase on everyone's mind as they viewed this entry displayed at the 2005 Annual Visual Wonders Festival in Montreal, Canada. The piece titled, "Greek Farmer Resting on a Wagon," by Nancy Crunch had a price tag of $2,400.

One visitor to the festival commented, "The sad thing is that someone who comes here in the next two weeks will buy this at full price just because its here, and the title is so hotsy and abstract. I could make this on my computer in 3 minutes."

Several others said that they had cracked the creative secrets of the painting, "What do you think, Mary? Just your average software bundle paint program?" [addressing friend]
"Absolutely," replied Mary, "This could be made on your average computer in roughly three minutes."

We tracked down Nancy Crunch at the festival to ask her just how long it did take her to create the painting. Her response showed little personal injury from the criticism, "Listen, the point is that the people who said they could have made my paintings, didn't it. It's much like the inventor of the smiley face -- anyone could have done it, but only that one guy gets to make the bucks off it. Anyway, if just one person finds artistic merit in my work, it's art."

Obviously, there was more than one person who believed Nancy's paintings have quality. Patrons went into a bidding war at the end of the festival and Nancy's "Greek Farmer Resting on a Wagon," sold for $9,000. She never did tell us how long it took her to make it.