Niche Art Markets

The banjo player Pete Czelmowicz -- whom I think of as "Pete C-star" -- takes pictures of cattle for a living. "See this bull? See all his kids? You can buy his sperm for the new, low, low price of ...."

I've seen his pics of people. I'm betting the cows look beautious.

I've spent a lot of time around artistes. Everyone else in my family but me is a professional artist. They all think, "Nice boy. Too bad he doesn't have any talent, can't get a real job."

From just hanging around them, I've learned there are two kinds of artists: the tortured garret residents who talk about how outrageous it is that their federal art grants weren't renewed, and the people who work for a living.

Into the latter category fall people like Bach, who's weekly questions were, "What can I do for this mass that people aren't sick of?" and "You're pregnant again?"

Doing art for a living is just like programming for a living. You look for a gig that pays okay and then try to show off. And you wear through a lot of shoe leather hunting for some niche that everyone else hasn't already gotten to.

With the opening "Hey, Ben, you like to paint", Ben Rathbone uncovers an unexploited new niche: data center walls.