Art-o-Mat

Art is a much better addiction

Those of a certain age will immediately recognize a neon-lit vintage cigarette vending machine labeled “ART*O*MAT,” and then wonder what it is doing in the Luce Center at the Smithsonian. Come closer. Insert $5 into the machine and pull a lever; out will drop a small box or cellophane-wrapped goody the size of a pack of cigarettes. Rip off the packaging to reveal your new, portable, wearable, or useable artwork. Just try and resist doing it again.

Though what exactly comes out is a crapshoot, you may select a category or an artist based on a tiny label above each knob or by peering into the machine to try to get a glimpse of what is within. The machine is filled with paintings, prints, fused glass jewelry, leather key rings, 3-D photocards, miniatures, and whatever else has been most recently added to the mix.

Clark Whittington, a North Carolina artist from the heart of tobacco country, was inspired to create the first Art-o-Mat when a friend had a Pavlovian response to the crinkling of a cellophane snack wrapper. The sound triggered in him the desire for a snack of his own, and the idea sprang to mind that the same response might inspire others to want to purchase actual works of art as well as candy. He refurbished an old vending machine and filled it with his own photographs mounted on wood blocks. He placed the machine in a local café and sold each piece for $1. So began what Whittington sees as “a way to encourage art consumption by combining the worlds of art and commerce in an innovative form.” He hopes that his machine will create art collectors. The Art-o-Mat in the Luce Center is custom built and can hold 176 pieces by 22 artists. Within the first 12 days after it was installed in 2010, art addicts consumed a collective average of 16 works of art a day. The truth is that pulling a knob on this vending machine just once is simply not enough.

Address Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Center, F and 8th Streets NW, Washington, DC 20004, +1 (202) 633-7970, www.americanart.si.edu, americanartInfo@si.edu | Getting there Metro to Gallery Pl – Chinatown (Red, Yellow, and Green Line), or bus 80, P 6, X 2, X 9 to H and 9th Streets NW | Hours Sun – Sat 11:30am – 7pm | Tip Watch experts repairing and restoring art works from the collections of the three American art museums at the Lunder Conservation Center right down the hall.