In The New York Times Magazine: Wants For Sale

Posted by Rob Walker on October 19, 2008
Posted Under: Artists,Consumed

PAINTING BY NUMBERS:
Pricing is an art — or at least these artists have turned it into one.

This week in Consumed, an experiment in the meaning of prices and objects by Justin Gignac and Christine Santora:

The couple — art directors in the advertising business in New York — wanted to work together on a creative project. Part of their motivation was to make a little extra money, and talking about what they might do with it, Santora says, led them to the strategy of “why don’t we just be totally transparent?” If they wanted to make enough to buy a plate of buffalo wings at Le Figaro Cafe (now defunct) on Bleecker Street, they would render a plate a buffalo wings and charge $12.70. If they wanted a Wii, they would paint one and charge $270.92.

Read the column in the October 19, 2008, issue of The New York Times Magazine, or here.

The Wants For Sale site is here; Needs For Sale is here. Earlier Murketing post about Gignac is here.

Consumed archive is here, and FAQ is here. The Times’ Consumed RSS feed is here. Consumed Facebook page is here.

To make a point about Consumed that you think readers of The Times Magazine would be interested in: “Letters should be addressed to Letters to the Editor, Magazine, The New York Times, 620 Eighth Avenue, 6th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10018. The e-mail address is magazine@nytimes.com. All letters should include the writer’s name, address and daytime telephone number. We are unable to acknowledge or return unpublished letters. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.”

Further diversion may be found at MKTG Tumblr, and the Consumed Facebook page.

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