Every picture tells a story: #iTOMB 2015 Limited Edition Framed Prints

Framed prints, on acid free paper are now available for a donation of $100. To order, simply email me here, and add $10 for shipping in the US and $20 for international. They are absolutely special:)

#iTOMB Jessi (Spain) 05.11.15
"I looked at all the work here and thought it was too nice.
You needed a monster."

20,000+ paintings and counting, and over three seasons we've seen not only themes emerge but individual and collective stories that start to paint a picture of humankind unlike any seen on mainstream media or even documented by any art museum. Because these artworks are from the heart, from the gut, of a global constituency that comes together to voice themselves into history by exercising their freedom to create.

iTOMB Holden 05.01.15
I don't know what it is about mushrooms this year. And we're getting a lot.
Last year and three years ago we had none. What tends and why?
These are the questions we all ask as we track the ideas of the planet.

My selections for 2015 are not my personal favorites, rather they are a reflection of the trends that run throughout the planet and permeate the virtual skin of society on any number of levels. They are the epitome of Public Art. Art created by the public - not art selected by art administrators for the public to consume.

#iTOMB Shea 09.13.15
One of our categories is "affirmations", things that build you up and make you feel good.
This one does both but causes questions and support from both sides. I love it.

#iTOMB Jamie 09.14.15
Probably our most repeated image is the eye. The window to the soul, so to speak.
Why so many people paint the eye is a mystery to me.
But it peeks out of the stacks of paintings and peers at us all. Every day:)

Please support us this holiday season. A few years ago we weren't sure we'd be here today. Thank a higher being for making sure we are. Many of you understand my housing difficulties. Your donation and adoption of one of our recreations is an absolute Godsend. Peace.

#iTOMB Matthew B. "Starry NY Night" 10.18.15
And finally, our second most painted image, after the eye, would be the New York Skyline.
But another is "Starry Night". This combination is both deliberate and delicious.
So be it.

2014 Print Clearance

Only 4 left! Order now. Get for Xmas!

Hand finished on 
cardboard or acid-free 

backing paper

Please. Don't be the fat man wrestling with the old lady for the flat screen TV I've seen on the news reports. Stay home. Relax. Buy a print. And avoid Black Friday. Today we're clearing out last year's prints and making room for a new Holiday issue. But not until the old ones find homes. All 3"X3" on acid-free water colour paper and ready to drop into a standard 8"X10" frame.

Marked down to $20 and $10, these prints are overruns of original issues in 2014 that sold for $50 each. Add $5 for shipping and handling in the US and $15 for International. 

To order, simply select your design, combine price and shipping and then click the PayPal 'Donate' button in the lefthand side bar. Add your address to the message section in PayPal and your order will be shipped before December with plenty of time before the holidays. 

As always we thank you for supporting #iThinkOutsideMyBox and wish you the happiest of whatever holiday you wish to celebrate:)

Anthony 12.02.14

A true street graffiti tag. Recreated on acid-free paper and then shadow mounted to a natural cardboard backing. Quantity (1)

$10 + shipping and handling ●sold

Tanya 08.01.14

An adept abstract on acid-free paper, hand finished and mounted to cardboard to replicate the original, then shadow mounted on creme acid-free backing paper. Quantity: (1) [Signed and numbered]

$20 + shipping and handling.

[Signed and numbered]

Cecile 07.29.14

This modern could be a quilt. Recreated on acid-free paper and then shadow mounted to a natural cardboard backing. Quantity (2)

$10 + shipping and handling

Morganne & Zoya

Channeling Georgia O'Keeffe this flower takes its inspiration from the masters. Recreated on acid-free paper and then shadow mounted to a natural cardboard backing. Quantity (1)

$10 + shipping and handling

Saze "Brooklyn Bridge" 10.08.14

An impressionistic representation of the Brooklyn Bridge. Hand finished and mounted to cardboard to replicate the original, then shadow mounted on creme acid-free backing paper. Quantity: (1) [Signed and numbered]

$20 + shipping and handling

[Signed and numbered]

Amazing 06.21.14

Surrealism finds its home in the eye of the beholder. Recreated on acid-free paper and then shadow mounted to a natural cardboard backing. Quantity (1)

$10 + shipping and handling ●sold

Lysle 10.16.14

Autumn welcomes all. Recreated on acid-free paper and then shadow mounted to a natural cardboard backing. Quantity (1)

$10 + shipping and handling ●sold

Romi (21 mos) 09.30.12

All the expressionism of a master abstractionist. Recreated on acid-free paper and then shadow mounted to a natural cardboard backing. Quantity (1)

$10 + shipping and handling ●sold

Jan (Australia) 09.16.13

Fall colours in NYC. On acid-free paper, hand finished and mounted to cardboard to replicate the original, then shadow mounted on creme acid-free backing paper. Quantity: (1) [Signed and numbered]

$20 + shipping and handling ●sold

[Signed and numbered]

Susie 10.15.14

A needed message. On acid-free paper, hand finished and mounted to cardboard to replicate the original, then shadow mounted on creme acid-free backing paper. Quantity: (1) 

$20 + shipping and handling

[Signed and numbered]

Susie 10.15.14

A needed message. Recreated on acid-free paper and then shadow mounted to a natural cardboard backing. Quantity (1)

$10 + shipping and handling ●sold

To Date 11.19.15

#iTOMB Grace (a bird) 11.06.15

Date Nite at #iThinkOutsideMyBox

Date Nite at #iThinkOutsideMyBox – Choose your appetizer, music mix and paint!

For those of you who have painted at #iThinkOutsideMyBox in the evenings, especially near sunset, you know how magical the atmosphere can be. Add candles, the right music, an appetizer of your choice and the entire exhibit to yourself and you've got the start of a great night out before a show, a full dinner or clubbing in Chelsea. 

For the next few weeks, while the weather is still pleasant, you can reserve the #iThinkOutsideMyBox experience for yourself and that someone special – to paint privately, in one of the most elegant parks in the world, the High Line in Chelsea. Simply contact me and work out the details. From there it's worry free. Your experience be 60 - 90 minutes of peace in a parklike atmosphere 3 levels above the bustling city and unlike any other in town.

A p p e t i z e r s : 

From Chelsea Market all the way up to 22nd St., The High Line is surrounded by some of the best food in the world, be it Sushi, Italian, French, Artichoke Pizza, a simple cheese plate or New York Burger sliders. 

We'll discuss and have the best available for your evening.

M u s i c : 

Our daily mix at the studio is deliberately loungey and esoteric with everything from The Flaming Lips to Taylor Swift, Pat Metheny, Steely Dan, Nipsey Hustle, Tony Bennett, Zeppelin, Miles Davis, Dawes and Ringo – but from our large library, evenings can be tailored to Jazz, Classical, Hip Hop or Sock Hop, whatever. Your choice.

Contact me to help design the perfect live experience for you. Our options are all reasonably priced and I look forward to many beautiful fall nights for that to be taken full advantage of:) A night of outside your box experiences is exactly what you need this Autumn.

David

What is art?

"Art is anything you can get away with", said Marshall McLuhan, a quote ofttimes credited to Andy Warhol, but one that illustrates one of the great misconceptions in deciding what art is - that is, deciding who created anything in the first place.

Damián Ortega, writing in bent rebar, to appear as if written on the landscape, original tags of those not considered artists.

So is art original? Or must it be original to be considered art? Not according to Damián Ortega in his showing on the High Line. His work, bent rebar adaptations of graffiti tags, solidly steals the tags themselves from city walls, created by urban youth, and 'appropriates' it as art, not having the gonads for him to have tagged it in the first place.

Appropriate is the art world's way of saying that stealing is ok, or more nicely, borrowing – so that in this case, the original creator gets nothing, no support, whilst Mr. Ortega becomes the benefactor of the High Line curator's budget through, partially, the National Endowment for the arts and a showing in a more than public place - not an ally, like the original artist did. 

But is it art? If a curator says it is, it becomes - not the work of the original artist, but the work of an adaptor making it acceptable to a wealthy, white people dominated scene of 'art'. It is, essentially, 'what that artist was able to get away with' - but in this case, with a curator's blessing. And so he/she profits from this art, but the originator does not - making appropriation the art instead of creation.

#iTOMB Cynic 06.07.15

And so what of our work. Is it art? We work in freedom of expression as opposed to art. As I explain often, the making of the work is a social exercise with art as the medium. Should art happen, it's a bonus. Or as Marshall McLuhan said, many years ago:

"The business of art is no longer the communication of thoughts or feelings which are to be conceptually ordered, but a direct participation in an experience. The whole tendency of modern communication...is towards participation in a process, rather than apprehension of concepts."*

Thank you Mr. McLuhan. At that, we'll be art.

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Although we love the compliments, telling me what a wonderful idea #iTOMB is, 
doesn't support the project or help us in any way. 

Here's what does:

HOUSING: In November this artist needs a home on an artist’s budget. Discuss with David.

PRIVATE BOOKINGS: We are available to adapt this fun, interactive, expressive activity to schools, non-profits, private parties and corporate events. Already we’ve partnered with McCann Erickson, Seton Hall University, Columbia and NEST+m NYC Public School. Ask David about options.

EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION PROGRAMS/INSPIRATIONAL SPEAKING: With an award-winning 30+ year career as an Advertising Creative Director for Sony, Nintendo, Samsung, LG, McDonald’s, Kellogg’s, Procter and Gamble, BAT, American Airlines and the Korean Ministry of Finance, David is uniquely qualified as a mentor, motivator and creative agitation officer for all levels of creative decision making staff. Programs can include variants of #iTOMB with Powerpoint, breakout sessions and critical thought inspiring exercises and goals. Stop telling your staff to think outside the box and show them how.

PRESS REFERRALS: Refer us to your favorite newspaper, magazine, social media or TV show. You are our best PR!

GRANT REFERRALS: Refer us to related Community/Arts Grant programs. Funding is key.

MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS: As the world’s largest collection of publicly painted works, #iThinkOutsideMyBox has discussed exhibitions and interactive programs with a number of museums but has yet to schedule a showing. If you are a curator or know someone who is, we’d love an introduction.

BUY A PRINT: A $50 donation buys a handmade fine art print on acid-free, water colour paper, remounted to cardboard of any print on display here or on our website. iThinkOutsideMyBox.com.

COMMISSION ARTWORK: Commission David for hand lettering and activist oriented fine art.

*Letter to Harold Adam Innis, March 14 1951. FEssential McLuhan (1995), edited by Eric McLuhan and Frank Zingrone, p. 73

SOxSO Welcomes #iTOMB

At 10am on Saturday, June 27th a discussion on the Healing Powers and Neuro-science of Poetry and Visual Arts will take place at South X South Orange, hosted by Seton Hall University and the Village of South Orange, NJ, with the South Orange Performing Arts Center – and #iThinkOutsideMyBox has been invited to provide a real world example by engaging the public in public art℠.

"For three groundbreaking days in late June (26th, 27th and 28th), South Orange Village comes alive with creative collisions of arts, ideas and music. From live drone demonstrations to coding concerts, compelling talks to live blues, rock and jazz, SOxSO has something for everyone."

Our info for the festival is below. Come join us in South Orange for both an academic and practical look at how creativity shapes our world in better ways.

#iThinkOutsideMyBox™ is a global community studio and gallery engaging the public in public art℠  by encouraging people to paint. #iTOMB was founded by David Everitt-Carlson in 2011 at Occupy Wall Street in New York and was featured in the Wall Street Journal that year. The project continues on the High Line at 22nd St., and other locations around New York.

In two and a half years over 20,000 intimate cardboard conversations between individuals and the world at large have been created, yet #iThinkOutsideMyBox™  is not a business – as none of the paintings will ever be sold. We are currently in application for 501(c)3 status as a non-profit foundation to gain wider access to arts grants and funding.

#iTOMB continues to be the world’s largest collection of publicly painted works and we would very much like to grow that experience outside of New York.  #iThinkOutsideMyBox™ is also available to schools, museums, non-profits, private events and corporate creative motivation programs.

David Everitt-Carlson has engaged in a creative career his entire life, first as an actor in his teens, then to director, singer, sign painter, newspaper editor, graphic designer, filmmaker, journalist, executive creative director, Vice President, entrepreneur, CEO, founder, professor, public speaker, mentor, motivator, consultant, author, activist and social organizer. 

All of which have made him an unusually effective creative leader. 

As a New York native with a degree in Corporate Communications, he was featured early in his career in the New York Art Directors Show for both writing and design and began a creatively ambidextrous path of award-winning work with agencies such as The Richards Group/Dallas, Bozell/Dallas, Earle Palmer Brown/Wash D.C. and Leo Burnett/Chicago.

His work for American Airlines ran on the Super Bowl and garnered four CLIOs shortlisted, followed by four more the following year for work on Marriott. 

Moving to Leo Burnett to produce award winning work for Miller Brewing, Nintendo, Sony & Kellogg’s, he was named VP/Creative Director in 92 and moved to Seoul, Korea in 95 as VP/Chief Creative Officer.

Following Burnett he founded Korea’s first 100% foreign invested advertising agency, CarlsonCreative, Inc, in Seoul in 1997. with clients, the Korean Ministry of Finance, Samsung, LG, Hyundai and British American Tobacco. The company was sold in 2003. 

Moving to Vietnam, David founded aSaigon/CreativeMorning, as a monthly speaker series bringing world-class creative thought leaders to Southeast Asia. Working also as a journalist he penned daily and monthly columns for The Morton Report and East & West Magazine. 

Returning to the US in 2011, saw the birth of the iThinkOutsideMyBox™ concept, a public studio and gallery that reimagines the idea of public art by engaging the public to make the art℠. Featured in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Huffington Post, New York Daily News, Gothamist, and hundreds of international blogs, TV and radio shows, #iThinkOutsideMyBox has since become a global phenomenon and the world’s largest collection of publicly painted work at over 20,000 paintings. 

Currently living in Manhattan and leading DEC Communications, David Everitt-Carlson  is available on a consulting basis for corporate communications work, including creative staff motivation and campaign direction, and regularly engages the iThinkOutsideMyBox™ project with schools, museums, universities and non-profits.

What's a Great Idea Worth?

"What a great idea!", is an exclamation I hear daily at #iThinkOutsideMyBox if not many times a day and I immediately return, "If you like this idea, please support us", because in America it's not a great idea unless it makes money. And I don't say that in jest. Because it's true.

Edison may have good ideas, and a lot of them, as he often advised, but he didn't make any money off the ideas themselves. He made money off the products they spawned. The phonograph, the lightbulb, et al. He produced and licensed applications of his ideas, under patent, which made him money. Walt Disney didn't make any money off Mickey Mouse nor Spielberg from E.T. They both made money from the production and distribution of those ideas in film form.

#iTOMB Alex "I Think Outside My Box" (Québec) 10.25.14

Let's take song writing, for instance. If you write a song there are two kinds of ideas at work. The musical notation and the lyrics. Both of these are covered by songwriting copyright but for a writer to be paid, they must have the song 'published' by a music label and sell the song. For each copy of that song, the writer will be paid $0.091 per copy. That's less than 1%. But if a ten song album album sells a million copies, that's $91,000 to the songwriter plus other royalties such as performance and other paid presentation fees if the song is popular.

Taylor Swift, 1989 – 2014

Taylor Swift reaped arguably $125,000 in profits from the sale of 500,000 copies of the song, "Welcome to New York", after expenses. That's a little better than 2%. But she does very well considering her string of hit songs and albums. 2% of that purse is worth a lot more than 10% of a much smaller one. Taylor Swift doesn't get paid more than other writers for her ideas, she just sells more of them.

Quirky Pivot Power

So let's look at a smaller purse. The invention company, Quirky, crowdsources ideas for primarily consumer products. One of their big hits is a flexible electric power strip that accommodates bulky power supply plugs. It's quirky. And its inventor has made roughly $700,000 off his idea in the last few years – but that comes from less than 10% of the profit from the device as the New York Times illustrates. "For its hard work, Quirky takes 90 cents of each dollar of product sales. The other 10 cents is distributed among the inventor community. The person who came up with the product idea typically pockets 4 cents of that. Lesser shares go for contributions like enhancing the idea, choosing the price or coming up with the name".

The iThinkOutsideMyBox gallery

So how much is #iThinkOutsideMyBox worth as an idea? Presents an interesting challenge doesn't it? The idea that anyone can paint and that painting becomes part of an ever evolving global social fabric borne of self expression. Fascinating. People love it at first sight. But what's the product? Experience? Sharing? Communication? Therapy? Architecture? Social Involvement? Or, all of the above – which I believe is probably the best answer. And why do people think it's a great idea, if it's not something that produces a product that can be monetized?

And what is that idea worth to them?

This always brings me to my own question of, "Can #iThinkOutsideMyBox support itself?" – and in turn support me, its creator? At $3,365 a month for an apartment (the average rental in NYC) and living cost beyond? A six-figure salary? COB? Is the idea worth that much? Or more?

Because those are the questions one must ask of oneself when they are told literally every day that they have a "Genius idea" – because, in America, you're not a genius, unless your idea, or other ideas you have, are paying the bills – and lots of them. And so 2015 has become the year we focus on the business of the project and strive to make this a viable, profitable, non-profit.

Currently our income streams are from primarily on-site donations, followed by Print Sales and Special Bookings. We're also seriously competing for Community and Arts Grants. Our job is to dramatically increase the ratio of income from these sources to guarantee our future.

Remember, any image you see on this site can be ordered as a fine art print, or go to our store for the Top 10. The prints are absolutely gorgeous. If you're involved in Entertainment, Non-profit, Education or Corporate Management work, do consider booking us for your event or program. We help solve your business problems creatively. Grant or press recommendations are also welcomed.

Again, I thank you all for the compliments every day, knowing all the while, that the highest compliment we can receive is your support. Because, remember, in America it's not a great idea unless it's profitable

What's inside your box?

Exhibit A

To think outside the box. A cliché for sure. Because most of the people who tell you to think that way have no idea how to do it themselves.

Google "think outside the box" and you'll find the Wikipedia entry at #1 and a number of less significant explanations following. But the Wiki entry pretty much summarizes what we think we know about the phrase – that it grew out of a management consultant's application of a one hundred year old puzzle involving a pictorial box – connect the dots using just four straight lines. See exhibit "A". This drawing is considered your "box".

But I had never meant to refer to this box at all. When I appropriated the idiom for iThinkOutsideMyBox™, the box was metaphorical – a box full of education, religion, citizenship, morality, spirituality and subsequent beliefs – a magical box – your box of thoughts. Or as one young painter gamely stated, "The box is your brain".

But there would present itself a conundrum: How can one think outside one's box when that box has been prescribed and constructed by all the people we know in  real life – primarily the people we respect? Teachers, preachers, parents, et al. Doesn't that present a conflict? Doesn't it mean going against all we know?

Ahahhh...

And so the work around is to make the box disappear – at least temporarily, by presenting an opportunity that seems attractive, yet is so outside one's normal activity that it makes no sense to do it in the first place – thus making perfect sense.

That way, whenever anyone sits down with us in a park, or a subway concourse to paint, they've already started thinking outside their box. Voilà. I don't have to teach them a thing because they've already made a conscious decision to do it anyway – just by joining us. After that, the actual paintings are a lot less important than the activity itself. Inside of a little 3"X3" square of cardboard, I've seen people paint the thumbnails of their futures, the promises of their love, the optimism in their work that was impossible to communicate in memo form, or just the feeling of the moment unsung.

Later this summer I'll be channeling #iTOMB at a creative festival which will also include a professor of Psychology focused on creativity, a neuroscientist who brain images creative activity, a best-selling author who defined a generation, as well as the founder of the Alzheimers Poetry Project and others – a wildly disparate creative group.

And we will all be bringing a box – a box with a gift inside. The gift to think outside of our own disciplines and see what the others have brought to the party:)

Valentine Flash: Rubulad!

#iThinkOutsideMyBox @ Rubulad!

Rubulad! It's a dance party! CLick the link. It's an art party! 

It's food and spirits and gypsies and hooded provocateurs and in Williamsburg, no Bushwick, NO, it's secret, and DJs and live music and projections and reflections and rejections [NOT] maybe introspections and iThinkOutsideMyBox™. ClIck the link. CliCk the link. ClicK the link and come paint your Valentine dreams - or not. #iTOMB is proud to join with the Rumulad caravan for 'a spy in the warehouse of love' party. CLick the link before Saturday, 9pm til late/early. 10 clams/early, 20 clams/late. CliCk the link. Say 'going'. Say 'going'. No 'maybe'. cLick the link! Learn the secret heartshake:)

iThinkOutsideMyBox™ Prints

Happy Handmade Valentines

Happy Handmade Valentines Day from iThinkOutsideMyBox™. Order a limited edition handmade print or card (with envelope) for just $25 or 4 for $60 (shipping included in the US*). Each original artwork will be printed on high quality matte paper, hand cut and mounted to cardboard then mounted again to a folded card or backing paper for prints. A more economical quality than our archival fine art prints, these are still extremely handsome, high quality, handmade works.

$25 = 1 card/print. $40 = 2 cards/prints. $60 = 4 cards/prints

Include your print request information (specify title and print or card) and address on the PayPal form

*Orders placed by Monday will be shipped Monday to arrive by Valentines' weekend in the US.

#iTOMB Nadette 12.25

#iTOMB Bev 07.21.14

#iTOMB Joyce 08.20.14

iTOMB.Dani 10.10.12
This image will be custom cut and painted to reveal the corrugation as shown. Really fun:)

#iTOMB.Cyndi.05.26.14

"What a great idea!"

#iTOMB Sammy 01.09.1

"Today I took a moment to step out of my box and paint where the artist paints. And it became a breath of fresh air, something from my regular norm. You see, I could have been busy just passing by, but my curiosity took me... viewing the collective art of "iThinkOutsideMyBox" and then painting... it created a moment for me. 

Once I started to paint, eventually others then came around to paint or view instead of simply passing by or remaining distant onlookers. One took a moment out of her life to paint. Before and after, another was engaged and smiling about this art. 

We were all vibrant participants, brush stokes on this canvas of life called 14th street New York lobby area of the 8th ave subway. We all took a breath together, breathing in life and exhaling the breeze now made easier through this refreshment of art. Our marks will be left there. 

Just as David is leaving his mark by not allowing life to define him, but defining life through art." 

 – One Life - More Joy - The POWER of ART By Artist M

14 St & 8 Ave Metro

I spend my days awash in compliments – awash in comments like this. And then some days take home $10 or even less. There's the photographer who spends 40 minutes painting and discussing art who leaves 12 cents - and yet she regards herself as an artist as well and wants to be paid for her work. Everyone compliments me. Some even congratulate me. Still, I have no idea what that really means. Congratulations? For what? "What a great idea!", they say. But is it really a great idea if it can't support itself? Maybe it still is. – A gallery owner on a Chelsea street corner yells disparagingly into his iPhone, "Ideas? Ideas? Fuck ideas! Fuck 'em. You tell, (insert artist's name here), I need fucking product! Paintings Goddammit! Not fucking ideas! Nobody buys ideas!" 

Ask how much someone will pay for your idea and you'll think more than twice before telling anyone anything again – the non-existent values society gives to brilliant ideas. The idea of electric light was worth nothing - but the lightbulb? That paid the bills. Today the app that actualizes the idea pays the bills, not the idea.

And yet, this is one idea I own, and actualize - the idea to let anyone paint on the spot , which they love – and bask in the glory of the fabulous results we're getting. It's quite possibly the best idea I've ever had. But I don't have the resources to keep giving it away.

"There's a fine line between desperation and intimidation", someone said to me during my Holiday push for funding. We fell 30% short of our $1000 goal. And so to those of you who are tired of me screaming for support, here are some other things you can do to help us through the winter, other than telling me what a brilliant idea it all is (which I still do appreciate:).

1) Donate for a print: Online, click here and choose two for $100, or go to the Shopping Cart. Onsite, look at our more competitively priced "artist proofs" at $10, $20 and $30.

2) Spread the news: If I hear, "That should be on the news - or in a museum" one more time, without a reasonable way to get it there, help me out. Send a letter and picture to your favorite channel, paper, magazine or museum and let them know what you think about #iTOMB. And if you know editors or curators, please pass their names along to me - I'll contact them.

3) Arts Grants: Unfortunately, we did not make the shortlist for the ArtPlace grant program this year but they were looking for more mature projects and we'll get more shots at that later. In the interim time, please help me keep abreast of grants, fellowships and residencies we might be well suited for - or nominate us for the MacArthur Genius Award:).

I thank again all of the many people who do support us nicely through print donations and pictures of presidents other than Washington on-site - but for the rest of you, especially the students and teachers at the $40,000 a year tuition art schools in this city – If you love a creative idea, support it. Financially. Because someday, another great idea will be yours and you'll have some very serious student loans to care for - you'll appreciate being paid rightly for your work.