What was your favorite summertime memory? Alex Markus, digital artist, attempts to reach the inner-kid in each of us by combining favorite childhood summertime memories of skateboarding and Star Wars in “Between Gigs, I Skate.” So the question is asked, “Can you come out and play?”
Alex Markus remembers the long hot days of summer as a kid. Life was all play and daydreaming. You were free to hop on your skateboard or bike and ride through the neighborhood heading down to the local theater with your friends to see the Star Wars matinee for the umpteenth time. If only life could remain as carefree as childhood. Alex is attempting to reach that inner-kid in each of us by combining these summertime memories in this latest project “Between Gigs, I Skate.” In this series of six works of art we learn the possibilities of what a skateboarding Star Wars Stormtrooper does on his day off, and our childhood imagination is reignited.
While an imagination and daydreaming make great summertime fun, a cold financial reality faces many of today’s artists. As with most artistic endeavors, funding is the first major impediment to fulfilling the dream, especially in our current economy. Artists have had to be as creative with their funding efforts as they are with their own works. Crowd-funding sites have become part of the equation, and they seem to be a winning proposition for all involved.
Since the dawn of art, wealthy patrons would support the arts by providing considerable financial backing. Today the internet allows the financial needs to be shared among the global crowd of enthusiastic and appreciative art lovers. It seems to be a win-win situation for all as backers donate to the project, then they choose a reward for their participation which is generally a copy of the work in some form, or an early version of the product. If the project meets the funding goal, the backers pay and receive their reward and the project can reach completion. Success! If the funding goal is not met, nobody pays.
Kickstarter.com, the crowd-funding site used for “Between Gigs, I Skate,” alone has had 9,346 projects launched in the category of art. The project will fund if the $1850 goal is met by July 8th. While the goal is considered small by most standards, to the artist it is a large step closer to the fulfillment of a childhood dream.
According to Kickstarter.com only 49% of the art projects actually meet the goal and get funding. While the odds are not on the artist’s side, enthusiasm and daydreaming keeps Alex hopeful about the future and the kindness of strangers.
To learn more about “Between Gigs, I Skate” readers can visit the project’s pitch page here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2132089982/between-gigs-i-skate
“Between Gigs, I Skate” is the second Kickstarter.com project created by Alex Markus. The first successfully funded project was “Radiating Joy Pet Portrait.” Alex works on a range of subjects including: bicycle, surf, skate, and ski art, pet and vintage family portraits, and travel, texture and solitude photography.
Contact:
Alex Markus
Bike-N-Board
(818)802-3919
Alex@bike-n-board.com
Bike-N-Board.com
