Dana Schutz, Relic, 2006
30 x 22 inches, #28 of 100

While chatting with my parents the other day, my dad mentioned they had just bought the above print by globally-hot NEO/CIA trained artist Dana Schutz, who blew the NEO art scene wide open this Fall with her fantastic exhibition of paintings that drew international acclaim and such massive crowds the MOCA gift shop sold out of everything on hand... here's a write up about this print from a Dana Schutz fan in Houston, and gushing praise about the show and MOCA from a visiting arts champion from Detroit (who I quote, about MoCA/Cleveland: "For me MOCA in Cleveland was bittersweet.  It was great to see that places like Detroit can build up and become something and even support young artists.  It is hope that Detroit ,too can have a contemporary.  But it was also a sad reality check that we are a city lacking a fertile art environment.  Let's hope that the talks of Detroit getting a contemporary will actually go somewhere.  Maybe we can kidnap some of the city planners from Cleveland????"). I hadn't heard anything about this important print (or any Schutz prints on the market), which my parents said Dana donated to MoCA to raise funds for them, so I asked my parents how they had heard about it and they said they believed they read about it in the international arts magazine ArtNews - not anywhere in NEO. They sought it out - bought it - and MoCA made money. There are more for sale... more money to be made for MoCA (at $2,200 a piece, making good money for MoCA)... more great arts investments to be made by arts patrons, here or elsewhere.

This discovery came at an interesting time. For one, the fact this important fundraising edition is not already sold out - and promoted all over NEO - is absurd. From a collector's perspective, many works in my parents art collection has appreciated well over 100X over 10-20 years... art is a great investment, and this Schutz will not be an exception. From the arts industry perspective, I've been corresponding off-line with friends about how to energize the arts economy in NEO and points we have surfaced are that leaders in the arts community must do a better job of promoting NEO-oriented art, and community members have to get serious about buying art here... "SHOW US YOUR ART". To that point, I mentioned if you had been smart enough to buy a Schutz painting when she was a student or recent graduate here in Cleveland, it would now be worth a small fortune and sought out by museums. Here were your chances to do that, in 2000...

• "Atavism" Inside Gallery, Tremont, OH
• "BFA Exhibition" Reinberger Gallery, Cleveland, OH
• "Cold Exchange" Akron Icehouse, Akron, OH
• "Luddites in Love" Joseph McCullough Center for the Visual Arts Cleveland, OH

So, show us your Schutz! Your only likely chance of that now is to go to MoCA: Email inquiries here or contact MOCA Cleveland Director of Exhibitions at 216.421.8671 ext. 39. You'll be helping MoCA, the region, and yourself... that's win-win-win.

From the MoCA website:

Dana Schutz
New Limited Edition Lithograph

One of the fastest rising stars in today’s art world and one of the most sought-after young artists today, Dana Schutz is renowned for her bold, figurative paintings. She has generously created this special edition, signed and numbered 10-color lithograph for the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, expressly to support MOCA’s exhibitions.

Relic features a still life depicting the bust of a man—perhaps a World War II soldier or airplane pilot—peering through binoculars in a hypothetical and highly improbable scenario. Schutz explains, “It’s an image of a sculpture out of context…an image of an object that might have been found…an image of a sculpture looking back at the world, or attempting to look at the world, when, in fact, sculptures cannot see.”

Printed by Doug Bennett and Rob Swainston of S11 Press, Brooklyn, NY and offered for $2,200*

*subject to an additional $100 packing and shipping fee within the US; 7.5% Ohio sales tax where applicable