These small works of art carrying the acronym of ACEO (Art Card Editions & Originals) are the current rage across the country. Although some have declared that an artist on eBay originated the art form, it actually has been around for centuries when artists first began using the 2.5 x 3.5 cards in Europe. According to lore, some of the wealthy gentlemen of the time would pay artists to paint miniature pocket-sized paintings they could carry on their person. It was not uncommon for these gentlemen to carry one of their mistresses rather than that of their wives. (The ACEO moniker came much later.)
It has also been said that the trading of the cards tagged as ATC (Artist Trading
Card) began in 1999 by someone on the internet. That might be true in that this person reintroduced the world to trading these tiny forms of art, but the practice of trading once again began in Europe. Artists would trade the miniature paintings with other artists in order to share their art techniques with each other. The art form also proved to be an excellent bartering tool for both the artist and the merchant who couldn’t afford an art collection otherwise. As mentioned, it was in 1999 that someone introduced the art form on the internet and it became the movement known as ATC (Artist Trading Card), and artists worldwide began swapping their artwork. The ATC’S became very popular in art books, magazines, contests and meets were even set up around the globe. Of course they were popular on eBay as well. Still, it wasn’t until 2004 that an artist known as Bone Diva (Lisa Luree) decided she wanted to sell her ATC’S on eBay. Since the ATC’S were designed for trading, the idea was not well received by earlier ATC artists. Rather than fight, she began a separate group of artists and they came up with the ACEO moniker.
Whether you purchase a card to trade, or because you like the work, you must admit that this form of artwork is unique even if only in size. I probably shouldn't discount their size, as the detail and work that goes into the making of one of these cards can only be described as bigger than life. But speaking of size; how would one display such a tiny piece of artwork you ask? If you’re into the trading side, you could store the miniature paintings in trading card albums as you would a baseball card. If you want to actually display the art for art’s sake, it can be matted, framed and hung on your wall either in groups, or alone. A painting placed on an easel can be that final touch needed for a vignette. I’m sure there are even some doll houses large enough to display an ACEO.
When looking to buy an ACEO, your preference in artwork will surely be met, as you can find abstracts, realism, impressionism, surrealism, collages, oils, mixed media, watercolors, pastels, acrylics...all of the same ingredients found in larger artwork.
An ACEO is generally more affordable than other, larger artworks selling for as little as .99 cents, but also as much as $500 on the internet. The rule in buying an ACEO should be the same as with buying any piece of artwork, in that you buy it because you like it, not because you think you can make money from selling it later.
We currently have about four ACEO’S in our Original Artwork category and all painted by the same artist. We hope you can take a few minutes to stop by and check them out.
(Below is a sampling of a mixed-media collage ACEO.)
"Issendai"
Artist: A. Smith
By the way; the dog and the cat shown in this blog are both ACEO'S.
If you haven't been to our site then you probably haven't seen the two new
groups of merchandise we recently added. The first group are handbags made from the top portion of a skirt. It's been done before with using Levi's or other denim pants, but I personally haven't seen any quite like these. Stop by and take a look: The second group of new items are Lampworks pendants.
These are seriously works of art with a lot of bronze, gold or silver metallic in each pendant. Once again you may have seen the Lampwork pendants elsewhere. But from what I could tell through my own research, not many can be found having as much of the metallic glass as do the pendants we have and if you do find any, they'll be more money. See for yourself. Just visit us.
