This is a Steve Hartman signed original. Hartman is a correspondent for CBS News and his conceptual art piece, titled “Wrinkled T,” was featured prominently on Wednesday night’s 60 Minutes program. One hundred percent of the proceeds from the sale of this item will go to Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. Your purchase is tax deductible.
As Hartman explained on the show, he bought the T-shirt in 1999 for $180 dollars at a men’s clothing store. When he asked the clerk why the T-shirt was so expensive, the clerk answered, “Because the wrinkles don’t come out.” Hartman says he felt immediately compelled to have it framed.
|
 |
 As he wrote in his journal...
I thought about all the poor housewives who have spent countless episodes of General Hospital ironing t-shirts. I thought about their great grandmothers who had to heat steel over fire to press their cottons. I thought about the whole polyester industry. I thought about “fashion” and what a construct it truly is. Obviously if a plain, white, wrinkled t-shirt can be fashionable, then why not a burlap sack? Or a wooden barrel?
As I stared into the wrinkles, the clerk asked me if I wanted to try it on. I told him that I wasn’t considering wearing it, I was thinking of hanging it. For the first time in my life I had discovered art! All my life I’d been told that art is something that forces you to think – makes a statement – and evokes emotion. The pricey piece in front of me did all that and more. The clerk was dumbstruck. He couldn’t understand why someone would pay $180 for a wrinkled t-shirt and not wear it. I tried explaining to him that outside the big city – certainly in Middle America – if you wore such a horribly wrinkled T shirt people would take you for a slob, or worse. And that’s when he said, “Do you really care what people think of you?” The irony of the statement was lost on him. His tone was condescending and I could tell there was no point going further. So I just handed over my American Express, and walked out with my masterpiece. |
 |
“Wrinkled T” has been part of Hartman’s personal collection for 6 years. The work hung in his office for about a year until Hartman eventually boxed up the piece and moved it to his garage. He says too many people kept telling him they “didn’t get it.” Winning bidder will receive Steve’s original journal entry, as mentioned in the 60 Minutes story but not the receipt.
For more information about Big Brothers Big Sisters of America:
Founded in 1904, Big Brothers Big Sisters is the oldest and largest youth mentoring organization in the United States. In 2004, the organization served more than 225,000 youth ages five through 18, in 5,000 communities across the country, through a network of 470 agencies. National research has shown that the positive relationships between Big Brothers and Big Sisters and their Littles have a direct, measurable, and lasting impact on children’s lives.
|
|
