Art-o-mat!

Take an old cigarette vending machine, clean it up and repaint it, then fill it with high-quality original art work, and you've got the Art-o-mat!

"The story behind Art-o-mat®

The inspiration for Art-o-mat® came to artist Clark Whittington while observing a friend who had a Pavlovian reaction to the crinkle of cellophane. When Whittington's friend heard someone opening a snack, he had the uncontrollable urge to have one too.

The year was 1997, the town was Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Whittington was set to have a solo art show at a local cafe, Penny Universitie (now Mary's Of Course Cafe). This is when Whittington used a recently-banned cigarette machine to create the first Art-o=mat. In June 1997, it was installed, along with 12 of his paintings. The machine sold Whittington's black & white photographs for $1.00 each."

Amazing! On the Art-o-mat site, you can pull up a map to find the Art-o-mat nearest you.

Here is but a partial list of artists contributing to the Art-o-mat movement.


Great quote: "You never know what you're going to get, but you always know you're going to get a piece of original art."

We going to find one after worksies!