– “You sure you don’t want this back? Why do you have trouble selling this painting, it’s got green in it, the color of money.”

– “Green doesn’t sell, red sells.”

– “Why don’t you take this one then, it´s got red in it, it’ll sell. Why don’t you take this instead?”

– “No, I’m looking for something with architecture in it. My clients love your architectural works now.”

(Conversation between Mark Kostabi and collector and gallerist Bill Levine.)

Saleable Paintings consists of four projects:  Red Sells, Dogs of Aki Kaurismäki, 144 Unsold Attempts to Paint a White Monochrome, Blushing, and the series exhibited at the U3, Appreciation for Red and Smaller Paintings. The latter consists of my unsold paintings, cut into formats that fit above a sofa and painted over with red paint to accommodate the taste of the gallerist who exhibited the project. 23 paintings, acrylic on canvas, 2009.

Nina Slejko Blom (1982) obtained her MA degree from the Valand Academy in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 2009. In addition to pursuing her career as an artist, she runs, together with Swedish artist Conny Blom, the Center for Contemporary Art, CAC Bukovje. Though operating with very limited means Slejko and Blom have managed in the first few years to stage presentations of works by such renowned artists as John Baldessari, Miltos Manetas, Jonathan Meese, and Martin Creed. In addition to being a center for contemporary arts, CAC Bukovje is also an art project in which the artists explore the structures and the hierarchies in the art world.