Art Crimes

As I prepare to move to a new area, I'm hoping to eliminate hearing a practice I had thought was indigenous to the tourist towns in which I lived. I was wrong (yes, you can mark that on the calendar), and a letter to our regional columnist says it better than I ever could:

Dear Amy: I am a professional artist writing to comment about people expecting free art. I often have requests to do work for free or at a discount in exchange for exposure. Rarely do these deals pan out - the few people who are referred to me usually expect a steep 'friend-of-a-friend' discount and decide not to hire me once they hear my prices. Plus, my landlord has stopped accepting 'exposure' as rent. - An Artist

Dear Artist: Great comeback.

Yes it was. I generally try to decline politely and then bitch about it with the question, "Do they ask their plumbers to fix the sink for free?" But I think I'm more upset about always being polite to such a rude request. I think I'll use this one.