A friend of mine once said that when someone gets an original piece of art, then they can't stand the cheap, replicated stuff anymore. Well get ready for some cool, original and free... yes, free art. Long before VanGogh's struggles with selling art, artists have pondered how to market and sell their work. But one local artist is planning a large art giveaway project as part of an effort to encourage people to appreciate, collect, and maybe even eventually buy art.

Charleston artist Mark Wolfe has been working on a variety of handmade prints, mostly tiki-themed, and he's leaving them around town. (Double-click on the image at left to see an example up close). "I love the street art and abundance of art in many of the larger cities I've visited, and I wanted to bring that here. Original art has a vitality and a spirit, and I wanted to help bring art to people who haven't really thought about it much before."

Wolfe is making individual prints of single tiki faces and even tiki totems and leaving them in coffee shops, book stores, hair salons, and other locales around town. Over the next month, he plans to leave over 50 prints around town. And he challenges other artists to join in on the fun. "Galleries, museums and events like FestivALL are great places to see art," he says, "but it doesn't have to be confined to just that. I hope other artists will consider making art to leave around town as well."