Did you ever wonder what happened to all those old cigarette vending machines after they were outlawed? Neither did I. But it turns out someone thought, “Hey, that would be a cool way to sell art.”
Meet the Art-o-Mat.
It is exactly what it looks like: a cigarette vending machine repurposed to vend 
art, which comes (not surprisingly) in cigarette-pack-sized packages. I came across a mention of the Art-o-Mat online, and it turns out there’s a machine only a few miles from my house, inside the Baton Rouge Gallery. So, I took my kids on a field trip.
What is it about pushing buttons, turning knobs, and pulling levers that fascinates us humans? Why is it so much cooler to plunk a token through a slot, tug a silver rod, and stoop to retrieve an as-yet-unseen prize from a machine’s mysterious depths, than it would be just to browse through the gift shop and plop down five bucks for the same item? I don’t know – but, undeniably, it is. I plopped down ten bucks so that each of my two children could have a turn with the coins and levers. These are my prizes:
Fused glass lotus by Sue Nasrallah
Earrings by Trish Randall
The quality of the items is surprisingly high. You could easily pay two or three times as much for similar items at a craft fair. I doubt that anyone – especially the artists – is getting rich on the Art-o-Mat, but it’s not a bad way for artists to get a little exposure. Art-o-Mat is nationwide, and they are absolutely looking for new work.
Will vending machines revolutionize the art world? I doubt it. But there is something poetic about repurposing a machine designed to sell carcinogens to sell a little beauty, instead.
Wonderful!
I have no idea how it would physically work, but wouldn’t there be a risk of one of these pieces of art breaking in the machine? Especially if there’s a fall involved? The fused glass lotus looks pretty fragile.
The glass is about 1/4 inch thick, sort of a light paperweight, and it came wrapped in tissue, pretty snug inside the box, so I think breakage is unlikely. I guess there’s a refund policy if it happens, but I didn’t ask.
Te weight of the art piece should be equal to or less than the weight of the original pack of butts.