The quiet power of undervalued art
Price has never been a reliable measure of artistic worth. Many emerging artists work outside the gallery system, producing bold, inventive pieces with limited resources. Their materials may be inexpensive, their studios improvised, but the ideas are sharp. Cheap art can be good art because creativity isn’t tied to cost — it’s tied to intent, experimentation and the courage to make something new.
Some works are mis‑labelled or misunderstood: a painting catalogued as “decorative,” a print dismissed as student work, a sketch tucked into a box at a local market. These sleepers often reveal themselves later, when someone looks again and sees the originality that others missed.
Original painting by Peter Bright (aka This Window)
Media: Painting and Screen Print on canvas, signed and dated 2011.
Size: 500mm x 400mm Painting on deep box canvas. £150.00. Shipping Free.
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Cheap art can be good art — sometimes it’s even the best art of all. In every generation, there are works that slip through the cracks: pieces dismissed as amateur, undervalued, mis‑catalogued, or simply overlooked. Yet these sleepers often carry the spark of something raw, original and culturally important long before the market catches up.
Catching the artists who are still rising
The most exciting moment in any artist’s career is the one before recognition arrives. This is where collectors, curators and enthusiasts can discover work that feels alive — not yet shaped by trends or commercial expectations. Supporting these artists early doesn’t just help them grow; it helps preserve the authenticity of their voice.
Cheap art becomes good art when someone takes the time to notice it.
Art Kitchen Exhibition — Tuscaloosa, Alabama
A recycled mail‑art postcard by This Window was exhibited at The Alabama Art Kitchen, an artist‑run collective based at 2626 University Blvd., Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The piece originally served as promotional artwork for the 2009 digital release Cassette Culture, and features a photograph of Marni De Much, drummer on the limited‑edition Morgue Studio Demos CDR.
Recycled Artwork and the Extractivism Series
The postcard exhibited in Alabama was later reused as the visual anchor for the Extractivism series on Bandcamp — an ongoing archival project that draws together rediscovered recordings, new digital work, remixes, and recontextualised material from the wider This Window catalogue.
Listen to Extractivism
The series explores themes central to the project’s long history: reuse, recovery, cultural recycling, and the transformation of existing material into new forms.
Each volume extends the documentary thread of This Window’s practice:
- Extractivism (Vol. 1) introduced the concept, blending early experiments with new digital textures.
- Extractivism 2 expanded the archive with deeper finds, alternate mixes, and previously unheard material.
- Subsequent volumes continue to build a layered record of the project’s evolution, echoing the long-running use of recycled postcards, photocopy textures, and mail‑art aesthetics.
My heroes have grown old with me or they have died – maybe their death has been a way to freeze time, stop the aging process – not only for them but for me also? ‘Peter’s exhibition was inspired by iconic images he used when he was at art school in the 70s on the theme of Beauty and the Beast – including Sid and Nancy and Guy the Gorilla! I have always been a hoarder, newspaper clippings, postcards etc. It is only now that I have decided to recycle them.
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