THE GREATER THE PRODUCT, THE LESS I AM MYSELF.
The distinction is literal. Dustin works where art encounters the market: when an object or action is made ownable, priced, exchanged, displayed, leased, inherited, installed, merchandised, or withheld. Those relations are not administrative consequences added after the work. They are the new dominant form.
I do not make art to sell. I use the commodity form as a playground because it already governs how art is recognized, valued, possessed, moved, and remembered. To me, the object matters, but the terms attached to it matter more.
I retain ownership of any original objects I designate as ‘art.’ They may be leased, installed, displayed, and returned, but will never be transferred. Merchandise is different: it is made to circulate through sale. Labor is different too: design and installation time can be sold. The distinction is that my primary focus is not art-objects themselves, but their market context and effects.
The commodity form is the operative medium. Painting, video, websites, installation, clothing, language, and other inherited or technical forms may appear when their status as commodities deserves critique or interpretation. They are instruments within the work, not neutral containers and not the category that defines it.
No original work by Dustin Kuhns is offered for sale. This is a governing rule, not a temporary lack of inventory.
Title remains with Dustin Kuhns and is intended to pass only to his children. Possession, exhibition, custody, publication, installation, or payment does not imply transfer of ownership. Work and installation leases are coming soon.
Merchandise is made for sale and may be owned by its purchaser. T-shirts and other goods will appear as merchandise, not as collectible substitutes for ownership of an original work.
Design and installation labor may be purchased as a service. The sale of labor does not convert retained art into a saleable object. Professional engagements are handled through Kuhns, Inc.