Terminological Chaos
Now We Are Angels
Mark Rushton’s Curator Mindset is a place where I talk in 2026 about my ongoing work as a recording artist and visual artist, tech things, and provide music recommendations. This is being released on Saturday, May 16, 2026.
This week’s topics:
Terminological Chaos Catalog
Cocteau Twins - “Those Eyes, That Mouth”
Terminological Chaos Catalog
I regularly look at real estate listings. I am in the market. But I don’t have the FOMO. I’m not in a hurry. I have criteria.
One thing I notice about most homes on MLS, especially the higher-priced listings, is the lack of original art on the walls. I sometimes see cheap prints from Hobby Lobby or HomeGoods, usually in the laundry room or pantry.
A lot of homes have those giant, mounted TVs. Sometimes more than 10 TVs on the walls if they have a bar, large garage, or patio space. Some with cords dangling.
In the past, I have considered using direct mail to try to create local interest in my artworks. Maybe I’m at that point again?
Thanks to making zines again, I am thinking of using a zine layout to prototype a catalog.
If I decide to move forward with the idea to craft a catalog, I’d pay somebody locally to handle layout.
The word robot calls the kind of catalog I want “an 8-page signature, saddle-stitched catalog” made from two folded sheets (four leaves), nested together, with a “self-cover”.
Thanks, word robots, for sorting out of the terminological chaos.
I can use Realtor or Zillow to track homes individually, or a defined location and price level. Some time after the sale closes, get the new owner’s info from the assessor’s site, and mail them a catalog.
Direct mail has worked with me. Maybe it works with others? Although where I live now, all I get are large postcards about lawn care and window replacement, which I find amusing because I’m in a HOA that handles lawn care and the property is only a few years old.
What would the catalog look like? Bright and colorful. Some of my images added to walls at different sizes and locations. Available media: printed on metal, paper, acrylic, and wood - I don’t make “originals” anymore. Size possibilities. Finishing options. Price ranges. I have a supplier who can produce the art pieces.
Perhaps I should include a little local history to persuade them to commission a work?
Recently, I was reminded that Ethel Scull 36 Times was Andy Warhol’s first fine art commission, in 1963. A year later, Des Moines insurance executive Watson Powell Jr commissioned Warhol, using an image of his father, to make The American Man - a piece I’m familiar with and should be somewhere in the Des Moines Art Center.
Are other artists and galleries using direct mail and catalogs to try to drum up business?
I feel like artists/creatives are brainwashed into believing that posting crap on social media to doom scrollers, and then buying ads from Zuckerbot is the way it should be done. Maybe some commissions and sales can be had that way, but it seems like a lot of work. The billionaires always end up with all your money.
I’m way more comfortable pitching individually and locally. And I also like the idea of educating people on why they should buy art. And that it doesn’t have to cost a ton of money. The subject matter could just be a stylized picture of family members or friends. Or the house itself.
In my abundant spare time, I’m going to start working on a “catalog prototype”. You might see examples of it, here, in the future.
Cocteau Twins - “Those Eyes, That Mouth”
The second song on an EP from 1986 usually means “filler”, but I think every Cocteau Twins track has something special about it.
“Those Eyes, That Mouth” from their Love’s Easy Tears EP re-entered my world recently and, whoa, what a killer track.
I probably felt that way in 1986, but revisiting it in 2026 just demonstrates to me everything that is beautiful about the Cocteau Twins in a single song.