Tom Gerhardt, Half Of Studio Neat!
The relationship between art and commerce has only been made more complicated by the rise of the Internet. On the one hand, artists now are able to present their works to a vastly broader audience and entire sites like Art.net have sprouted up to use the Internet to promote art in all of its forms. On the flip side, with so many more people exploring and presenting artwork, the market has been flooded and many artist sites are choking with starving artists, none of whom are buying. As well, the lack of real safeguards for images and representations of artwork on the Internet makes it much more difficult to protect the intellectual property of artists. One artist who has effectively blended artwork and emerging Internet technologies is Tom Gerhardt.
Tom Gerhardt is one of the two co-founders of Studio Neat. Studio Neat has a stated goal of designing simple accessories for popular technologies. Lacking a corporate model or drive, Gerhardt is much more concerned with the artistic aspects of the products he designs. Gerhardt is an idea man who makes interesting functional gadgets, but he does not prioritize selling them, which might be why you have not heard of Studio Neat.
Tom Gerhardt is a world-renowned artist, first and foremost. Gerhardt pioneered the ring technology that makes the stone mouse work, which is very cool. In addition to appreciating a strong sense of simplicity in design, Gerhardt is known for having a sense of whimsy. One would have to be whimsical to design a mud-based interface for computers. Yes, Gerhardt is spearheading the MudTub, a computer interface that works by having a computer user play in mud. The MudTub might be for a niche audience of people who want to move around in wet dirt, but the fact that someone had the idea to manipulate computer devices using playing in mud is a remarkably clever one.
Gerhardt and his partner at Studio Neat, Dan Provost, recently designed the Glif. The Glif is a mount and stand for use with the Apple iPhone 4 and 4S and Gerhardt appealed to Apple fans online to actually fund its production. The Glif is a very simple black mount with a threaded screw hole that allows you to attach your Apple iPhone 4 to any standard camera mount! The simplicity of the idea is incredible; Apple promoted the iPhone 4 on its photographic abilities without ever producing a device that would allow it to be attached to other, existing digital camera accessories! Gerhardt saw the need and created an inexpensive, simple device that met the need in a stylish way.
With creations like the stone mouse, Glif, and MudTub under his belt or in development, artist Tom Gerhardt is someone to watch for the next great fusion of art and technology!
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