Customer Reviews

Thrift Store Paintings

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Bryan Tucker contributed the Pink Elephant theme for this wonderful work, and I just don't know what to say, other than I am totally and completely overwhelmed. This is a coffee table book for those of us who are a bit on the silly side. It is a beautifully rendered book, with perfect color reproduction, and the most amazing paintings you have ever seen in any one place (other than the Museum of Bad Art, of course. See http://glyphs.com/moba for more information on MOBA.)

The works here are wonderful and span every style. My personal favorite is probably 'Woman in Barrel with Yellow Roses, Typewriter and Chair on Boxes', but it only just nudges out other luminary works such as 'Purple Toilet Paper and Flower,' and 'Turtle in Hat with Cigar, Saying "Ybysaia (Baby)."'

Anyone who loves art seriously needs this book in their collection. Leave it out for company...I guarantee you will get comments and compliments!

You'd be surprised what you find at thrift stores! This book is a collection of thrift store art, but that doesn't mean all of the works are cheesy. Some are gorgeous, some are wannabe something great, and some, well, yes there are some cheesy pieces. The paintings are pleasant enough to put out on your coffee table and interesting enough to discuss-maybe even argue over. There are various themes and genres covered, from still life to child portraits to surrealism. There is an index giving media info and artist's name. I would have liked to known the regions these paintings were found. However, this book is a keeper!

This is a great book. All the book consists of is various paintings that have been found in resale shops. Most of the artists who created these paintings are unknown. The author of the book has let the paintings speak for themselves, as there are no introductions or examinations of the paintings.

My personal favorite is the painting of the roll of toilet paper done in a monochromatic scheme of blue with a small flower next to the roll.

If you are looking for a coffee table book that doesn't take itself too seriously - you have to get this book!

You'll laugh, you'll cry, this book is better than "cats"!

Whether you prefer adult babies or baby adults you'll find them here. Or perhaps your taste runs to an oil painting of a roll of toilet paper. No problem.

Everything about this book is pure genius, from the title: Thrift Store Paintings: Paintings Found In Thrift Stores, to the essay (there isn't one).

it would be impossible to pick a favorite but I'm especially fond of "Robot Attacks Two Women" and "Boy With Toy Duck Peers Through Rusty Gate". Or perhaps "Dead Tree With Giant Lemon On Chain"......

This is a humor book. Don't expect a semi-serious look at vintage lowbrow art by the likes of masters J.H. Lynch, Tretchikoff, Van Gaard or Lou Shabney with their big-eye children, mystic galleons, forest nymphs, Chinese women with green faces and other popular themes from the '50s to early '70s. This is a book of awful, completely amateurish art. They seem to be the creation of untalented, disturbed people who took to artistic expression when their TV went on the fritz or their methadone treatment was discontinued by the government. Undoubtedly these creations were given as gifts to relatives at weddings, birthdays, holidays and anniversaries. Eventually, after a prolonged period of embarrassment, the recipients discarded them in the back of thrift shops hoping they would find suitable homes on prison walls or mental institutions. In fact, it's hard to believe even Skid Row thrift shops would display some of these travesties when valuable space would be better served with tiki mugs and polyester suits. There's often a touching earnestness to some of these works that makes you feel guilty looking down your snotty nose at them. The book has no text, the author believing the pictures speak for themselves. He does display a deadpan humor by attaching such titles as "Purple Toilet Paper And Flower," "Maid Sprays Kids on Second Floor with Hose," 'Little Girl With Teeth," "Woman Made of Pillow, Wax Lips, Green Thing" and so on. A jaw-dropping outlandishness exists with many of the subjects, such as a painting combining Burger King with the Last Supper or misshapen nude women floating in space. The joke wears thin after a few pages, though, like laughing at handicapped people--and you begin feeling sleazy. After all, who hasn't turned out a few clunkers on canvas themselves?? The exact purpose of this book isn't exactly clear.