If you're an artist who's gotten him/herself into a rut, and live in the New York area, a cure is now available. But only through August 12^th, the last day for Dime Bag 3 at Giant Robot New York.

The show is the brainchild of Jordin Isip and Rodger Stevens, art school buddies who came up with the idea when they realized what a huge art network of artists they had just from hanging out socially. They wanted to bring as many artists together as possible to create new work with only one small - but huge - restriction: Each piece must fit into a 3-by-3-inch ziplock bag.

Isip and Rodgers invited artists representing an extraordinary variety of disciplines, including painters, illustrators, graphic designers, filmmakers, photographers, and product designers. Each of the artists was sent one of the little baggies and asked to fill it in any way they wished.

Heads Up at Giant Robot. Left: Trapped in a Bag by Calef Brown. Center: I Didn't Bust No, Uh, Hip-Hop Moves by Gregory Benton. Right: Head by Jordin Isip. All copyright the artists, photos: Peggy Roalf.

I found Jordin by phone in his studio today and he said, "We wanted to have an exhibit where the show itself, as well as the individual pieces, are a work of art." He certainly succeeded, and GR/New York's small gallery space proves to be an ideal environment for the art. I found myself looking at each of the three walls of the installation as a whole element before zeroing in on individual images. In fact, I spent quite a while looking at each piece, with the idea of purchasing one.

The name of the show, it turns out, is a metaphor because, as Jordin said, "A dime bag, in street slang, is actually much smaller. We went with the 3-by-3-inch bag as a size that artists could really work with. And surprisingly, a few of them even put the $10 price on their art."

The range of styles and mediums is astonishing. So is the fact that many artists created work that was completely different than what they are known for. Some pieces seem to be very cut-and-paste-from-the-scrap-bin, but those are few and far between. There's one that involved folding thin ribbons of printed paper zig-zag-wise into a mandala. There's one that seems to be an array of paint blobs scraped off the studio floor. There's one that's a super-mini embroidered quilt. Another is a stitched drawing that at first looks like it was done with a Sharpie. Jordin Isip created one of his signature heads in Super Sculpy painted with acrylic. David Sandlin painted one his Cyclops heads and added a handful of miniature 3-D eyes to the dime bag...but go, and see for yourself.

The roster of names is stellar, and includes, for example: Michael Bartalos, Melinda Beck, Juliette Borda, Calef Brown, Kiersten Essenpreis, Evah Fan, Ingo Fast, Jordin Isip, Frances Jetter, Matt Leines, Laura Levine, Edel Rodriguez, Anthony Russo, David Sandlin, Jeff Soto, Katherine Streeter, Gary Taxali, Mark Todd, Eric White, Jonathan Viner. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. Over 240 artists are represented, with more than 290 pieces included in the show.

Dime Bag 3, the ninth in an ongoing series of events curated by Jordin Isip and Rodger Stevens, is on view at Giant Robot New York through August 12. 437 East 9^th Street, between Avenue A and 1^st Avenue, New York, NY. For out-of-towners, art can be purchased online. Please visit the website.

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