Fans Follow Hints to Hunt Down Free Paintings

At 40 feet in length, it is easily Patrick Skoff's most colossal project yet, and it's sitting on the driveway of his Glen Ellyn home, glinting in the sun. 

He calls it "The Great White Buffalo," and it may be just the thing to help draw national attention to his work. 

In July, Skoff bought an old bus of the sort used by touring rock-and-roll bands, and he is converting it into a 225-square-foot roving home and art studio retrofitted with a master bedroom, kitchen, living room, two bathrooms and a separate bunk for fellow artist and collaborator Samantha Brown. In November, Skoff, 32, and Brown, 21, will embark on a cross-country tour in The Great White Buffalo, seeking adventures, making new connections and, most notably, leaving a trail of free art wherever they go.

"I think I'm the happiest when I give stuff away to people," said Skoff, who has given away 150 paintings, by his estimate. "I can see why Oprah does it."

When he's not giving his paintings away, he can sell the for about $150 each.

Skoff's penchant for giving stuff away is what led to his paintings—mostly abstracts that feature bright colors—getting noticed on a much wider scale. Two years ago, he was a relatively unknown artist who worked as a landscaper to make ends meet. But his prospects changed once he began leaving his paintings in public spaces in Chicago for people to find and keep.

It all started on a very small scale—literally—in July 2008. The first few paintings were miniatures just 2 inches tall, and simply had his Web site address stamped on the back. 

From there, things grew. The paintings were larger, around 3-by-4 feet. And Skoff began leaving clues online via Craigslist, Facebook and Twitter to help people locate the paintings, thereby transforming the search for free art into a fun (and often competitive) game.

"If you're an artist and you're creative, be creative on how you can get people to see your stuff," Skoff said. "I call it shameless self-promotion, and I'm proud of it. Why would I be ashamed of saying, 'Hey, look what I've got, and you can have it for free'?"

Skoff now paints full-time and can boast approximately 1,200 Facebook fans and around 600 Twitter followers eager for news of when and where the next art scavenger hunt will be. 

His followers and fans are the ones who have made possible his childhood dream of living on a bus and roaming the country. One patron donated $2,500 of the $3,200 needed to buy the bus, Skoff said; the remainder was raised within one hour through Facebook, in the form of pre-orders for paintings, after Scoff and Brown announced on the site that they were $700 short.

"It seems like people see what we want to do, and they think it should go further, and they want to help," Skoff said.

And help they will need. The duo plan to sell T-shirts to offset the costs of gas, living expenses and art supplies—the canvases alone generally cost about $70. They are also exploring opportunities for corporate sponsorship and ways to benefit the community at each stop, perhaps by encouraging students in schools without an arts program.

"We could stop at schools and get the kids fired up," Skoff said. "And just be like, 'Hey, there's potential. Don't give up on it. You can find a way to keep arts in your life.'"

In general, though, Skoff shies away from ascribing any grand statements to either his work or the tour.

"We don't have some, like, big mission planned, even though it could turn into one," Skoff said. "We're not trying to save the world. What we're trying to do is, 'Look, we're having fun, and you could have fun, too.'"

There is no itinerary for their tour. Skoff and Brown have a wish list of locations—including Las Vegas, California, Oregon, Colorado and Florida—but for the most part, they want it to be an open-ended adventure, both in terms of where they go and how long the tour lasts. 

It depends, in large part, on The Great White Buffalo, which might take them from coast-to-coast, or only to the end of their street.

"There's things that are leaking. There's noises that it makes," said Skoff, who clearly relishes flying by the seat of his paint-splattered pants. "But that's part of the adventure."

The kick-start of their national tour happens to coincide with the two-year anniversary of the duo known to fans as "Skoff & Sam." They met after Brown found two of his earliest free paintings. Brown stopped by his studio one day and painted a few pictures with him. They have been a (platonic) team ever since, and split the work of producing the art hunts.

"We're both stubborn, so we kinda knock heads sometimes," Brown said. "[But] for the most part, we get along very well."

A documentary filmmaker—if they find one—may be joining Skoff and Brown on the bus. Skoff wants to film their adventures and capture all the little stories he hopes to uncover.

"Who knows who we'll run into," Skoff said. "Some old lady sitting on her porch with a crazy story, that did some amazing stuff or whatever. That's what I'm hoping I'll find; the little backstories in the country. Just think of how much cool stuff is out there."

For more information about Patrick Skoff's paintings, visit http://skoffpaintings.com. For information about the next art hunt, visit the Facebook page or follow @SkoffAndSam on Twitter.