Artist tells how he Lives without Money


Recommended Posts

Russian artist Sergey Balovin discovered that he could live without money by accident.

When he moved to China in 2010, "I didn't know almost anybody in Shanghai," he told Yahoo! Shine in an email. He speaks mostly Russian, a little English, and no Chinese at all, he explained, and was making good money selling expressionist landscape paintings. When a neighbor agreed to give him her easel in exchange for a hand-drawn portrait, he realized that other people might be wiling to make similar trades.

"I gave the announcement on a Russian Shanghai forum," he said. "I said 'I am ready to draw portraits and exchange them for things useful in my home.' A few weeks later, I had a few dozen of new friends and everything that is necessary for everyday life."

He called it The In-Kind Exchange Project and, aside from raising rent money by holding regular artist open houses and charging an entry fee, he's been bartering art instead of buying necessities for more than two years. A former professor at the Voronezh Teacher?s Training Institute in Russia, Balovin draws the portraits two a time, giving one in trade and keeping the other for his ever-growing "wall of faces." (You can participate in the project by going to balovin.ru.)

In December, Balovin took his way of life to an extreme: He gave up his apartment in Shanghai in order to travel the world, drawing portraits in exchange for everything he needs, from food, clothes, and mobile-phone minutes to a place to stay the night -- proof, he says, that he doesn't need money to survive.

"I go only to the cities where I have been invited by someone," he says. His hosts provide a place to sleep and a way to get to the next invitation on his itinerary, and invites their friends to attend an In Kind Exchange meet-up where they can give Balovin items in exchange for a portrait or two.

"It was very easy to organize in Russia and Ukraine," he said. "I've done around 40 events there already." Fans follow his blog, balovin.livejournal.com/ (it's written in Russian), to find out where he'll be next.

http://shine.yahoo.c...-202940946.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wouldn't work in the USA without being illegal. You have to pay taxes on anything you receive from another person after a certain point. He would need cash to pay those taxes. Like James Rose said, he may not be using cash, but he is still using money.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wouldn't work in the USA without being illegal. You have to pay taxes on anything you receive from another person after a certain point. He would need cash to pay those taxes. Like James Rose said, he may not be using cash, but he is still using money.

Good point, I had not thought about the tax issue (and my wife is a CPA... oops!)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.