If art imitates life, Amanda Wasielewski must be living hers to the fullest. The Weinberg sophomore, and self-described “bad capitalist,” founded her own aptly-titled Web site, amandawasielewski.com — complete with Amanda buttons, photos and T-shirts — in an effort to “mass market (herself) as art.” PLAY recently relaxed with the unlikely retailer to talk advertising, entrepreneurship and misunderstood ego complexes.

PLAY: Tell me how you came up with the idea for your Web site.

Amanda Wasielewski: Well, actually, the site is more of a vehicle for the main art campaign that I’m doing. It’s sort of a combination of art and marketing. I was inspired by advertising, marketing, corporate logos — that kind of thing. The Web site’s just an extension of that.

PLAY: How did you actually get the domain?

AW: I’ve been interested in Web sites, so I just registered a domain and made (one).

PLAY: Tell me about the larger project.

AW: I was mainly interested in the whole business/corporate advertising world. I was at the library this summer — I haven’t been to the library since I was a little kid — and I was just walking through the book stacks when I stumbled across the business section. Now, I’m probably the most impractical person ever — I was never socialized into capitalism properly — and I was looking at some of the books, and it struck me that everyone has something to sell or market. It’s all tied into the the Web site. Buttons is my next phase, and I was going to go into different kinds of T-shirts.

PLAY: Is this for a class in any way?

AW: No, it’s just my personal, artistic mission.

PLAY: Have you ever been recognized or contacted?

AW: Yeah, it’s mostly people who I’ve had minor contact with before who get interested. I guess that’s basically what my goal was. Some people get really confused and say ‘you’re just really egotistical’ or (they wonder) why you’re putting your name everywhere. I wanted the interest in (my Web site), and I think it’s interesting the way people react to it. I like the idea of pointing out the advertising and the logos or the messages around us that we’re exposed to every day.

PLAY: So, you have these buttons and you sell them … Are you using the money for something specific?

AW: Actually, I’m not. It’s all money flowing out, not money flowing in — so I guess I’m not a very good capitalist. I do 2-D art, and I do drawing, photography and painting, and I’m hoping to go somewhere with that eventually, too. That’s another aspect of my art that contains some of the same themes, although it’s not this whole campaign. I have no other word for it besides campaign — I don’t call it my art mission.

PLAY: Do you see an end anywhere in the near future?

AW: I see it getting bigger. When I started, I wanted to start with Northwestern because it’s sort of this little world, and I thought if I could make it go here, (people might) notice it. If I succeed here, I hope to (bring it) to a broader region.

PLAY: What’s your ultimate goal?

AW: I think that another thing that’s really interesting is the whole communication aspect. That’s what I see as the purpose of art — communication. If I can communicate something, or at least open people up to something, then I guess that’s the ultimate purpose in what I’m doing.

— Dan Macsai