Art Print Issues

Shift Happens - Slideshare is Way Cool, Use It Freely!

Recently, I republished a post from the fertile mind of futurist Watts Wacker wrting in his monthly newsletter, First Matter. In his Keep Your Eyes Open I'm Convinced It's About to Happen article, W2, as he playfully signs his emails, explains the enormous impact Peter Max had on the art market in the 20th Century, and how The Beatles played a part in it too.

Watts postulates THE NEXT BIG THING in the art market will come from China. Agreeing with him, I added a comment on his Web site. It notes how things are vastly different from 40 years ago when The Beatles and Peter Max changed the world. I suggest some musical muse might come from the Caribbean or Africa in a collaboration with a Chinese artist that could shake things up in ways we haven't seen since the 60s. It often seems to me the more unlikely a thing one can imagine today makes it more likely to occur. The slideshow below, courtesy of Slideshare, sheds light on Watt's basis for his prediction.

Futurism is not based on crystal ball gazing, but rather distills the future from what is obvious. You just need to know where to look and how to interpret your results. This, being more difficult than it sounds, is why W2 gets the big bucks. The above Shifthappens slideshow illustrates how in the new millennium we are on the precipice of a historic shift where by sheer numbers in our now close knit digital global age, China and India are poised to dominate the way Western Europe and the U.S. respectively did in the early and second half of the 20th Century.

I can't portend exactly what such a monumental shift will mean to your career as a visual artist. But, I can tell you changes you cannot foresee will impact it as the Shifthappens presentation implies. You can judge by your own experiences that technology has changed and shaped how you inform yourself, create, reproduce, market and sell your art today. I encourage you to be open to change, to embrace it, to productively use it however you can.

In 2005, how many thought artists would use blogging for significant learning and marketing experiences? I opened an account with my blogging software, Typepad, in 2005, but didn't quit my PDF style newsletter until a year ago, making me in some ways a poster child for the poignant Kelly Ruger quote below.

A way cool Web 2.0 program you can employ now is SlideShare. Both presentations embedded in this post are from its Web site. SlideShare is the world's largest community for sharing presentations & slideshows. You can upload your PowerPoint, OpenOffice, Keynote or PDF files, tag them, embed them into your blog or website, browse others' presentations, and comment on individual slides. What's more, the transcripts of your presentation will be indexed by Internet search engines and show up in search results. It's a great way to share your ideas with others, or to learn from other people. And it's completely free and you choose whether to make your presentations public or private.

To further stimulate your creativity, review the terrific presentation below, which is also found on Slideshare: Visual and Creative Thinking: What We Learned from Peter Pan and Willie Wonka. Here is just one quote from the presentation which I hope will encourage you to review it:

Sometimes an idea loses its meaning over time, but isn't abandoned because of the investment in the past. These ideals are often so immune to criticism that those who challenge them are ignored or marginalized.- Kelly Ruger

View the Visual and Creative Thinking Slideshare presentation

I've suggested here a couple of time to use The Personal Brain, which is a wonderful mind mapping brainstorming tool. If you are beginning to see a pattern here of encouraging creative thinking and tools, you'd be right. Enjoy!

Is the Next Big Thing About to Happen?

I've been a huge fan of futurist Watts Wacker since I first heard him speak to a group of tourism executives circa 1999. His presentation was fascinating and full of compelling information.

He was as riveting a speaker as any I've heard. That he managed to mesmerize his audience of business executives while wearing long hair, shorts, sockless loafers and a rumpled button down shirt made him more interesting. It was a rare encounter where I found myself thinking, "How fun it must be to be that smart, that cool, that self-confident and worthy of having organizations fly a person in and pay them thousands to hear their ideas for a mere 90 minutes?"

At the time, his international bestselling book, co-authored with Jim Taylor, The 500 Year Delta: What Happens After What Happens Next was riding high on the charts. And, his subsequent books, Visionary's Hand, and The Deviant's Advantage plus his latest, What's Your Story?: Storytelling to Move Markets, Audiences, People, and Brands provide more profound and practical insight from this informative oracle.

Finding a Way to Fill the Yearning for Authenticity Can Drive Your Art Career

A key fact I landed on from The 500 Year Delta was in the monumental changes we are living through, there is a societal yearning for authenticity. Today's digital world, including giclees, doesn't allow much for it. If you can figure out how to create true authenticity in your art career and properly promote it, you will reap great rewards.

Wacker's always thought provoking monthly newsletter is penned by him and published by his company, First Matter LLC. The essay most apropos to this blog is from the February 2008 issue. It does not disappoint. With permission, here it is:

Keep Your Eyes Open I’m Convinced it’s About to Happen by Watts Wacker

I can’t help but keep thinking about this being the 40th anniversary of the ’68 Chicago convention and the tragedies of both Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King. Especially now that so many have suggested that we are at the same, or at least, similar crossroads today, I just keep thinking about it.

I actually disagree with the assessment of similarity to the two periods of time. In 1968 the social mood was much more “down with authority” ... today? ... it’s much more like “are you prepared? ... and is there such a thing as being an authority?” We want our institutions to be prepared for the future and we’ve not so sure they are so.

There was an artist who captured the ‘60’s, Peter Max. Peter’s an amazing man. Philanthropist, humanitarian, environmentalist and philosopher ... he is the most successful living artist in the world. He truly was the catalyst for connecting art and business. Max was the first person ever to have his work placed upon everything from bed sheets to sneakers. His product was out-licensed to the tune of $1 billion (yes, billion) before 1970.

While he would likely refer to himself as a neo-expressionist today, he has traveled from realist to pop artist (maybe archetype on this one) to his latest definition. His prescience in seeing how “the poster” was on the cusp of unprecedented ranges and intensities of color (all at inexpensive and high quality) allowed him to connect romantic, playful and psychedelic. He created the yellow submarine for the Beatles. Toulouse-Lautrec would have been proud. Peter readily says that his love of the cosmos and childhood expectation of becoming an astronomer was a major source of inspiration for the art of the 60’s. He captured a period of time.

Today, we should be looking for “that look”. What I mean is, what is the look for today? We’re far enough “in” to the 21st century. And, like Peter, I believe it will be somebody born in Europe ... developing years in Asia ... than blossom in the USA. However, in the 2010’s it will be some other order and more than likely an artist who blossoms in Asia. Keep your eyes open ... I’m convinced it’s about to happen.

I'm in agreement with Watt's observations and predictions. If you want to read my TalkBack comments on his site and peruse some very interesting links related to Watts' commentary, go here.

This post comes on the close of the 30th Annual ArtExpo New York show where in its heyday none other than Peter Max used the venue to further his career. Wouldn't it be great if the artist whose talent will rise to grab our collective consciousness as Watts' envisions was exhibiting there this year? That fantasy aside, given the changing dynamics of the art market, I wouldn't bet on such a notion. It's far more likely the art print market and its primary venue will undergo untold major changes before the next big thing comes calling. Just as The Beatles and Peter Max helped revolutionize music and art by being different and not of the status quo, I believe the next big thing will break out of some yet unknown venue or channel.