Art Print Issues

It's Not the Economy Stupid

The title of this post is a paraphrase of the mantra from Bill Clinton's first presidential campaign. Then it was, "It's the Economy Stupid." The harsh point was used to focus his campaign on the single most important topic that helped get him elected.

It's Not the Economy Today Stupid

With the deteriorating housing market, rising cost of gas and food and other economic woes it would seem easy to say, (with apologies to Yogi Berra) we are having deja vu all over again. However, in my humble opinion, the economy is not the real problem for visual artists, authors or musicians. Not to discount the effects these things and a lingering war effort have on the situation. They admittedly are profound.

Changing Consumer Habits Are the Real Threat

The real threat is how the creative product of artists is being consumed and viewed. Print-on-demand, the Internet and other technologies are evolving at an incredible pace. All kinds of industries are reeling from dramatic changes in consumer habits. CDs for musicians are ancient history and the level of unpaid copied and downloaded product continues to rise despite efforts to abate them. Newspapers are suffering serious drops in readership. Their cash cow classified sections are being decimated by www.craigslist.org. Small retailers are plowed under by the voracious Wal-Mart juggernaut. Thinking about all this is enough to make a person throw up their hands and cry or maybe just throw up. But the former is not a solution and the latter is just messy.

Creating Self-determined and Managed Distribution Channels is Imperative

I have frequently commented artists need to find or create new alternative ways to get their product to market. Some will come from new products, or by utilizing existing technologies to create 2-D art or digital art to engage consumers in novel ways. As changes unfurl, challenges arise and some offer opportunity. It doesn't have to be high tech, it could be a new twist on old-fashioned high touch. My previous post here, Wired Art Marketing Idea, showed how Wired magazine and Xerox partnered to use technology to offer users a fun interactive way to personalize its iconic cover to anyone with a computer. It was a fun, effective bit of viral marketing for both companies (It worked well enough for you to read about it here a year later.) The post was an effort to say, "Think about doing things differently, much differently."

Christine Kane Is an Inspiring Real Deal

Christine Kane, is one artist who has embraced change and profited professionally and personally from it. I have, along with thousands of others, grown to greatly admire her on many levels. She is an accomplished successful recording and touring singer-songwriter. Long ago, she took control of her destiny. Through hard work and talent, she grew a profitable career as musician. She is also a successful blogger. Out of her blogging, she has grown a retreat workshop business. The success she is enjoying from her workshops is causing her to rethink her recording career and musical career.

Now, having her stop writing songs and recording would be a shame for her thousands of fans, but if it is where she wants to go or is driven to go, then more power to her for having the guts and ability to make such a monumental change. If you read her thoughts on her Web site or blog, it's easy to pick up how evolving market conditions out of control of musicians like her is forcing change. It is unwanted, as is most change, but is nevertheless inevitable. She has the courage, wisdom and wherewithal to envision it, do something about it and use it to enlighten and encourage others to make their own changes.

Her recent blog posts, Bake Sales or Blogging: What’s your Paradigm? and Creating vs. Getting are must reads. Give them some thought as they are certain to challenge some of your own thinking about your career, where it is headed and if you are on the right track. Will Rogers once remarked, "Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you don't keep moving." Christine Kane is an artist and business person on the move. Find whatever works from her model to employ in your own career and keep on moving yourself.

Wired Art Marketing Idea

About a year ago, Wired, a leading tech publication, offered its readers, anyone actually, the chance to create their own personalized cover, like the one pictured here, in a promotion sponsored by Xerox.

Good Ideas Never Go Away

Then as now, I thought it was a great idea. But, I put it away in lieu of other blog post concepts. It's stayed with me and I present it to you today as a way to stimulate your own thoughts on how you might think of creative ways to interact with your collectors and prospects.

The promotion was done as a creative way to show off the Xerox XMPie™ product line, which it had acquired in 2006. Specifically, it allows users to implement its Image Personalization tool to create the personalized headline and illustrate the versatility and ease-of-use of the program. I'm not sure what the price is for the program. It doesn't say on the product's Website. For those of you who own Adobe Creative Suite 2 or 3, you can download a free 30 day trial.

Employ Creative Borrowing to Invent Your Personalized Promotion Ideas

What's more important than the technology to readers of this blog is the concept behind the use of the technology. That is, borrowing on the concept to help you use whatever means, technology or otherwise, available to you, get in gear to think how to personalize your art for your collectors is what is important.

Giclées Are Just One Way to Personalize

The giclée process with its variable size capabilities is just one way you can personalize art for your collectors. I think this alone is underutilized as a way to truly serve customers' specific needs. Substrates are another way to personalize your work. New products are frequently being announced. These are but two examples of how technology can be used to personalize art. Can you imagine collectors willing to pay a nice premium for something personalized for them? I can.

Personalizing on a Small Scale Is an Advantage

If you are able to use the XMPie program to let your collectors and prospects have fun with your art and create a personalized printable product like the one pictured here, wouldn't that be way cool? How much good will, promotion and publcity you can generate with an ideal like this? In the right hands, the possibilities offer great promise on multiple levels.

Dont' Sweat the Small Stuff

Don't stress if you lack the tools or budget to use this program. The idea behind how to reach and influence your customers is the important thing. With a bit of creativity, you can come up with your own unique ways to get personal with those important to your career.

HDExpo Puts Art in the Hospitality Picture

Changes in the tradeshow scene regarding the art business have been frequently reported here. The traditional industry shows such as ArtExpo and Decor Expo are well off their peak years in size, as are the publications that support them. And, the total number of shows serving the industry are at lows not seen in decades. No matter what factors you use to account for the downward trend, they are sadly there and showing no signs of resurgence.

Tradeshow Woes Are a Problem Across Many Industries

It's not just art and picture framing shows that are on their heels. You needn't look hard to find evidence of contraction in all kinds of industries. Given such a multi-industry trend is surely a cause to wonder if there are alternative shows worth either attending or exhibiting for artists and publishers.

There Are Bright Spots To Be Found

One growing show growing increasingly important to many art publishers and self-representing artists is the HDExpo. It is the sister tradeshow to Hospitality Design magazine, which also is growing in size. These entities primarily serve complete design needs for hotels, restaurants and corporate centers.

Gaining traction in this market is a way to create a steady cash flow from a distribution source outside the gallery and online channels that are top of mind for most artists. Not to say the field isn't competitive. It is, but I have always maintained there is ample room in the most crowded fields for artists who bring a fresh perspective to the scene.

Hospitality Design Magazine Publishes Largest Issue Ever

As a former trade magazine rep, I drooled with lust when I saw the most recent at-show copy of Hospitality Design. At 448-pages plus cover, it resembles a mid-size city phone book. I hadn't seen a trade pub that size since the heyday of Decor magazine's show issues for New York or Atlanta many moons ago. The combination of growing importance of the HDExpo show and the size of the magazine puts an exclamation point on their momentum and the market they represent.

Las Vegas Is a Boom Town for Home Furnishings & Hospitality Design Shows

Las Vegas is also home to the World Market Center. It is the host site of the Las Vegas Market, which also is bucking the downward trend as a huge fast growing international home furnishing marketplace. The common wisdom for decades was no venue could successfully compete against the IHFC show and the concurrent shows in High Point, NC for the home furnishings market.  In just a few short years, the Las Vegas Market has proven there can be a viable alternative to the IHFC.

To Be An Effective Marketer in an Industry, You Must Be a Student of It

Effective marketing is a multi-year strategy. The first stage is to become educated about potentially lucrative markets important and new to your business. If you have your own designs on seeing your originals and reproductions used in the hospitality industry, learn all you can about the shows mentioned here and the markets they represent. You likely don't have the budget to tackle them all. But spending time studying them is a great first step towards getting your foot in the door at one of them at the appropriate time.

On the HDExpo Web site, go to Expo/Exhibitor List/Product Category Search. Start with the Artwork: Prints/Reproductions/Photography category and work your way through all the other appropriate categories for ideas on companies to approach, or to see what those exhibiting are doing on their on Web sites. It will be time well spent to study this terrific resource. And, of course, if you can actually go there, all the better. This year's May 14-17 conference and May 15 -17 exhibition dates are upon us. If it's too quick for this year, tickle it as a must for 2009.

Surtex Offers Artists Yet Another Alternative to Galleries and Selling Online

The Surtex show runs May 18 - 20 at the Jacob Javits Center in Manhattan. Surtex bills itself as a licensing show for original art and design and offers a different kind of distribution and income from the hospitality business. Surtex is a terrific venue for artists who want to license their work. It's a show to walk the first year and then to decide if paying for exhibit space makes sense. Many artists are able to make connections there by respectfully and tactfully approaching publishers and licensors when they are not otherwise busy in their booths. The better you prepare for these shows, the better your experience will be.

French Incent Buying Art - Guggenheim Vegas Closing - Using Whitey Ball in a Down Market - ArtExpo Vegas a Conservative Go

Signs of changing times:

• The announcement came last week the French government is so distraught over slipping in worldwide art sales, falling to third behind China, it is offering interest free loans for its citizens to buy fine art.
• It in a sad, but not completely surprising item, the Las Vegas Sun reports the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum there is scheduled to shutter next month...sigh. But, in the perfection of hindsight, looking at Vegas marketing then and now, it seems logical it would not work.

Sin City Is the Name of the Game

You may recall Las Vegas formerly tried to tout itself as a family friendly destination with water slides, the Wizard of OZ's Yellow Brick Road at the MGM, roller coasters and so forth. However, it didn't take long for the shine to wear off that idea before Vegas reverted to true form. It is, after all, called Sin City for good reason. The popular and effective "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" slogan that replaced the family theme has been successful because it pointedly captures the allure of Vegas.

In retrospect, the familiar saying, "You can't make a silk purse out a of a sow's ear" now seems appropriate to putting one of the most prestigious fine art museums in Vegas. As the Las Vegas Sun article points out, there were other problems, but at the heart of it, it just wasn't a good fit. The closing of the Guggenheim speaks volumes about culture, or lack thereof, in Vegas, and to a degree how specialized the interest and marketing of fine art is. The wisdom of crowds theory dictates the taste for Vegas is gambling, dining, nightclubbing, extravagant shows and forbidden fruit with not much energy or enthusiasm for fine art experiences.

In the tradeshow business, the take on destinations such as Las Vegas and San Francisco is they are great convention, but largely lousy tradeshow towns. Simply, the distractions are too powerful to keep crowds on the floor for smaller shows. Behemoths, such as Comdex, draw so many attendees they override the common wisdom. That said, it is only fair to note some small tradeshows such as the annual West Coast Art & Frame show do well there regardless. And in fairness to Vegas, there are but a a handful of cities worldwide that could sustain a Guggenheim museum.

You Can't Put Round Art into a Square Frame, No Matter How Glittery the Frame

The moral of the Guggenheim Vegas story is you can't force something where it doesn't fit. Put another way, swinging for the fences in an attempt to clear the bases with a Grand Slam homerun grandiose idea is not always a winning strategy. For art marketers, this lesson could not be more true, especially in a down economy. Looking back, the concept of an exquisite fine art museum in Vegas was a grandiose idea gone awry. The baseball analogy provides a nice segue to discuss employing a strategy called "Whitey Ball" for art marketers in a down market.

The Whitey Ball Strategy for Art Marketing in a Down Market

In the 1980s, the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team didn't have big hitting sluggers on its roster. Its huge ballpark with faraway fences didn't suit having them on the payroll. Instead, the team's wily manager, Whitey Herzog, used his creativity to build a team around speed and slap hitting singles batters. During his tenure, Herzog picked players who were fleet of foot with the ability to steal bases, move fast to plug defenses and thwart their opponent's offenses. Whitey always sought as many chances at bat he could get for his players. Essentially, he adapted his strategy to conform to what he had to work with. The results were spectacular with three National League pennants and two World Series appearances, including a World Series Championship in 1982.

Piling Up Singles in Today's Economy Is a Great Strategy

Whether you are an independent self-representing artist or a big time publisher, this is a good time to employ your version of Whitey Ball marketing. For those serious about sustaining and building their businesses, smart marketing is more crucial now than in good times. Maintaining your marketing edge now will, when the economy turns, put you far ahead of those who hunker down and do nothing.

NINE IDEAS FOR USING WHITEY BALL MARKETING WITH YOUR ART BUSINESS

1. Accurately assess your resources, opportunities and goals. Doing so serves to keep your expectations real.
2. Give your business every chance at bat it can get. Look for all the publicity and media notice you can garner - there are more opportunities than you realize. It all matters and it all adds up when you find and use them.
3. Shore up your defenses by tightening non-essential spending keeping funds available for the best opportunities.
4. Go for the single when you get to bat. The first step to getting a run is to get on base. The first step to getting repeat sales is to establish a relationship with a potential collector or gallery
5. Carefully weigh your options. When it comes to deciding how to allocate your marketing budget, employing the carpenter's credo to measure twice and cut once is a wise idea.
6. Renegotiate with your suppliers to get every discount, value added service and the lowest prices they can provide you.
7. Explore every viable means to diversify your distribution channels. Going forward, alternative, creative marketing is a fact of life no matter what the economy is doing.
8. Do whatever you must to make sure your customers are happy and your service is par excellence.
9. Don't buy into fanciful untried ideas (Or, if you must, start small and play conservatively. If it's good, you'll have time later to ratchet up your participation.)

Your Best Ideas Likely May Come From Doing Something You Were Sure You Would Never Do

To get creative, it helps to get outside your comfort zone. Try thinking about doing things differently, much differently. For instance, consider where have you not been, what have you not done and what you would never do. A marvelous brainstorming activity is to take a large sheet of paper and write down all the people, places and things you would never approach or do in your business. The harder you think about it and the more ideas you conjure up, the more likely your best out of left field (baseball pun intended) idea will come.

ArtExpo Las Vegas is a Conservative Go

Is there a correlation or lesson about the ArtExpo Las Vegas show and the closing of the Guggenheim Hermitage? Of course, especially if you believed Vegas had become an art mecca. I fell under that spell. Like many others, I was a strong proponent of the ArtExpo Vegas show last year. I devoted several encouraging posts on Art Print Issues and another on the very popular AbsoluteArts.com blog, where I contribute frequently.

My post show follow up was more sanguine. Like the folks at the Guggenheim and many others, I felt Vegas offered promise. Seeing the museum close and the ArtExpo show last year come off smaller than anyone would have hoped for and now in tougher economic times, it's hard to muster great enthusiasm for the 2008 show. Still, the industry is down to few choices for shows and this is one of them.

If you have the resources, ArtExpo Vegas can work to your advantage to exhibit there.

I met several self-representing artists who were thrilled they made the decision to go. The smartest advice is to go expecting the best, but also be prepared for something less than that. By doing so, you are poised to react to a good outcome and will negate the deflation of a bummer experience by having acknowledged the possibility of it. Exhibiting there, especially as unknown artist is akin to gambling, don't play with money you can't afford to lose. Go with a good marketing plan, use solid money management to keep losses to a minimum and play hard and smart and pray for a hot streak

What the artists with whom I met that had a great ArtExpo Vegas show had in common was they had unique well developed thematic styles that appealed to certain buyers with substantial open to buy budgets. In other words, in each case it was a single buyer that made the difference for them. This scenario is likely to happen again this year, but understand the buyers are selective. It doesn't mean your images aren't good if you don't succeed. It could be they are not right for those buyers who attend. Being able to know the difference only comes with experience. If you lack it, seek the advice of others to get an honest, if not brutal, assessment of where your art comes in.

The art print market is evolving and so are the venues and media that report on, promote and support it.

What we are witnessing is the rapid deconstruction of how things were done in the past. It is far from an art industry problem. You can find reports of all kinds of shows and media contracting from their once bulging sizes. It's harder to find where the business is going. Some to the Internet, some to targeted marketing and some to marginal players folding their tents.

To maximize your return, you need to pay close attention to help you understand how the business is evolving. Playing Whitey Ball with your marketing will help you sustain your business as you wind through the challenging times we find ourselves in today.

Art Marketing Lessons from American Idol

American Idol is a true phenomenon that offers visual artists marketing lessons. From humble beginnings, the Fox singing contest reality show program has grown to 27 million viewers making it the most-watched TV show in the US. Additionally, it is broadcast in a taped version to 100 countries worldwide.

The show makes for great water cooler conversational fodder for die hard fans. For others, including me, it is a guilty pleasure. I admit to overcoming smug somewhat elitist feelings of being too busy, too cool, too with it to spend time watching it. Somewhere around SeasonThree, I succumbed as it grabbed my attention. I imagine some reading this have noses turned up thinking what a crock. But, that's okay, different opinions make things interesting and you are invited to freely express yourself by commenting below.

Most reality shows seem to be about taking ordinary people and putting them in stressful situations so they will make fools of themselves for the viewers entertainment. AI plays this game too as it winnows the more than 100,000 contestants down to a select few. But, when only a dozen contestants are left, it becomes truly interesting as real talent is put to the test.

I'm sure some tune in to hear withering remarks from British judge, Simon Cowell. But, I believe more watch because they like the music, grow fond of the performers and enjoy the opportunity to participate and support them with their votes. The drama, talent and tension are played out in ways that offer lessons to visual artists seeking to create their own bond with an audience.

THREE TIPS TO REMEMBER

The judges are forced to provide commentary and insight. Most of it is forgettable, occasionally some tips are poignant classic reminders worthy of taking notice. Regular viewers hear the same repeated advice, which is spot on and can be boiled down to:

1. BE ORIGINAL - The contestants most often sing songs well known to the audience. When one takes material and makes it fresh and new into her or his own, there is magic when what is familiar becomes original. On the other hand, when a watered down version of a popular song is sung, it always falls flat.
2. MAKE GREAT CHOICES - It seems near impossible for a singer to make magic if they lack a true connection to the song. You've heard the phrase, "He could sing the phone book and it would sound good." That said, no one will buy a phone book song, nor will a career be made. The audience cannot be fooled by a lackluster performance or a terrific technical performance where there is no connection of the singer to the song. Those who take and own a song are always sent to the next round. It is those who don't, despite obvious talent, who risk being sent home.
3. PRESENTATION IS CRUCIAL - As a potential singing star, presentation is crucial. This includes hair, makeup and wardrobe. Moving well with confidence on stage and playing to the camera also are important. This means nonchalantly acknowledging the camera without being mesmerized by it. Most importantly, presentation is a matter of being likable, or admirable or both. When an artist's personality shines through the song and in the silly, sometimes cruel moments before and after singing, a further connection or bond with audience is established. When the song connection and the audience connection come together, you get what Cowell calls the "IT" factor. This as when you got it, you got it.

So, how does this all translate to a career as a visual artist?

BE ORIGINAL - In the observations of the common attributes shared by successful artists, I've long noted, even well before I wrote my book, the primary criteria or first matter is to create work that resonates with prospective collectors and to find interesting ways to repeat new iterations of the same theme. Be successful, be original, and by all means don't be afraid to be IT!

MAKE GREAT CONTENT OR THEME CHOICES - Often the most successful artists are not creating a brand new look, but rather reinterpreting a style to make it original for themselves. Nothing wrong with being a pioneer, but it's not necessarily a surefire way to amass collectors either. The artist who owns the look does not have to have invented it. You may have read it here before, but this adage is apropos and worth repeating. "The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese."

PRESENTATION IS CRUCIAL - If the artist lacks confidence, or at least the ability to passionately portray confidence in the work, the job of selling the work falls solely to art. There is simply more to it than that. Perhaps  it's not fair, but most buyers would rather own a piece of art from someone they like or admire or both than from one who they don't. This is far more critical for self-representing artists than for those who work in relative anonymity in the stable of a large publishing company. But then in those cases, the publisher has to shine in the way it conducts its business. As for poster publishers, there arguably is no better example than Wild Apple Graphics of a company that knows how to shine a light on itself.

Seven Savvy Points to Ponder from American Idol

1. Don't let the critics deter you when you are right, but be smart enough to know when they are right.
2. The purest talent isn't always the biggest winner.
3. Find a niche large enough to carry your interest and to build  a market.
4. You can sometimes stumble and fall and still pull through if you retool to come back strong with work that touches your audience.
5. If you aren't particularly likable, you have to be interesting, admirable or compelling in some unusual way.
6. You can't bore people into success or buying your art.
7. If you become successful, use your clout to help worthy causes

Drawing the Line on Reproductions

Technology for better and worse...sometimes a little of both

For as long as the ability to reproduce art has been available, there have been those who have sought to use it for legitimate purposes, and unfortunately also for ill-gotten gain. There were numerous reports last month about a ring of crooks busted for selling $7 million in fake Picasso, Miro, Dali and Chagall prints, including a post here. These details come nearly on the one-year anniversary of the announcement of the conviction of Kristine Eubanks and her husband, Gerald Sullivan. That pair had been charged with selling $20 million in bogus art prints, many of which were made in their own professional giclée printmaker studio.

(This content is republished from the April 3, 2008 Absolute Arts blog where I am a guest blogger and where you will find an interesting running commentary on it.)

Personally, I quite enjoy that visual artists can reproduce their work and thus create a secondary cash flow from it. It gives them another price point and allows them to introduce their work to many more collectors as well. Seeing cases of fraud, as mentioned above, concerns me visual artists creating legitimate reproductions can sometimes find themselves under unwanted unnecessary scrutiny. As if making a go of it for most artists was not already difficult enough.

What Is Art?

Part of the romantic allure of the art business – yes folks, it is a business – is it is kind of Wild West when it comes to what one wants to do and what one wants to call it. By golly, the debate over “What is art?” rages on and has never really been satisfied. Surely, the folks at the NEA (National Endowment for the Arts) can attest from regularly coming under siege for funding controversial works can tell you there is a wide range of sentiment regarding the question of “What is art?”

So, if we can’t decide on what is art, is there any chance we can decide on what is a print? The short and correct answer is no. The mixed use of terms in the business creates confusion that leads to anxiety and distrust.

What Is Investment Art? Can Giclées Be Considered Investment Art?

For many, buying art is more intriguing because one can also hope it may appreciate in time. Ask any of those folks taking part in the $200 million dollar class action suit against the Park West Galleries for its cruise ship art auction tactics. You can bet all bought with the idea of getting a great deal. Unfortunately for them it was only after being shorn did they realize they overpaid for art. It is the same mentality and likely the same herd, only on terra firma, that were taken in by the aforementioned couple of Eubanks and Sullivan who foisted their fraudulent works on their “Fine Art Treasures” cable TV show. In fairness, savvy buyers through the centuries have capitalized on buying undervalued art...and still do today. Tennis great, John McEnroe, says he's made more money in the art market than on the court.

We Should Rethink Limiting Digital Prints

I have for years championed the idea of abandoning limited editions for giclées. In fact, I blogged nearly three years ago on Absolute Arts with a post titled “Limiting Success” about it as well as on my own Art Print Issues blog. It just doesn't’t make sense to me for a variety of reasons; including it begs the question of why limit that which can endlessly be reproduced perfectly or as improvements come along all the better.

Limited editions also nicely lend themselves to some of the schemes mentioned here. I contend if the art is good enough, people will pay a fair price for it knowing it is in unlimited supply, which might help thwart some phony print schemes. Do I care if a recording artist sells millions of copies? Why should I care how many a visual artist will sell? If I want truly intrinsic value from a limited supply, I will pony up for an original, which is why many galleries have left the print/giclée market. They are tired of romancing the artist to a prospective collector only to lose the sale via the Internet when the buyer shops it. Selling originals avoids this problem, but it puts a kink in an artist's ability to leverage his or her work in the print market, which creates just another problem.

Regardless of what I have had to say, the fine art digital reproduction limited edition business remains strong, if not as vibrant as in its glory days. But then, you can say that about all kinds of businesses these days struggling to figure out how to survive in challenging changing times. Today, you can find many artists raking in big bucks selling limited editions in all manner of limited edition configurations. And, their galleries and they are not about to abandon a successful situation. Who can blame them? I merely argue they are leaving money on the table in the long haul by limiting editions.

How much did Greenwich Workshop & Bev Doolittle leave on the table?

Bev Doolittle's first giclées sold out nearly 4,000 pieces in a short time. Could she have sold more and still be selling them if they were merely numbered, but not limited? I contend yes. The early low numbers would ultimately have collectible value if the art is truly appreciable and not being Ponzied up by a limited edition marketing scheme. In Doolittle's case, I think the art would stand up to being open and sell well for years making he and her publisher more money with more happy collectors in the program as well.

A great image might sell well for years just as the back catalog of recording artists do. These steady streams of income could make a striking financial difference for popular artists and their families. Some, like the gifted watercolor artist, Steve Hanks, have retired huge editions on paper and are now releasing the images on canvas. I think Hanks would have never had to quit selling his work if the editions were they open and sequentially numbered because the work is enormously popular, timeless, compelling, representational and surreal at once. Instead, he’s had to resort to putting his watercolor work on canvas, which hardly reproduces as faithfully as his editions on paper.

Someone commented on my blog recently that giclées cannot be considered limited editions unless they are all produced at one time. The contention is they are a limited series instead. Once again, an interesting arguable take that further muddies the waters and heightens the desire for a ruling body to take hold.

Dead Artist's Estates Are Still Cranking Out Editions - So Are the Crooks - Who is Gary Arseneau?

To further stir the pot, there are many dead artists whose estates continue to print reproductions of their work. This, of course has been going on for years with the big names like Dali, Picasso, Miro and Chagall. While long gone, these artists remain in the news for the sale of both legitimate and fake reproductions of their work. Now along comes Gary Arseneau, he is a self-styled independent scholar, an artist, printmaker of original lithographs and a blogger. He is also the self-published author of books such as The Monument to the Victor Hugo Deception.

We ought to be asking, “Who is Gary Arseneau?” Is he a gadfly, or a crusader tilting in the wind trying to stem the tide of fake reproductions? You can only decide by spending time on his blog where he outlines in great detail his argument that the works of Rodin, Degas, Matisse, Duchamp and even Dr. Seuss that are being reproduced by their estates and heirs are fakes. He makes a heck of an interesting argument. Certainly, if you care about reproductions, buy them, produce or market them, you owe it to yourself to study his findings, read his arguments and come up with your own conclusions.

Is Having a Set of Enforcable Understandable Standards Too Much to Hope For?

Regardless of your personal opinion, the can of worms opened by Mr. Arseneau hastens the idea that establishing and enforcing true standards in the art world would be helpful. It is a crazy notion, I agree, but until a line is drawn on reproductions, the visual arts community will carry the burden of proving itself beyond reproach each time art of any value goes to market.

Artists Who Establish Authenticity and Transparency in Their Business Practices Will Win

As the world shrinks due to instant information and communication, being authentic and transparent becomes imperative. For those artists who find a way to embrace authenticity and transparency in how they create multiples or reproductions of their popular work and manage and market their business, there is ample reward awaiting them and their rightful heirs.

Art Print Crooks Case Cracked - Will They Ever Learn?

It seems like there is an unending interest in prints by Dali, Picasso, Chagall, Miro and Warhol. So much so, that folks flock like sheep to slaughter to keep buying phony copies of them. And, if they are not buying outright fakes, many are getting duped on cruise ship auctions and overpaying for art that is not collectible. At least not at the inflated prices the auctions charge if you side with those in the $200 million class action suit filed on behalf of art buyers on cruise lines.

New Arrests Shed Light on the Shady Business of Fake Fine Art Prints

In the past week, there has been a slew of news reports of a newly cracked caper of crooks peddling fake prints. I have to ask, did no one learn anything from last year's sensational reports on the $20 million fraud, forgery and income tax evasion case of Kristine Eubanks and Gerald Sullivan?  These now convicted felons managed to sell fakes for years over a cable television program they managed, called Fine Art Treasures. Their source for making the fakes was one of the first full-time and most heavily advertised professional giclee printing studios in the industry; an operation they founded.

Here is part of a typical news item on the latest round of crooks being caught from Bloomberg:

U.S. Indicts Seven for Selling Fake Picassos, Warhols

March 19 (Bloomberg) -- Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall and Andy Warhol were among artists whose works were counterfeited by seven people indicted for two art-fraud schemes that reaped a combined $5 million.

Those charged include three Europeans and residents of New York, Florida and Illinois, Chicago U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said today in a statement. They sold thousands of fake prints in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan and Europe, he alleged.

Is it Time to Stop Limiting Giclées?

This latest barrage of news about con men duping honest folks in yet another ongoing art swindle leads me back to a long held premise, i.e., let's stop limiting giclees. I had several posts on this subject last year, including The Double Entendre of the Artist Selling Out and Is Giclée Passé?  There are plenty of other arguments for this decision besides the facts that limited editions can be easily be manipulated by crooks using signed and numbered pieces to jack up prices of fake copies. Read some of the links to get those thoughts. Feel free to chime in with your own on the comments section below.

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!

ArtExpo New York - The Show Must Go On

ArtExpo New York is the industry's most important show

As a marketing vehicle, ArtExpo New York (AENY) show is a blackhole that consumes vast marketing dollars, promotional energy and both artist and publisher hopes. Quite simply, it dominates the industry it defines. If you are a print artist seeking to break a career, or propel an established one to the next level, you ignore AENY at a cost. If you crave national or international recognition and sales whether as a print publisher or self-representing artist, there is no better place to plant your flag.

Despite problems and smaller size AENY delivers

The historic 30th annual ArtExpo New York show concluded March 3, 2008 with approximately 25% fewer exhibitors than last year. Despite a conspicuous absence of many major industry players, reports are the show delivered images both visually exciting and commercially viable to the international gathering of art print dealers and gallerists who rely on it as the singular source for finding and viewing the best array of both established artists and newcomers. In other words, some exhibitors came away with surprising results well beyond their modest expectations, proving AENY can deliver from back on its heels.

AENY transcends ALL constituencies that rely on it

AENY may be down on its fortunes vis-à-vis past shows. However, it remains THE SOURCE for an industry struggling to define itself and its relevance in the dawning of the 21st Century's digital age. Other shows may come and go, but the big show in the Big Apple remains the place to see and be seen if an artist or publisher seeks to expand distribution in one hugely important weekend. Observing AENY survive in hard times for the art print industry in particular and the economy in general, and with a revolving door of investment firm ownership with whom the art group has never been the primary economic engine or focus, testifies the show transcends ALL the constituencies that rely on it.

Further contractions will put the show on a slippery slope

There is no more quick fix to bring ArtExpo New York back to its former glory than there is to correct the current housing market debacle. A concerted effort from all sides is necessary. Putting the good of the industry ahead of bottom line thinking from all participants along with time to heal and adjust are required. Seeing the show contract to its sad 2008 size portends a bleak future on a slippery slope if things don't turn around.

AENY's contraction in size is beyond a show management problem

This is an industry problem that needs universal positive input to effect a change for the better. The reality every show management company faces is big old barn convention centers such as the Jacob Javits Center are specifically built to drive traffic, generate economic activity and increase tax revenue for the city. It's a cold, cold world and convention center operators only welcome shows, especially on favorable dates, so long as they deliver. Past performance will not save the day. When it comes to what shows get in and when convention centers tend to take the famous Henry Ford saying to heart, "History is bunk."

Keeping the Javits and optimal dates is not a sure thing - room nights are the coin of the realm

Getting a first class venue such as the Javits at all, much less the best dates is always purely based on  what have you done for me lately and what will you deliver for me now. For convention center operators, room nights are the coin of the realm. Once a show starts to lose critical mass in its exhibitor base, it makes it more and more difficult to deliver on the promise of room nights and enough exhibitor dollars to pay to produce the show. The trend AENY forecasts is one that could easily see it unceremoniously bounced from the Javits. There is no viable alternative in Manhattan or anywhere else that offers the same impact. Anyone who would debate this is either ill-informed or delusional.

Can you imagine our industry without AENY?

Despite its long term preeminence and good results posted by some exhibitors this year, the show appears to be cracking at the seams from the continuing loss of its constituent base of exhibitors and dealers. It is time to ask the entire industry to shake off whatever problems it has with the show and to come together to turn the tide and make the 2009 into something special. The alternative is bleak. If you think it can't happen consider this year alone AENY's owner has canceled the Spring Decor Expo show in Baltimore and the Art DC show due to lack of exhibitor support.

Show success is not based on management and exhbitor activity

If you are an attendee/buyer and think it is not important for you to participate and come open to buy at shows you like, you're dead wrong. Your support demonstrated through the strength of your pocketbook is the defining factor in any show's success. In other words, if you like the idea of the show, you have to invest in it. Your activity is the gauge exhibitors use to decide to come back and to talk it up to other exhibitors on the fence.

Tradeshows such as ArtExpo live and die on word-of-mouth - Critical mass keeps the WOM buzz going

Word-of-mouth (WOM) is a crucial component to the success of a show. Critical mass is another such component. To paraphrase Edna Ferber, "There has to be enough there there." If the trend in the past few years' decline is disappointing, the critical mass contraction we are seeing today is downright disturbing. The show has to have enough drawing power to bring in buyers and marginal exhibitors. It needs to have enough exhibitors to encourage show management to make the expensive bet to continue to sign lease agreements and take on hotel room blocks.

The industry needs to come together to reinvigorate AENY

As it has throughout its history, the collective importance of ArtExpo New York surpasses the individual needs of those who attend, exhibit, manage and own it. Imagining the industry without an ArtExpo New York show to bring together the best and brightest exhibitors, dealers and galleries is hard to comprehend. It's time for all who have a stake in the future of the art print market as markedly defined by AENY over the past 30 years to come together and make something happen for their own good, for the good of the industry.

Leadership from AENY's corporate owner is paramount

For the sake of the industry, the principals at Summit Business Media LLC, owners of AENY, need to let the industry know its plans and take to a leadership role in beginning a years long process of restoring AENY to its former glory. Should such a gesture be genuinely put forth, it should likewise be rightfully embraced by current, former and future exhibitors who stand to benefit from a renewed effort to turn the show's fortune's around. As the old show biz saying goes: "The show must go on."

Take a personal interest - get involved - it's your show and your future

If you believe and buy into the argument here, comment below, and more importantly forward this email to others who you think would be severely impacted by further decline in the fortunes of AENY. You can quickly forward this post using the Share This link just below.

Hopefully together we can generate a groundswell of interest that will lead to actions to help keep this most important of shows from failing when we can least afford for that to happen. Let any and all know what your concerns are and ask them to get involved to communicate with their contacts at SBMedia, important exhibitors and other leaders within the art print community to bring their influence to bear on the show's future fortunes.

ArtExpo 2008 vs. 2004 - An Artist's Perspective

While ArtExpo New York may not be the big dog of yore, there is still fight in the dog. Despite being smaller in size, the recently concluded ArtExpo New York delivered surprisingly strong sales for those exhibitors who came prepared for the best, yet mindful to expect the worst. In doing so, they might have made bestselling self-help author, Robert Ringer, proud.

In what may come as a surprise to some in my next post, I'll explain why it is paramount to support ArtExpo New York. Today, I turn over the blog to multi-talented artist, Tanya Dashevsky. For your enlightenment, she generously provides this insightful, informative and comparative report from an artist attendee perspective:

ArtExpo 2008. Changes from 2004

This year marked my first time at ArtExpo since 2004. To me it seemed just as large and thriving as the one I attended in that year, but this is an impression, not backed up by fact. Yet some changes, indeed did jump at me as I walked the rows of booths.

SOLO booths - artists renting small booth spaces and selling their art directly: For artists using the show to launch a career using a SOLO booth, I would say, that s/he would have to stand out either in sheer quality and talent, or have some kind of gimmick to be able to grab and sustain attention in that setting. There were a huge amount of SOLO booths, and they were located way out in left field. By the time people got to the last few rows, they were completely saturated. Therefore, I would highly suggest getting a booth as close to the center as possible, even if it means paying extra.

I didn't even make it to the last few rows, because by that time, I couldn't see straight anymore. Not to mention, a lot of artists used various gimmicks such as live music or video presentations which often were very distracting for both viewers and the unfortunate artists renting the booths next door. I'm not saying that artists shouldn't use these kinds of promotion tools, but too much of this can create a really chaotic environment in which it is hard to concentrate on viewing art, or for a prospective shopper to make a purchase. But I'm sure that these approaches generate hype and sales, if not necessarily the good graces of his/her next door neighbors.

Globalization hits Artexpo: there were a LOT of merchants -- both artists and dealers -- from Asia (China, Korea,) Eastern Europe (Romania , Russia,) as well as Latin America all renting mid-sized booths, and selling nice work at low prices. Some of this work was clearly "manufactured" -- quantities of paintings pumped out one after the other to sell in bulk. But others were of very high quality. So American artists, watch out, offshoring is here.

Missing faces: A lot of the regular players were there DelJou, Nan Miller etc. Though I did not see some of the publishers I was hoping to.  Bruce McGaw, Haddad's, Image Conscious, Wild Apple graphics were all missing. [Ed. note - Poster publishers such as this last group mentioned defected first to Decor Expo and when it went away, they never came back to ArtExpo.]

Emerging Trends: I saw a new technique emerging which involves painting on some kind of slick surface such as metal or plexiglass, then pouring a thick coating of resin onto the painting. This creates a glassy, moody yet decorative viewing experience. I saw three or four artists experimenting with this technique quite successfully. Even more interesting was that one gallery was creating giclees, attaching them to masonite, and then treating them with the same technique -- pouring on a think coating of resin -- which made the prints look just like glowing paintings. Here's an example of one artist's approach to resin coated painting.

Juicy original oil paintings: A lot of original art seemed to be moving well. High-quality naturalistic oils seemed to draw trade buyers. I saw one gallery sell six paintings to a collector in 10 minutes. The sales guy looked like he might faint from joy. But these paintings were created by a very talented painter, and from the looks of it, the buyer had some serious cash to spend. Here's a look at the work of this lucky artist.

Craftsmen and women: There were some craftspeople / artisans getting attention. One woman was making beautiful work using a quilting technique. Very high craftsmanship, great geometric designs, and subtle colors attracted a gallery to her Solo booth. I'm afraid I don't have her name.

And as usual, there was a ton of really mediocre work, some of it downright garish. But the extremely impressive high-quality and inspiring work more than made up for it.

–Tanya Dashevsky
http://www.dashdesigner.com/architecture/index.html

ArtExpo New York - The Show Must Go On is must reading for all interested in the future of the show