A few weeks back, I made an entry called "What Kind of Genius are You?" Referencing an article in Wired Magazine regarding creative geniuses.Robert Genn has his own thoughts regarding the article, including a few criticisms about the methodology of Galenson's research.http://www.painterskeys.com/clickbacks/bloomers.asp [...]

Just like creating paintings, creating blog entries is great, but you still have to get an audience to read the entries. To attempt to address that issue, I've been working on a feature on my art site, FineArtViews.com, that allows artists to set up free blogs on our site that can also integrate with their web sites (also set up through fineartviews.com)We're working on a new home page that puts the most recent blog entries right on our home page so all of our site visitors will see the artists' newest blog entries...how's that for motivation to update one's blog daily?I would love feedback [...]

We've been discussing artist agents.  I've received a fair amount of feedback on the subject.  The loose consensus seems to be that the best agent is the artist himself.  There's no way around digging in and doing the marketing and drudge work for yourself, unless you're lucky enough to be blessed with the proverbial marketing-savvy artist's spouse.  However, several people pointed out that in today's art marketplace, the art galleries have, in many cases, assumed the role of the agent.  As such, the checklist that I sent last time might be of some use in evaluating your galleries.  Keep in mind [...]

I got a rather strange email today. From Saatchi Gallery, of all places. Since my website is so astonishing, etc. etc., I am cordially invited to take advantage of free space on Saatchi.com. Of course, it turns out that so is everyone else in the world. Not absolutely everyone is sent an email, but anyone who goes to the site can set up a small gallery for free. I took advantage of the opportunity, since any link is a good link, as far as I’m concerned. Even Stormfront can link to me if they want, [...]

The Wall Street Journal has once again run a feature article on new realism, this time on the front page of its “Weekend Journal” [July 14, 2006]. And once again it has chosen to focus on the lowest, though most visible, rung of new realism. The writer, Kelly Crow, purposefully presents us with an artworld composed of only two subsets: one subset is represented by the “poster boys” made good—commercial artists like Thomas Kinkaid and Pino—and the other subset is represented by the “cognoscenti”—those champions of the avant garde who are “chagrined” to discover that anyone else is making money in [...]

I've been thinking about what things should be essential to every artist's web site.  I'm still pondering the question and the list may change over time, but as it stands today, here are my top 10 recommendations:Essential Elements of the Artist’s Web Site1.      A Domain Name containing your own namea)      A .com name essentialb)      More than one domain OKc)      No hyphens or numbers in domain2.      Clean and Consistent Designa)      Navigation links should appear in same place on every pageb)      Page design should be consistent across the sitec)      Design colors should be neutral or complimentary to artwork.d)      Large image on home page [...]

Preconcieved notions, stereotypes, negative imprints...we all have them.  In the art world, we struggle to break through these mental programs.  We try to wriggle around the edges and see or show the world as it really is, as it could be, or as we desire it.  I remember in high school art class learning a trick to break my mind of its programming.  The teacher would have me turn my subject upside-down.  I might see a vase as a mental icon of a vase, but an upside down vase....I had no program for that.  Another exercise that helped expand the mind.....draw [...]

Artists fairly often ask me whether or not I think having an artist's agent is a good idea.  I don't really have a simple answer to that question.  The short answer is maybe, which I realize is no help at all.I have never personally met an “artist's agent” who I felt really helped the artist at all. In a sense, the art galleries themselves are your agents. So you end up with two agents trying to make decisions on your career without your direct involvement anymore. It seemed to me that the agents I delt with were little more than message [...]

My wife dragged me to the mall for clothes shopping Saturday (for her). After an hour of following her around the women's casual section, serving as her personal valet, personal stylist, and assistant, I had amassed a huge pile of pants, shirts, sweaters, and skirts which she intended to try on. As I struggled with this massive load of designer garments, an angel of mercy appeared. "can I help you with those?" asked, Fran, salesperson and customer service representative.I looked to my wife for guidance, "sure" she said, "Where can I try these on?""right this way," Fran replied, "we have a large [...]

There are a lot of issues to marketing giclees so my thoughts may be way off base, feel free to use them, reject them or modify them in your own plans, should you choose to print giclees.The first recommendation I would have is to always attempt to make the reproductions as close as possible to the size of the original painting. If a larger painting is shrunk down too much (or made too much larger), it messes up the integrity of the artist's brushwork which is an integral part of the artist's style. Regarding pricing, I will start by talking only [...]

In the July/August Issue of Art of the West Magazine, Tom Tierney and Allan Duerr wonder in their column "Straight Talk" why some people respond to art so strongly while others seem impervious to art's spiritual effects upon one's soul.  As I pondered their questions, I remembered reading about an obscure psychosomatic "illness" regarding cases of people who exhibit extreme sensitivity to beautiful art.  The phenomenon is called "Stendhal syndrome." Stendhal syndrome is a psychosomatic "illness" that causes rapid heartbeat, dizziness, confusion and even hallucinations when an individual is exposed to art.  Marie-Henri Beyle, the French author known as Stendhal (his pen name), [...]

*** Apparently there's a new movie coming out called "Local Color." One of the quotes used on the site promoting the movie is from Nicholi Seroff (who I believe is the inspiration for one of the movie's main characters).  "Common man spots bullsh*t a mile away." says Nicholi Seroff, meaning that while modernists took over the perception of art in the pop culture, the common man still knows beauty when he sees it. I wonder what Nicholi would say about most of the movies Hollywood puts out (excepting this one of course)?.....In any case, visit the following link if you want [...]

What kind of genius (artistic or otherwise) are you? Wired Magazine's July issue has a story featuring the work of economist and art aficionado David Galenson. His theory suggests that creative geniuses come in two distinct types - Quick and Dramatic or Careful and Quiet.I've just checked Wired's web site (http://www.wired.com) and they say they will be posting the reprint of the article on the site on July 11th.He calls the Quick and dramatic types "Conceptualists", while the careful and quite types are called "Experimentalists." The heart of the theory is that the Conceptualists do their best works when they are [...]

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." The Declaration of Independence Here in the United States, we celebrate our independence tomorrow: A celebration of freedom. We celebrate the fact that we are free to "pursue happiness." We are free to create our art works, even if they are sometimes controversial in nature. And we have a "free" market in which to sell those works. Our founding fathers recognized the source [...]