Hi Clint, In regards to that person who got a rude "uppity" reception from a gallery:  I live 25 miles from Sedona, AZ a very snobbish community of rich and sometimes famous residents.  As I know walking in with a painting under my arm is uncool, I looked up several art galleries and called in an attempt to make an appointment.  Every one of them suggested I e-mail the images.  OK so I did that and a couple of days later I followed up with a phone call.  I was told that we 1. don't have room on the walls  or 2. we are not adding any [...]

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As we shared yesterday, your editor is currently reading Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl, renowned psychiatrist and holocaust survivor. Reading further, we have discovered that Frankl's approach, known as Logotherapy, asks us to look at the meaning of life in terms of what life is asking of us.  Not only in a large, expansive sense, but what is life asking of you in this moment? You see, Frankl, feels that to fulfill our ultimate meaning in life, we must [...]

Your editor is currently reading Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl, renowned psychiatrist and holocaust survivor. Dr. Frankl wrote that we can discover meaning in life in three ways: 1.  creating work or doing a deed 2.  experiencing something or someone good, truthful or beautiful 3.  the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering We shall leave you to your own devices regarding the third but wish to look further at the first two. It occurs to us, dear artist, that in creating a work of art, you have the opportunity to create meaning in two or more people's lives.  First, you may create meaning in your own [...]

Most advertising is a waste of money, either because the advertiser doesn't know how to create advertising that works, because the advertiser is engaging in the wrong kind of advertising, or because the advertiser has been "sold" advertising that he or she doesn't really need. I addressed this concept a bit in my post How to Advertise in Art Magazines. However, Seth Godin, posted today Selling Advertising: a great explanation of the two different types of advertising.  In short, there are two different types of advertising: 1.  Measurable response direct advertsing 2.  Branding When most people think of advertising, they think of the second kind: Branding.  [...]

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A popular art magazine that I enjoy recently trumpeted their role in helping collectors be informed.  They discussed the fact that "every minute counts" when acquiring the latest works from popular artists and tout their magazine and their website's "virtual art walk" as solutions to stay up to the minute.  They say by subscribing to their magazine that you are part of the "League of Informed Collectors." Now, while I do greatly enjoy reading this particular art magazine, it seems they're trying to position themselves as something that, in this day in age, is not really possible for a print publication.  A [...]

OK, I admit in engaging in a bit of hyperbole. I should rephrase, Don't check your email too much. How much is too much? More than twice a day is probably too much. My suggestion is to check it once in the morning and once in the afternoon. For an artist, I would even venture to say that ONCE a day is enough. You should be in your studio creating art anyway. In many ways, email is a time waster. We're all addicted to it. I think we like it because checking and answering email doesn't [...]

Conventional wisdom says that the design and branding of your business card is important to the success of your art business. Guess what? It's really not that important...it doesn't matter what you put on your business card. In fact, it's really not THAT important that you even have one.  Read on and we'll show you a better way. . . Why do we say this? Because the way people exchange little pieces of paper called "business cards" doesn't make sense to us. We get together and exchange them and, for the most part, nothing ever happens with [...]

"Not this year, LaBraun," says Bruce Bowen

I digress from art for my yearly Spurs playoff post. A shout out today to Tim Duncan, Toni Parker, Manu Ginobilli, Brent Barry, Bruce Bowen, Michael Finley (who got his championship ring after 12 seasons of trying and after being thrown out like yesterday's trash by the Dallas Mavericks) and the rest. The  San Antonio Spurs swept the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA finals.  They won the best of seven series 4 games to none. LaBraun James, of course, garnered the media hype going in to the series.  He's heralded as the "next Michael Jordan."  No doubt the kid is great and I have [...]

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Ooh La La! Yesterday we shared an essay by Robert Genn entitled "Friction-Free Selling."  It's funny, we thought our essay about "Gallery Protectionism" would have been the controversial one...boy were we wrong.  Artists, marketers and collectors have been pounding away at their keyboards to give us a piece of their collective minds regarding "Friction-Free Selling." We've decided to devote today's missive to addressing the opinions that you shared with us yesterday.  However, before we begin, we need to clarify.  "FineArtViews" provides a forum for views about fine art to be shared.  It is not necessary that we agree with everything presented.  It's probably not even productive if we agree with everything.  After [...]

Beware Domain "Tasting" A distasteful trend has become more and more prevalent in recent months called "Domain Tasting."  If you have thought of a domain you would like to use, DON'T check its availability until you are ready to actually register the domain... You've thought of the perfect domain and you want to see if it's available.  That's perfectly natural.  So you go to a domain registrar and type in your new domain name.  Good News!  It IS available.  Now you know, so you decide to think about it for a bit, perhaps overnight. The next morning you decide to go ahead and register [...]

For the Love of God by Damien Hirst

Bill Bonner mused in the June 7th edition of his newsletter . . . Oh...and here's the brainless socialite of the art world, Damien Hirst, at it again. The show-off seems determined to prove that 'art' buyers are at least stupid as voters; there seems to be no limit to what either group will go along with. Hirst's latest work is a human skull encrusted with 8,601 diamonds. "For the Love of God," he calls it. It is the most expensive bit of fluff the art world has ever seen. It cost Hirst $28 million to make. He expects to sell it for $100 million. His next work [...]

Conversations - China by Scott Tallman Powers

We've been thinking more about our qualifications to review artists.  For today we'll leave it at this....one doesn't have to be a vintner to appreciate a fine wine. Versatility, Variety, Virtuoso.  Just a few words that come to my mind as we view the work of Scott Tallman Powers. We're embarrassed to admit that Scott has been a client of our web service for a bit over a year.  His extraordinary paintings, to some degree, have flitted in and out of our consciousness during that time.  However, today we stopped to really peruse his site and we have to say...we are simply amazed. We're hard pressed to tell you which type [...]

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Just saw these on Alyson's blog - so true: 1. You are in charge. You have control over words, prices, artwork, and your image. People will take as much power from you as you give them. Guard your power carefully. Accept 100% responsibility for your actions and make no excuses. 2. Connections are critical to your success. Ignore meeting new people and maintaining relationships at your peril. 3. Life isn't fair. The artworld isn't fair. No one owes you anything. Building a successful career and reputation is hard work. There are no shortcuts, no easy ways out. 4. If you ignore the latest technology, you'll [...]

Today we look at the subject of advertising in art magazines.  In a recent art gallery panel discussion I attended, every single one of the five gallery owners agreed that advertising in art magazines is "important" because it developes "name recognition" for the gallery.  They all seemed to agree that a gallery should advertise repeatedly "as much as possible" to increase the "reputation" of the gallery.  That's a lot of money to throw at something to increase your "reputation"...especially when most galleries ask the artists to split that cost with them.  I say there is a more disciplined approach that is [...]

Last week I wrote some criticisms of the marketing ideas of some gallery owners I heard during a panel discussion.  This week I focus on some of the other things these gallery owners said.  This article will take the format of simply presenting the notes I jotted down while listening.  I am not attributing the following quotes to any particular person, but they were all made by real art gallery owners: When just starting a gallery: "I was advised to find artists I could grow with." (Hint - if your just starting out, look for newer galleries) "An artist I respected gave me a list [...]