Typical art world craziness

Several weeks ago I got a call from my local art dealer telling me that a corporation was interested in buying my "Science Fair III" series, 7 framed monochromatic 36"x28" oil pastel drawings based on the 7 main colors of the light spectrum. He told me the piece had been installed for over a week and the corporation was ready to sign a contract EXCEPT for the small fact that their budget was less than the already reduced price of the piece. It seems there's a "gotcha!" in every scenario.

Since this work was essentially 15 years old I was willing to reduce the price by 1/3 its original cost. I also, for the first time, agreed to sell the pieces individually, effectively breaking up the set, provided at least 3 pieces were purchased. I completed 6 versions of this particular theme and 4 have sold through the years, 2 privately and 2 in institutions. Interestingly enough the original "Science Fair" (which requires a wall at least 30" wide to install) was shown as part of my "Phoenix Rising" exhibition last fall and was an enormous crowd pleaser. I understand the fact that pricing 7 framed images as 1 unified piece makes the cost sound very high so it doesn't surprise me that, despite having been exhibited 5 times through the years, the largest version has not yet found a home for itself. It will when the time comes but having 2 left to sell motivated me to seriously consider a counteroffer for "SF3".

Rather than trying to get more money from this potential customer I decided to ask for more than the usual 50% artist's split since I had already offered a large reduction. Some dealers are so pro-artist that they will cut their commission if it is the only way to save the sale. I was willing to cut my own commission an additional 10% provided the 2 dealers involved would each cut theirs by 25% in order to remain within the client's stated budget. As it turned out, this proposal was acceptable to all parties. As my wise brother Tom once said, sold work beats unsold inventory by a mile.......

So what's the problem? When I was notified the sale would go through I was also notified it would probably be  about 18 months before I'd get paid!!!!!!!! Having been a part of this corporate program in the past I was well aware that in most cases they tie up work for a year before the client decided which pieces they will actually purchase. The available money is usually some percentage of the total value of the works installed. It's why most artists give older pieces to the program  -  better to see them on a wall in some bank or commercial institution than have them in a closet. But in this particular instance, work had already been contracted for installation earlier in 2011. This same client expanded their space and needed additional work in August which is where "SF3" came into play. At the time I knew nothing about any of this since I had originally been told the work was going to be installed in the lobby of our local cable TV company. Change of plans as to location. But when I was called initially I (wrongly) assumed this was one of the cases where the corporate art marketer had an immediate purchase request and "SF3" fit the bill. What I didn't know was that rather than piggybacking the additional inventory on 2011"s conract they wrote an entierly new contract for 2012 ( despite the fact this was only August 2011). In this scenario I would have to wait until the end of 2012 (August 2012 at the earliest) for payment. It's how the contract was written and as an artist I am essentially powerless to affect any changes.

The "gotcha!" is that somebody loves my work and is willing to pay their entire budget to have it BUT they won't be asked to pay until that contract expires late in 2012. They have signed the purchase agreement and will enjoy the artwork free of charge until then. Will I need the money at that point? Certainly. Do I really need that money right now? You BET!!! And the sad part is that these sorts of deals are typical of the flaming hoops artists are asked to jump through all the time. Burn baby burn.

15 years and counting

Yesterday I went to the regular Thursday morning artist breakfast only to find that there was just one other artist in attendance. This is a rarity. for 15 years, give or take a few months, a group of mid-career Louisville artists have been meeting for breakfast every Thursday morning. What began as a group of 8 has included more than 50 artists through the years. Most weeks there are about 10 artists who show up between 8:45and 9:20am. while this has always been an open meeting the group has embraced the arrival of some artists and seemingly ignored others who dropped out after 2 or 3 visits.

All of this began when a fellow Louisville Visual Art Association Board member asked me to introduce her to some local artists. She was a senior level banker getting ready to retire and so she could concentrate on painting. She asked me to set up a lunch meting but I told her that, unlike 9-5 workers, no artist I knew would be willing to interrupt a studio day just to have lunch and just chat. I also told her that I often met artist friends for breakfast and thought that might work better. We each decided to invite an artist friend for breakfast the following week. That next week the 4 of us decided this might be a great way to keep in touch with artists since the only time we ever seemed to get together was during openings when there was no way to have any sort of serious discussion or exchange of information while standing around in  a crowd. We decided to each ask another artist to meet the following week at which time we collectively decided this was a very good idea indeed.

From this simple idea an institution was born. We began at one restaurant until their prices got so high that some people stopped coming for economic reasons. We then moved to a very small downtown diner where we took over their back room and terrorized their quirky 1950's style waitress for a couple of years. Their crowded condition and smoking policy drove us into suburbia for about 5 years until that restaurant/deli lost it's lease. We now meet at the edge of downtown in a lovely restaurant where we simply push another table together as the group enlarges from week to week. Once again we are on a first name basis with the waitress and have the gratitude of the owner for increasing his Thursday morning business.

The most interesting thing is how many of the artists from that first year still come several times each month. As some people have moved out of town others have moved in to fill their places yet there is still a core group of 8-10 who have continued from those beginning months. Most of us are in our late 50's to mid 60's now but several are over 75 and a few are in their 30's. Lots of experience to share . Lots of talent around 1 table. All in all, it's probably the best idea I ever had!! So being there with only 1 other person yesterday was a fluke that happens several times a year.Iit gave me a chance to really have a serious conversation with someone I knew only slightly and that was an amazingly enjoyable hour.