ON ART FAIRS AND THE FOUR SEASONS MAUI ART PROGRAM

I haven't updated this blog lately in part because one of the trends in the art world is how art collectors are doing more of their purchases at art fairs. It's a trend that only extends the continued social, vs aesthetic, basis for many of these collecting-peeps who see with their ears. And makes even more difficult my wrestling with how to manifest PFA.

Meanwhile, speaking of juried approaches, I just experienced a brilliant one these past few days while vacationing in Maui. The Four Seasons Resort there has a program where, annually, they vet local artists. Those who make it then show in the Four Season's lobby area throughout a whole year. They change the artists everyday over a certain period of time so that resort visitors can be exposed to a new set of artists every day for probably the length of time that they'd spend at the resort. I acquired works from five different artists ranging from oil paintings to pottery to painted textiles -- works I hadn't been looking to acquire but, hey, I was part of an interested captive audience who happened to be around anyway.

The purchases could be done via the hotel, making it easy for the art patrons and the artists have an exhibition space for a much longer time than the month they might have at a gallery -- and patronized by an audience who would have the type of discretionary income to get their works. It's also a great offering by the Four Seasons to its guests, even while presenting a means to support local artists. Artists who have gallery representation are also sensitized to adjust their prices to make sure they don't undercut their galleries (though, I assume the artist return must be better than the typical 50% of the sale price they get from galleries).

I wish the Four Seasons and other hotels would do this at all their locations. It would seem to be a win-win situation for everyone.

MIAMI ART SCENE

So I investigated the local art scene whilst in Miami today. Spoke to a local dealer who opened up his gallery just 2 years ago, after doing private dealing for 12 years before that. He said, among other things, that the arrival of international art fairs -- Basel -- was significant in making the local artists suddenly focus on their work. That what is good about the local artist community is the ongoing dialogue but that the arrival of "external" forces like Basel made them pause to think, Dang: Let's really do this right.

And, consequently, this dealer has noticed that the quality (however he judges it) in what he sees in studio visits suddenly has improved or ripened to the point that he himself was encouraged to set up a gallery representing primarily the locals. That, finally, the time was right to do so.

Of critical import is that in Miami -- unlike in San Francisco -- collectors support their local art (gallery) scene. And not only do they buy local artists but they buy in depth.

All this is old news to me in terms of how they relate to SF, where I would like to set up PFA someday. But given the ridiculous POVs of local collectors -- particularly ridiculous given the fabulous talent of Bay Area based artists -- it's not something I've figured out how to address yet. That PFA's structure will not require me, as dealer, to depend on local collectors' expenditures is not the same as that the artists I will represent won't care.

ANOTHER REASON PFA SHOULD EXIST

is "A Tale of An Art-World Lawsuit" in the Jan. 18, 2004 issue of Artnet.com.

PFA won't need shenanigans to ... survive.

But read the article for why there needs to be new ways of doing business in the art world!

REPRESENTATION VS MERCHANT-IZING

As a follow-up to my prior post, someone asked me to clarify as regards the core number of artists PFA would represent. Specifically, said someone asked, "You mean to represent more than three artists, don't you?"

It's a question that touches on more than just the obvious question. It's certainly true that galleries generally represent more than three artists....for several reasons, including how the more artists that a gallery represents, the more works become available to be offered for sale. Of course, increasing the number of artists risk diluting the gallery's ability to adequately represent (i.e. market) each individual artist. But even the galleries (I know) who try to limit their artists to a group for which they can both make decent sales and also effectively promote represent about ten artists, at a minimum.

I'm thinking of full representation of three to six artists (in the beginning) because of my desire to do a really good job with "representing" those artists. I actually expect to show a lot of artists -- via curated programs or group exhibits -- but in terms of a core group, I want to start small. And I want to start small because I want to ensure I do an appropriate job as the artist's dealer.

When a dealer commits to represent an artist, I don't think the dealer should view their job as primarily setting up exhibition schedules in their galleries. They should be engaging in a wide variety of activities to spread the word about the artists' accomplishments -- whether it's to contact other curators or galleries or art reviewers or collectors (rather than waiting for collectors to come to their gallery). It's much harder to offer this scope of representation if you're representing 30 vs 3 artists.

Of course, the matter is more complicated than time constraints. A lot of dealers let their egos -- or need to make money -- get in the way of maximizing their effectiveness for the artists they represent. For example, New York may no longer be the center of the art world but it still is good for an artist to exhibit there. Many non-New York galleries will not explore New York venues for their artists because they don't wish to lose sales or the artists in general.

I read a lot of artist resumes, in part because I like to see the ways that artists live. What I've noticed is that many artists who started young (e.g. in their twenties) hit their 60s and above with a thickly-paged resume. These are artists who should be considered "successful" just by virtue of having been able to live lives as artists. So, if you go through their list of exhibitions, you'll see that they may even get to the point of having a minimum of 1-2 solo shows a year and participations in 2-5 group exhibits annually. Yet, these artists also will still be relatively unknown. Of course, only the very few ever get to be famous in the arts. But I do wonder if artists could have made better decisions in terms of how/where they show their work -- though this is easier said than done as most artists probably would always just want to exhibit. But this is where the effective dealer comes in -- the dealer who knows his/her/hir task should be able to advise the artist on the significances in venues so that each decision on where/how is based on another (or additional) reason than just to be able to cite that exhibit on one's resume.

A Poem can be about everything. PFA, therefore, doesn't see the need to base its mode of operations between how, in the art world, there can be differences in how the commercial galleries vs. "alternative art spaces" versus nonprofit venues and so on operate. For its core group of represented artists, PFA intends to conduct representation effectively such that the artists' reputations and prices will rise (even if it later means those artists will leave PFA for "bigger" galleries). At the same time, PFA's decisions will transcend commerce -- and poetry as its backbone is about as good a check will be to ensure the primacy of aesthetic concerns. Poetry may be priceless but there ain't much money in it.

ARS POETICA

I (and we) believe in poetry as a way of life. Given my interest in visual art as well as poetry, I am creating a new performance project based on the Art Gallery as a Poem.

The challenge intrigues, given the flaws of the professional "art world" -- which I've sometimes often found similar to such in the "poetry world." As regards poetry, I founded Meritage Press. As regards art, I plan to create Poem Fine Arts (PFA).

Here are the notes from my first meeting with "H," whose support is integral to PFA:

1/8/05, Lunch at Galatea, St. Helena:
Hope to open an art gallery in 3 years in San Francisco.

After various discussions, agreed that the gallery will be named "PFA" which stands for Poem Fine Arts. I didn't want to name the gallery after myself (though many peeps in the art world believe in that practice) for several reasons, including that I wanted the gallery to be an extension of the Galatea concept. I mentioned the gallery name of "The Project" and H suggested "The Space" (which I thought boring). To extend Galatea, I suggested just naming it "Poem" but then that term also would engender preconceptions (if not baggage) in the art world. But the gallery would be about creating a gallery as a Poem -- so I suggested Poem Fine Arts....which we then agreed would become PFA.

To be in 49G or same such location.

H (&M) will guarantee all the operating costs. Consequently, the gallery won't be forced into making decisions based solely on making money even as we shall attempt to maximize money since artists must be fed. Which is to say, decisions as regards which artists to represent and which exhibits to present will be made poetically. N.B. There is only one true definition of a poem: a poem is a poem.

At least two rooms in gallery (hopefully more). One room to be for new exhibits. Another room to be a "project room" of sorts that more overtly features links between poetry and visual art. Examples could be poet-artist collaborations, exhibits curated by poets, exhibits themed around poetry, etc.

Find core stable of artists to represent (at least three) by the time the gallery opens. Need to have first three to six exhibits determined before gallery opens.

Focus on emerging artists from around the world, though with particular attention to Bay Area-based artists. Curate exhibits that present together emerging and established artists. N.B. Detest the terms "emerging" and "established" as applied to "artists."

Before gallery opens, find staffer. Hire that staffer ahead of gallery opening. Staffer must be able to set up and operate web site. At this stage, should the person be "staffer" or "Gallery Director"?