Art Gallery and Fashion Style

Archive for the ‘Art Gallery’ Category

When thinking of creative home decorating, think of starting close to home. Use your own photos and artwork to add a personal touch to your home decor.

Your photos, displayed elegantly on giclee canvas, turn into works of art in your home or office. In giclee printing, the images are generated from high resolution digital photos or digital scans and printed with archival quality inks (stable, pigment-based inks are used). People say that photos reproduced on canvas resemble oil paintings. Canvas is a perfect medium for fine photography and the giclee process, with it’s ability to produce millions of colors and apply inks with incredible accuracy, provides a result that is simply spectacular in it’s high degree of fine detail.

Elegant as the pure photograph is on a canvas or a high quality print, some people prefer to enhance their photo with a bit of spot color. Or they turn a photo into a fine art masterpiece by using a digital oil painting, impasto or impressionist effect. You can enhance your photos, too, by making use of the entire color spectrum and making the colors more vivid, bold or bright. Andy Warhol type pop art panels can be made personal by using your own photos.

Creative alternatives to traditional photo display are limited only by your imagination.

Spot Color is used to bring out a special detail. Make the red roses “pop” in an otherwise black and white wedding portrait. Focus on the blue eyes in a close-up shot of a young child. Create drama in a landscape photo by highlighting the fall foliage.

Two styles of painting which are successfully reproduced in digital photo enhancement are Impasto and Impressionist.

Impasto refers to a style of painting like Vincent Van Gogh or Rembrandt. In Impasto, paint is applied thickly and leaves a textured look. The marks made by the brush or painting knife stay visible. (A painting knife is a springy metal spatula used in place of a brush.). Impasto painting has a 3 dimensional quality to it. It is sometimes said that impasto painting emphasizes the physical qualities of the paint and is applied with wild gestural bravura and dynamism.

Impressionist art is in the style of Monet, Degas, Manet and Renoir. The Impressionist style of painting emphasized loose imagery rather than finely delineated pictures. Impressionist style painting has strong emphasis on light and it’s changing reflective qualities at different times of day and on perception of movement. The artist captures an image as someone would see it if he were just to catch a glimpse of it in passing. Unusual visual angles are representative of this style. Colors are often vibrant and bright and applied with short brush stokes, creating an image with emphasis on color, movement, light, but without fine detail.

Adding an Oil Painting Effect digitally to a photo can enhance an already nice photo by adding a dimensionality of interest. Regular photos placed on canvas already have an oil painting look to them. The digitally created oil painting effect shows brush strokes.

Modern forms of Pop Art, including Warhol-inspired pop art panels, are another forum for personal expression. People turn a great photo of their pet or their child into a fun piece of colorful pop art. Pop Art is a more modern way to display a portrait than a traditional formal photograph.

More and more, people are moving toward enhancing their photos through digital art. It is creative and personal.

Especially in today’s economic times, to personalize their home decor, many people prefer to use photography they have taken or artwork they have created. Today, people are looking for ways to decorate their homes in a stylish yet economical way. It is fun and easy to personalize your home decor using your own photos.
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Let me start by stating that you are an artist and this is not a war between the dealer and you. The dealers are there to work with you. So please do not have an attitude when you speak to a dealer; even if they tell you bad things. More than likely, you will learn something from a dealer that may help you in some way. Really.

You need to be aware, if you are not already, that galleries are part of a caste system created by academia, money and friends. If you do not have any money, friends or a significant academic background then your are in an almost impossible situation to secure a gallery to show your work. But just to let you know, those of you that don’t have these things, even if you did, that still does not guarantee your acceptance into a gallery for a long-term basis. Yet, it is not a hopeless situation for any of you. The following article will discuss how you might be able to wheedle your way into the system no matter what your circumstance may be.

First, the mechanics of securing a gallery. Go and get an Art Scene guide. You can find one at any museum or fine art gallery. In it you will find listings of galleries located all over the Los Angeles area with maps as to where they are located. Each gallery listing also includes the genre, or type of art the gallery handles; whether it is a photography gallery or a contemporary gallery exhibiting local artists. Take this seriously. If it says it is a photography gallery specializing in 19th century photographs, and your work is abstract painting, then do not bother approaching this gallery. The point is to find a gallery that suits your work perfectly.

Ok, so you have found the perfect gallery. They handle exactly the kind of work that you do. Now, call them on the phone. Most likely you will get the dealer on the phone or a receptionist of some kind. The receptionist’s job is to keep people like you away from bothering the dealer. So how do you get around this situation? Create a list of questions. Things you should include, “I would like to set-up a meeting with the dealer,” (mention his name as if you know him or her.) “My name is so and so and I am an artist. Is he/she they available on Tuesday or Thursday, February 14 or 16 at 2 p.m.?” The reception person will ask what is this regarding. Here is where you need to create a sort of scene that this person on the other end of the phone could not dismiss. Be creative with your response. Example: “Well, I have been an artist since I was 2 – drawing, painting, sculpting and I now have the culmination of 20 years of work. I am ready to exhibit this work sometime this year or next year. I would like to meet with the dealer in order to see if they are interested and to pick their brain about my work. I feel it is vitally necessary at this point in my career that I meet with a seasoned art dealer and I think that this person is the one I need to speak with about my work. I have researched all of the galleries in the world and this dealer is I think the person I need to speak with about my work. When do you think I could set up a meeting with them?”

You also need to have other questions on hand just in case you get a chance to chat with someone with some intelligence about the art world on the telephone. Take notes about whom you are speaking to and ask as many questions as seems reasonable WITHOUT BEING OBNOXIOUS. The next time you call, say hi to the receptionist by name.

If they ask for a submission of slides, reply politely that you would love to submit slides, but that you are keen on actually speaking with the dealer whether they accept you into the gallery or not. Instead, you would like to set-up the meeting with the dealer with absolutely no expectations on their part, and even if the dealer says bad things about you and your work, you are ready to face the music. This may or may not work with whomever you are speaking with, but in any case, be ready with your slides or photographs to send. Create a cover sheet explaining that you would most appreciate a meeting with the dealer at his or her earliest convenience. That you want to speak about your work whether or not they accept you into the gallery. If you have a biography or a sort of resume then send that too. It should include your date of birth at the top with your name address and phone number. Please do not forget this vital information. (You don’t know how many artists send stuff without thinking about these vital pieces of information.) Include a little description of your work, and include a self-addressed stamped envelope so that they can send the slides back to you!

Please, do not wait until you are 70 years old to have a conversation with a dealer about your work. Why is this important? I once read a story about Andy Warhol. He brought one of his first paintings of a Campbell’s Soup can to a dealer. The painting was leaning towards abstractions in that around the edges of the painted can were drips of paint. Abstract Expressionism was very big at that time. Well, the dealer asked Andy why there were drips all over the canvas. Andy replied it was because everyone was doing drips. The dealer then replied, “Why don’t you take the drips of paint off?” and history was made that day! That dealer still owns the Campbell’s Soup can with the drips and it is now a priceless work of art.

Dealers look at your work in a different way than say your mother might look at it. It is with a purely objective point of view based on commercial concerns and the sale of your work. Of course aesthetics and the connection to art history, along with other attributes may interest a dealer as well, but each dealer has his or her own style. Some dealers love abstract work. Some love still life and some love paintings of horses. So your style should correspond with the style of the dealer that is going to handle your work.

Also, I want you to think outside of your area. Why not consider Paris, Ecuador, Vancouver, Canada, or New York? Try other cities. You might get lucky. Practice makes perfect. The more you practice meeting and talking and setting up shows, the better you will get at it.

Finally, can a gallery save your life? Most likely not. Can they create connections that may help you grow and learn? Yes, they can. Do galleries still make stars out of unknown artists? Yeah, it happens sometimes. It happened to me a couple of times, but I had shows for hundreds of artists. I ran three galleries over a 12 year period in one of the largest cities in the world. Many headaches, heartaches and money aches later I am bankrupt, but I am filled with the experiences that would rival any movie star’s life. It was cool. It was interesting and it was for a good cause, artist’s lives.

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