Art Print Issues by Barney Davey

Broken Links - a metaphor for marketing. Plus the art of the 15-second pitch.

Broken lines, broken strings,
Broken threads, broken springs,
Broken idols, broken heads,
People sleeping in broken beds.
Ain't no use jiving
Ain't no use joking
Everything is broken. ~ Bob Dylan

My apologies. If you tried to use the broken link to the article in on art in the July issue of License! Global Digital Edition magazine in my previous post. It's been fixed with many thanks to Sue O'Kieffe who notified me. It's linked again above to the proper page in the digital version of the July issue. To apply for your own digital subscription, use this link: https://www.advanstar.com/subscriptions/subscribe.asp?subid=180&ac=a&cid=&esc=L0707W

If you think about it, links to your customers and prospects are the lifeline to your business. When they are broken, so is your business. Conversely, the more links you have and the stronger they are, the more prosperous your art business will be. Good links are at the heart of very important Google page ranks. The smart folks there long ago figured out relevancy in search results are directly tied to both quantity and quality of links to any given Web page. Of course, it's more than that, but if you have a Web page and don't put in some time working on creating links to it, you are never going to achieve the results you want in page rankings.

Trends in Art - Art Licensing Makes a Natural Impact

If you are reading this blog, chances are you have an interest in learning about how to effectively get art into the marketplace. A key factor in having success on such a goal is to make art that is with the current trend. It is more than color, although that's a big part. It's more than subject, which is another huge factor. It's also about macro trends within our culture.

The desire to go green is a growing trend showing no signs of doing anything but getting stronger. Companies in all kinds of industries are responding. Partly because it makes good marketing and partly because it is good corporate citizenry. As an artist or publisher, you can be involved in many ways. You can use recycled materials where possible, you can donate to organizations that promote healthy green habits, you can create imagery that helps create awareness for doing things save Planet Earth. Use your own imagination and creativity to express your interest in this or other macro trends you observe.

The most recent issue of Licensing magazine, which is available free in digital form, offers numerous suggestions on recent trends in the licensing of 2D art. One is messaging as in incorporating an inspirational message within the art. The article on art mentions artist Lorraine Vail, who recently inked a deal with prominent art publisher, Editions Limited. One of her soft landscapes contains the phrase, "success isn't permanent and failure isn't fatal." Who can't relate to that?

Prince and the Art of Monetizing Free Stuff

Alyson Stanfield, the Art Biz Coach, had an interesting post on her blog today about Prince. She points to an online article from the New York times titled, The Once and Future Prince. The article points out how he changed his name to an unpronounceable glyph and set up his own music club to circumvent the restrictions of his label. This before Napster and iPods, when broadband was strictly a business application. It was an interesting and brave choice. But then those are hallmarks of his career, which now in its third decade shows no signs of slowing down or relying on replaying oldies to pad his retirement. The article details how Prince has been giving his music away and using the exposure to make money, (in his case millions) in other areas.

I often refer to Prince when speaking about POD (Print On Demand) technology because as with so many other things in his career, as the NY Times article indicates, he was well ahead of the curve in seeing how new developments become the norm. Inarguably, POD technology is revolutionizing nearly all of the arts. These days, musicians, artists and writers can all self-publish and with the available help of e-commerce and Internet marketing, they can create a previously unavailable profit stream. Only a few years back, I would have had to shop my book to publishers and hope one would want to take a  chance on the very narrow interest title, How to Profit from the Art Print Market.

Dick Harrison's "Sales Tips for Artists" New Website

The inimitable erudite Dick Harrison, whom I have blogged about before, has put out a new Web site, Sales Tips for Artists. The site offers one place where artists, reps and others interested in art marketing and how to sell art can learn from Dick's 20 years of experience selling his own work and that of as many as 200 other artists. Dick is an eloquent speaker, which makes listening to his podcasts as enjoyable as they are informative. Here's his brief description of the site:

The sales tips you're about to listen to are based on what I learned as a successful artist's rep and producing artist. The "secrets" I'm about to share supported my family for more than twenty years and and I know they will help you as well.

Dick could easily charge for these valuable lessons and I believe most artists would be happy to pay to tap into his knowledge. I encourage all my readers to not only take the time to learn from Dick, but to repay his generosity by sharing the link to his site with as many people as possible.

Is the Art.com IPO for Real?

Art.com is not acting like a company in pre-IPO mode, or at least that's how it appears to this observer. The company recently announced changes to its contract with self-representing artists only to get a loud, rancorous response as typified by a month long 13-page thread on the Online Visual Artists board titled AR & Sistino firings. Apparently, many staff members of Art.com subsidiary sites, Sistino and Artist Rising were fired en masse on May 10, 2007. These firings might be construed belt tightening as the company moved closer to its IPO. But, in concert with other goings on, it seems less likely the case.

The company bumped the commission on art from 10% to 15% at the same time it took away the lucrative 10% it formerly paid for framing sales. Anyone who has been around the print business, or had a print custom framed for that matter, knows the larger portion of the cost is in the framing. The change has the net effect of cutting artist's income from Art.com.

Further exacerbating the situation are new policies governing which art gets shown on Art.com. When artists originally signed up for paid galleries, it was with the assumption their art would be seen on Art.com. Now the company is saying it will move some art and artists exclusively to the ArtistRising.com site. Also, traffic to the Sistino.com will be integrated into the ArtistRising.com site making it easier for buyers to find art on either site. But, for artists it's a blow to be moved to ArtistRising.com's site when they have come to rely on the visibility from the heavily trafficked Art.com site.

There are also reports of artists whose rankings on the Art.com Web site to have been relegated well off the top. This has the effect of chilling sales for those artists. There are reports of artists receiving favoritism, which while perhaps not democratic or maybe even the best way to operate, is the company's choice to make. Whatever right the company has to rank artist's work, it can be said it's not good public relations to do so in a way to anger artists and without explanation of why some are treated better than others when all are paying the same gallery subscription fees. You can only imagine the reaction this Non-Disparagement clause that has been added to the artist's contract:

You shall not make any negative or disparaging statements (orally or in writing or in any medium, including the internet) about us, the Website or the Program.

Dan, the intrepid erudite blogger who pens Empty Easel offers insightful commentary on the changes in these posts: Is Artist Rising Dead? and Changes in the Works for Artist Rising. If this weren't enough bad press, there are a couple of notable ongoing threads on Wet Canvas: Changes at Art.com/Sistino/ArtistRising and, An analysis of Web sites selling art online that delve into the changes going on at Art.com. Stirring up this much animus and angst is not what most would consider smart action for a pre-IPO company.

Terry Redlin's Retirement Announced

One of the most successful print artists ever is Terry Redlin. According to his www.redlinart.com Web site, he's sold more than 2 million prints and even more licensed images of his work over the past 25 years. Those are achievements few artists ever enjoy.

Enjoyment is at the heart of Redlin's immediately recognizable work, as is nostalgia. The "Spring Fever" piece shown here captures both sentiments and embodies Redlin's enormous talent. With sales totaling nearly 30,000 images, the image illustrates his reach into the marketplace.

His hometown newspaper recently ran an article on him titled, Demand for Redlin's work spikes - Artist's retirement increases interest in prints, but not value. The article provides insights and praise along with some criticism and discourse regarding the terms "limited edition",  and prints vs. reproductions. The arguments are not new, but it's interesting to see them covered in a daily newspaper, especially the hometown paper in a relatively small community. One would have expected the rah-rah homer attitude to be in play. Go figure.

Redlin will turn 70 this year and he plans to enjoy his retirement. He'll do so with a legacy firmly in place courtesy of the Redlin Art Center in Watertown, South Dakota. A place he has always called home. Redlin's son, Charles, designed and spearheaded the center.

Paint Outside the Frame - Digital Painting Comes of Age

If you have been reading along with this blog, you've seen posts questioning whether the term giclée is passé, rhetorically asking "What Is a Giclée?" and suggesting the term, "Convergent Media" is more appropriate than digital art. The situation is that digital media and communication continues to take a larger role in our lives. The blog you are reading now is a cool by-product of digital media and Web development. The picture below is the work of Convergent Media Artist, Steven Friedman and is featured on the home page of the Digital Painting Forum.

To those born soon enough that life without Game Boys, text messaging and DVRs is inconcievable, I predict the notion digitally rendered art can be construed as fine art will go without question. The rest of us have, or will catch up in due time or let it pass as something we never got. Me, I've had maybe four text messages in my life and don't feel a need for any more any sooner...but don't think about asking me to give up my blog or Internet connection. And, don't tell me exquisite art can't be created from bits and bytes.

Bev Doolittle's New Print Shows Life in Limited Edition Market

Bev Doolittle's Beyond Negotiations, her first limited edition in eight years, has sold out the Museum Edition. The massive 72" x 26" giclee canvas size has sold out all 350 pieces at the publisher level. With a retail price of $2,950, it generated more than $1 million in sales.

Doolittle's longtime publisher, The Greenwich Workshop also reports strong sales of the smaller 44" x 16" MasterWork Edition with 3,750 pieces on paper. Priced at $795, if it sells out, it will generate nearly $3 million in additional retail sales. In the heyday of limited edition sales, a Doolittle edition of this relatively small size would have created havoc in the market with overheated demand from dealers and collectors. Market watchers are paying close attention to see how this edition by one of the genre's superstar fares. So far, so good.

Convergent Media - Is It Time to Bury Digital Art?

Convergent Media

(I'm not big on double posting, but I'm going to with this one. This post was originally published on the Wet Canvas in the Digital Art forum. I present it here because it dovetails with my previous Is Giclee Passe? post. Apologies to those who have previously read this on Wet Canvas.)

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The term giclee was coined into usage as marketing jargon. It successfully allowed printers, publishers and artists get away from using the term digital art and digital printing at a time when using either was certain to cool the ardor of potential buyers of this new media.

To keep things in context, in 1990 there was no Internet to speak of, the desktop computer revolution spawned by Windows 95 was five long years into the future. Cell phones and digital cameras weren't the norm as with today. Fax machines exemplified the cutting edge of instant communication technology. (For those of us who worked in an office then, standing around waiting to send or receive a fax was the modern day equivalent of the proverbial water cooler.) So, using digital to describe anything related to art was not going to warm the hearts of any buyer and as such the usage of giclee was brilliantly, if no luckily, conceived, received and passed into the vernacular.