Art Print Issues by Barney Davey

Art Business Brightened by Uptick in Luxury Home Magazine Ad Sales

The print magazine business is just another sector that has been unmercifully hammered by the convergent effects of tech-driven changes in consumer information consumption and purchasing habits and a perilous economy.

I am an example. Not that long ago, I read every issue of numerous magazines cover-to-cover, including news magazines, trade magazines, art magazines, woodworking magazines and design magazines.

With 24-hour news and a wealth of information on the Internet, I have considerably cut back using print media. And, overall I spend more cautiously. It's obvious my changes are reflective of national trends in consumer habits.

If you’re riding ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and then to make sure it’s still there. ~ Will Rogers

No matter how successful you are, you are not immune to changes. This means if visual artists have game and can bring it, they can grow their art business at the expense of leaders whose market share once seemed bullet proof.

As an example of how things change, look at the magazines that cover the home and interior design field. They have seen the worst of times with ad page sales and circulation lows not seen in decades. Not that long ago smart money would have given long odds that Architectural Digest would be ever be surpassed by Elle Decor. And, it would have been wrong.

Vision, planning and execution are the tickets to success

I note the venerable Magazine Publishers Association (MPA) has changed its name to the Association of Magazine Media, which lacks a ring to my ear. No doubt, this is part of its effort to keep abreast of an evolving situation for print media. It will take more than a name change. Success comes from visionary thinking, smart planning and great execution. These are what makes the difference and cosmetic name changes without it won't save the day. It won't for visual artists either.

It's not just a good time to make changes, it is a necessary time to make changes

A recent story from the Associated Press titled Luxury Home Magazines Get Facelifts offers a positive spin on improvement in the luxury home decor market. The piece reports how changes at top interior design publications are being implemented. The idea is for these properties to try new things so they can stay relevant and keep ahead of the herd without losing it. Readers here should take note of this lesson and consider changing things up to try new things as well.

Ad page sales figures portend well for the art print market

What is truly heartening is the reports of advertising page growth in Architectural Digest, Elle Decor and Traditional Home in 2010. That is a sign that bodes well for the art market. If money is flowing into advertising in the "shelter books", as the home magazine category is nicknamed, then there has to be confidence the consumer is loosening the wallet and may be ready to spend more liberally in 2011.

I have reports from friends in the decorative art market that the poster business improved in 2010. This is encouraging sign for all visual artists. Still, it's not all hearts and roses in the art print market. You can look at the trade magazines that serve the art print market and know things remain anemic. For instance, Decor magazine hasn't had a digital issue or any changes on its website since December.

Trade magazines serving the art print market still hurting

The most recent electronic Art Business News January issue had only 30 pages with many devoted to the Toronto Art Expo, which it is promoting. The digital version of Art World News is a bit more robust with more print advertisers, but still only has 40 total pages. In years past, those books would have carried more than 40 pages of advertising in a January issue.

Ad sales figures like that cannot support a full-time magazine staff. So, we are still not out of the woods with the fate of art print publications, which a terrible shame because when they function as they are capable, they offer the industry leadership, experience and opportunity. The good news from the luxury home publications means if their page growth trend holds up it will help the art print and decorative market as well. Let's hope so.

Art Expo New York remains an industry bellwether

The 32nd Art Expo New York convenes at the end of March. It is aiming for 400 exhibitors. The Toronto Art Expo has about the same target. These are well off the peak years, especially for the New York show. Let's hope for good weather in New York and a decent turnout from buyers. Should these factors occur and the trending good news from the shelter books continues, the result could significantly boost morale and outlook for the remainder of 2011in the art business.

How to Profit from the Art Print Market - 2nd Edition sales are robust

From the very positive sales figures of my newly published and completely rewritten second edition, it appears artists are hungry for useful timely information to help them navigate the art print market today. I can't complain about the book zooming to a top spot on a couple of Amazon.com categories, "Business of Art" and "Prints." 

Sales through this blog and my www.BarneyDavey.com website have exceeded my expectations. Naturally, that is good news for me. Moreover, I believe the optimism shown by the sales of the book is a good harbinger of improving opportunities in the art print market.

ArtExpo New York, Art Expo Toronto, West Coast Art Frame Show Tradeshow Outlook

   If you think things are rough in your business, you should be happy you are not in the fine art tradeshow business.

Perhaps you noticed earlier this year the ArtExpo Chicago show changed venues to become the ArtExpo Los Angeles show. Unfortunately for the show organizers, the LA show was canceled. The news came on the heels of the announcement that the Decor Expo Atlanta show had also been canceled.

While the Decor Expo Atlanta show cancellation was a not wholly unexpected outcome, it remains a travesty that a show with a stellar 30-year history cannot sustain itself. As I said in my post titled Decor Expo 2010 Canceled, it primarily was due to a lack  of exhibitor support. These days, everyone is looking for a sure thing to protect their investment.

Art tradeshow exhibitors are keeping their power dry

No one should blame exhibitors for their lack of support. Although the saying about the powder comes from our pioneer days, it applies here just as well. That is, don't use your scarce resources when you can wait for a better opportunity. The cost to mount a successful and properly displayed exhibitor experience is usually the single highest marketing budget item for art marketers. Buyers and exhibitors ultimately vote with their wallets when they are asked to cast a ballot about the future of a show.

Exhibitors are not the bad guys here. They are making tough business decisions under very trying circumstances. I believe virtually all who had a hand in helping the Atlanta Decor Expo show grow into the tremendous it became would be eager to exhibit there under better circumstances.

Another fearless tradeshow prognostication comes true

In that same post on the Decor Expo Atlanta cancellation, I stated that the history of unsuccessful shows in Southern California gave a strong impression the the ArtExpo Los Angeles show was probably going to be a dud if it came together at all. As we know now, that was an accurate prediction as the show never got off the ground.

I do not take any pleasure from pointing out the negative probabilities on tradeshows. I've been a cheerleader for ArtExpo New York, the Atlanta Decor Expo and even the ill-fated Las Vegas ArtExpo. I backed those shows because I love it when tradeshows succeed, and those shows had or have history and potential. Fine art tradeshows are the harbinger for the health of the entire industry. When tradeshows flourish, so does the whole industry.

The failure of these shows to sustain speaks volumes about the business model so many have reliably used for decades to get their work to market. Basically, the model is a broken shell of what once was a magnificent success to marvel at. Unfortunately, just as with Humpty Dumpty in the ageless children's rhyme, we are not likely to put the tradeshow back together again. One only need to look around and you will find artists and publishers eagerly scrambling to find new and different opportunities to replace the fading marketing stalwarts.

Exhibitors are the lifeblood of any show. It is their commitments and advance payments that allow shows to succeed. More than any other factor, what makes a show successful over time is the word-of-mouth promotion that comes from happy results from both exhibitors and buyers.

2011 Fine Art Tradeshow Schedule

The potential exhibitors at both these shows have shown they are not willing to gamble on them for now. I take that to be the foreseeable future as well. This leaves few tradeshow choices for artists seeking to find new sources of trade buyers to pick up their work. The best prospects for most artists are these shows:

• ArtExpo New York - March 25-27, 2011 at Pier 94 on the Hudson River
• The West Coast Art & Frame Show - January 24-26, 2011 at Las Vegas Hilton
• Toronto Art Expo - April 14-17, 2011 at Metro Convention Centre

The Tradeshow Outlook

There is nothing new here for anyone paying attention. The trend for some time has been art tradeshows carry less importance in the overall marketing mix than in any time in decades. I don't see anything on the horizon that would re-energize these shows and start them back on the path to the heights of their glory years.

ArtExpo New York - Once upon a time, there were many in the industry who believed ArtExpo New York was sort of like General Motors, i.e., it was too big and too important to fail. While this proved true for GM when the government bailed it out only to see it emerge profitably enough from bankruptcy to repay taxpayers for the bail out. The same is not true of Art Expo New York.

ArtExpo may not be the sure thing it once was, but it still produces winners

The show suffered years of investment company ownership with decisions that put the show on a slippery slope towards decline. Meanwhile the entire industry was under siege by a barrage of game changing factor beyond its control. Such things as changing consumer buying habits, big box retailing, a flood of cheap Chinese oil paintings and the incredible rise of e-commerce and quick adoption of it by wholesale and consumer buyers to make the Internet their primary vehicle for finding information led to a never-seen-before drastic decline in the reliance on trade magazines and tradeshows. 

It shares it downgraded Pier 94 home with very good company

What was once a show so big it was unfathomable it would ever fail now measures its survival rate on a year-to-year basis. Sadly, ArtExpo New York had to move its location from the Jacob Javits Center showcase to Pier 94 on the Hudson, a definitive downgrade in ambiance. Still, it's in good company there having followed the Architectural Digest show there this year. That AD used the facility provided insights into how the entire art and home furnishings industries have fared recently.

I remain cautiously positive and hopeful for ArtExpo New York's long term outlook. For should it stumble, it will put a further hurt on an art market that has not been completely healthy for some years. However, it's not all gloom. You can still find examples of artists in the fine art print market who are growing and sustaining their businesses. When you do, you will find they have found ways to reinvent what they are doing and have learned not to rely on ArtExpo to put them over the hump each year. 

A Print-on-demand (POD) Gambit Comes to ArtExpo

This year, for the first time artists are being offered a chance to send up to three originals to the show in advance. Each piece will have a curatorial quality high-resolution scan to make a digital file for it. The artist or publisher will receive a free giclee print of each piece and be able to sell additional pices print-on-demand at the show.

This value added service for artists at the show will be quite interesting to see how it plays out. Will buyers embrace POD and place orders? Will the printer be able to work remotely and under pressure and deliver the work to the satisfaction of the artists and buyers? I love the idea as I think it advances the whole concept of how POD has the potential to create more sales than ever for artists and publishers who fully embrace what it offers.

I have said for a long time that it is a shame the industry does not take more advantage of POD to satisfy a buyer's wishes. Give them whatever ever size they want and whatever substrate they want. As consumers in the 21st Century, we have come to expect that merchants fully use technology to make us happy. Giving me a 16" x 20" instead of forcing a 30" x 40" is going to entice me to buy more. Let's hope this is the start of something big.

The WCAF Show Las Vegas -This show is primarily supported and successful due to its picture framing component. Indeed, it is more a tradeshow and conference for picture framing retailers than art retailers. But, due to the dearth of other options and an exhibitor friendly management style, it garners a decent share of art publishing companies. You won't find many self-published artists there.

The outlook for it looks good for the future, even if somewhat diminished by extenuating circumstances. It maintains a solid core of art publishers who come back year-after-year. As evidenced by the troubles of the the Atlanta show, it is easy to surmise there is perceived value from the exhibitors. Even for a chance to come to Vegas, they are not going to put their money down on a show with no prospects.

Toronto Art Expo - this show has been around for some time. But, it's been in the shadows of ArtExpo and other shows. Admittedly, I know the least about this show. I have never attended and did not even know it existed until a couple of years ago.

What's interesting about the show is that Art Business News magazine is the official publication of the show. Some of the folks formerly involved with ArtExpo and still connected to the magazine are repping the show. These affiliations can only help this show grow in awareness and exhibitor and buyer interest. 

The show's size is a drawback for bringing in international buyers

The show's website mentions it has 200 exhibitors. This makes it pretty small by comparison to ArtExpo in its heyday. It could be the way fine art tradeshows go these days. Lean and mean. I mention this show as a tradeshow, but it is accurate to describe it as a consumer show with a tradeshow component.

To some degree, that description would also describe ArtExpo New York. The big difference to my eye is that ArtExpo puts more importance on its tradeshow component. And, for many years, there were exhibitors who worked the show even though they did not sell retail out of respect to their wholesale buyers. While you still find some of that these days, it is far less prevalent than in the past. For most exhibitors, it is not financially prudent to pass on retail sales, which can greatly help alleviate the cost of doing the show.

The other drawback for the Toronto Art Expo is the location

Pictures of the venue look spectacular, like a smaller version of the magnificent Javits Center. And Toronto is one of my favorite cities anywhere. It has a unique cosmopolitan feel not found in any city in the U.S. I would personally travel there anytime to enjoy the city. Even with all that, will all due respect, Toronto is not New York.

A big part of the allure of ArtExpo New York is due to being located in Manhattan. Anyone who underestimates the value of that location is mistaken. Besides being in the U.S., which means travel is easier for the biggest portion of the North America buyer population, New York is a destination like no other.

With a relatively small number of exhibitors, international travel requirements for many buyers, the show faces tough marketing challenges. Those challenges are not helped by show dates in April. There is no history of any big shows sustaining themselves with April dates.

For the right artist or publisher, Toronto Art Expo could be fabulous

As I said above, Art Expo New York has success stories from its 2010 experience. Exhibiting at tradeshows has always been a bit of a gamble, especially for emerging artists without a following and a big list they can market to. Nevertheless, there are always those artists who show up with just the right look and kismet occurs. That is, they get the career boost they were hoping for.

Undoubtedly, there will be such stories coming out of the 2011 Toronto Art Expo show. If you can get in and you exhibit there, you might be one of them. My standard advice for first-time exhibitors is to ratchet down their eagerness and make plans to attend and walk a show the first time.

While this advice is hard to follow when the jet burners are fired on getting the career launched. However, in today's economic climate, it remains the conservative approach. If what you are doing is any good, in 5 or 10 years it will not matter whether you got started in 2011 or 2012. The same is true of the show. If it is worthy of your exhibiting dollars in 2011, it will be in 2012, too.

2010 Decor Expo Atlanta Canceled

This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end

Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
I'll never look into your eyes...again ~ The Doors

Just about the worst possible news for the art and picture framing industry was announced a couple of days ago. The management of the Decor Expo Atlanta show put out the official word the show was canceled for the second year in a row. A show twice canceled, even one as strong as Atlanta was in its prime, is toast now and for the foreseeable future.

There are no guarantees in life or business that what has reliably worked for you for decades will continue to do so in the future. Business models get outmoded, they get pummeled both by changing market forces and the inability to adapt to shifts in sentiment from customers. All those things have happened to the art and picture framing tradeshow and trade magazine businesses.

Due to technology, changes occur faster now than before making being proactively aware and nimble necessary ingredients to keeping a business running profitably. In the final analysis of the demise of the 2010 Atlanta Decor Expo it was the exhibitors who pulled the plug on the show. Management was willing and did all it could to make a compelling case to keep the show alive. But, it is a collaborative effort and all sides were not buying into keeping the show alive.

In the end, exhibitor's lack of support killed the Decor Expo Atlanta show. There were just too many exhibitors who believed it was not good for the industry to try and support two tradeshows, or those who forecast participating would not give a decent return on investment.

In past years, there was always enough who would take a gamble on a new show with hopes of opening a new market to help them grow their business. Now, it is apparent there are not enough supporters to keep a venerable old show like Atlanta operational, much less invest in a new location.

Things change much more and much more quickly now than any previous time. The evocative above lyrics from The Doors eerie song, The End, could not be more apropos for this post. For all who participated in the glory days of Atlanta and helped it grow, and who took pride in the way it came to represent how our little industry, the retail art and picture framing picture patch, had become all grown up and morphed into big business, this was a very sad, if not inevitable, end to a storied glorious run of tradeshow success. For those of us who took part in the golden years, this news is akin to the loss of a reliable good friend.

I have published this blog, and its email/online newsletter predecessor since 2005. During those five years it has been the only voice to truly tell it like it is when it comes to tradeshows in our business. I accurately forecast the move from New York to Baltimore would be a bust nearly a full year before the first show opened there. I took no joy in making a brash statement such as that, but felt someone should say what should have been obvious to experienced show exhibitors and attendees.

I was criticized by some for encouraging attendance at ArtExpo Las Vegas. Mostly, it came from those who took schadenfreude from my blunt comments about Baltimore. The difference is I knew Baltimore was a bust, and although I was never overly amped about the possibilities for Vegas, I could see there was a glimmer of a chance for a modestly successful show there. So, why pile on when the industry was in sore need of a winner? And, it was equally important and obvious we were running out of options for viable shows.

While ArtExpo is mostly about the giclee print business, Decor Expo is a combination of picture framing and art print suppliers. The latter could potentially succeed without support from art and art publishers. But the fine art digital print market, aka giclee print market, would be much more damaged by a loss of any potentially viable ArtExpo show.

The facts showed poster publishers had already largely abandoned Decor Expo Atlanta and had been replaced by scads of cheap oil prints from China. If Decor Expo Atlanta were to survive, it would primarily be on the budget of picture framing companies. Art Expo, on the other hand, is solely reliant on getting support from higher end art print publishers. Without them and without good dealer traffic, ArtExpo cannot survive.

From my perspective, there never was much need to talk about the second ArtExpo Las Vegas. It was a weak show in the first year and came into the second year worse off with an economy hitting head winds as never witnessed by anyone living. The show opened the day the market dropped something like 600 points. Its fate was sealed before the stock market drove a spike it its heart, but the economic news did give minor cover to the show organizers.

Regarding ArtExpo New York, I was encouraging with a post titled, The Show Must Go On. Read it and you will see I predicted the outcome if it were not well attended with buyers open to buy. Basically, I said it was in danger of losing its dates in the prestigious Jacob Javits Center. Just as I forecast, when the traffic was not there in 2009, you found the show moved in 2010 to Pier 94 and on to a very slippery slope.

I am not the Carnac the Magnificent. Rather, just someone who understands the intricacies of what makes tradeshows successful and can see the obvious when all the pieces are not in place. When all the pieces aren't there, the puzzle is never successfully completed. Successfully producting tradeshows is not unlike assembling a large intricately detailed puzzle. It takes creativity, skill and all the pieces to take a bunch of jumbled parts and make it into something pleasing.

I haven’t written at all about the canceled ArtExpo Chicago show or the ArtExpo Los Angeles show in October. This is because I did not feel there was much to say. As much as I would love to, I could not muster any enthusiasm for either location, but didn’t feel it was helpful or necessary either to point out the low chances for success at either venue.

You can learn much from history, especially in the show business. Here are the facts. There has never been a wildly successful art tradeshow in Chicago. Decor Expo had some modest success there in the ‘80s and ‘90s, but nothing really to get excited about. Whereas I believed there was a small chance of a good result at the Art Expo Las Vegas show in 2007, I do not carry any hope for Los Angeles or the canceled Chicago before it.

There are some successful consumer shows in Chicago, but there is no history of art shows that catered to the trade. The history of Los Angeles as a venue for art tradeshows is so-so in the best examples. There were some decent ArtExpo shows held at the L.A. Convention Center in the early and mid-1990s. But never any that were considered a barn burner. Decor Expo flopped around Southern California for years without success. (Anyone who can recall the fun (sarcasm) years in Pomona can attest to that.)

Decor Expo Los Angeles / Long Beach could never get good dates because it did not deliver the coin of the realm in tradeshow equity, which is counted in room nights. If you can’t put bodies in the beds, you can’t get good dates. Despite being a desirable destination, the shows were nearly always populated by day trippers. Dropping in to see a show for locals meant maybe a tank of gas and a couple of convention hot dogs.

Local traffic is not why those large convention center barns were built. They were built to bring in overnight visitors who would spend hundreds or even thousands while in the host city. Without room nights you find yourself trying to convince exhibitors and attendees that working on Superbowl weekends and other terrible dates are okay. The reality is you never get the traction to make a go of it under these circumstances.

It got so bad for Decor Expo Los Angeles that it eventually could find no dates at all for its traditional Southern California mid-spring calendar. This opened the door for the West Coast Art & Frame Show. The entrepreneurial Gherman gang at Picture Framing Magazine saw this opened flank and took a wild chance on a week day show in Las Vegas.

The first WCAF show was scheduled for the first week after New Year’s Day. This was considered tradeshow suicide by most observers. It was also a gamble because the dates were mid-week. Vegas did not cater with guranteed room block to small shows on weekend dates then, and it is still a very tough ticket even in today's troubling times for Sin City.

When the Gherman’s realized their first show was going to bomb as a tradeshow, they nimbly and quickly adapted to a picture framing training conference with a show component, which saved the day. Ironically, the West Coast Art and Frame Show is the last man standing in what ultimately became a brutal and humiliating downsizing for many of the industry’s top companies, including the media companies that produce the trade magazines and tradeshows.

I was a cheerleader for the resurgent 2010 Decor Expo Atlanta show for many reasons. On a personal level, it is owned and managed by friends and former colleagues, many of whom I worked with on a daily basis for more than a decade. I spent much of my career at Decor promoting and working to help build the Atlanta show into the behemoth it became and hated to see it come to an end.

For the sake of so many friends and acquaintances who were my customers, or whom I had gotten to know over the years, I believe the demise of the Atlanta show is loss. When it worked, it was show to make money and meet new buyers. That opportunity is lost now. Just as much, it is a lost networking opportunity. Beginning when the Decor Expo shows were called the Art Buyers Caravan (ABC) Shows, we came together in different cities eight or ten times a year. When you regularly get to hang out with the same people, you get to know them and learn from them.

I will wager there were more good times had by many folks in Atlanta than at any other show, although New York would give it a run for its money. By good times, I mean getting together over fine meals in great restaurants, and not necessarily cavorting in night clubs après dinner, not to say that didn’t go on too. I understand no one puts on a tradeshow because they are settings for good times and great parties, but it sure was a great side benefit.

Conviviality aside, there were just these wonderful opportunities to meet interesting successful people and have the chance of a lifetime to get them to share how they had become successful. Opportunities like those are lost with all the other benefits of a live tradeshow. I don’t think they are going to come back.

It appears to me that the demise of the 2010 Atlanta Decor Expo Show is the signal that doing business through tradeshows is all but over. Despite the West Coast Art & Frame Show hanging on, the model of using tradeshows to grow a picture framing supply or art publishing business is a washed up concept. It is truly time to move on. I’ll have more to say about where we may be headed next in a subsequent post.

What Is the Secondary Art Market?

In order to address the question of what constitutes the secondary fine art market, you must first know what makes the primary art market. The answer, as with many things in the broad art market, is complicated. Since the broad secondary art market includes very expensive work by contemporary masters to relatively inexpensive four-color offset lithographs, you will find the terminology is used differently depending on circumstances.

The essence of a primary sale is the first transaction where art is sold, in most cases. However, complexities arise when you study the distribution chain.

It is simple when a deal is made between artist and collector. The situation is less clear when an artist makes a wholesale sale to a gallery that then offers the work at full retail. In this instance, the retail transaction made by the gallery is considered the primary market transaction. Of course, there are other methods of first sale to consider.

Defining a secondary market sale

A secondary market sale occurs when the original buyer decides to put the work for sale a second time. Whereas this sale is most often initiated by a collector seeking to sell the work, there are cases when a gallery will put pieces directly into the secondary market. This usually not good because it means the gallery has too much inventory and too little demand for the work. No gallery is going to sell through the secondary market when it has buyers for pieces in the primary market.

The venues for the secondary art market range from the toniest auction houses and private dealers to established brokers and galleries all the way down to eBay. In November 2009, The Economist ran a piece titled “New or Secondhand?” that accurately depicted the upper end of the market. The information and concepts the article discusses do not apply to most readers here. Alan Bamberger has an useful illustrative article, "Retail Gallery Prices May be More Than Art is Worth," on his ArtBusiness.com Website.

The art print market is divided

For our purposes, we are here to discuss the secondary art market as it pertains to the art print market that includes selling reproductions as prints. In the art business, there is a bifurcation in the print market. That is, there are those fine art prints made in time-honored fashion which, by the nature of their creation, are limited. These would include etchings, woodcuts, aquatints, engravings, serigraphs, stone lithographs and so forth. See Wikipedia for more details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printmaking.

The other component of the print market primarily is made up of reproductions of original art. Some would call this the decorative art market, while others reserve that term for the open edition and poster market. How you describe it has as much to do with what end of the market you derive your income as anything.

If you are an artist, dealer or collector involved with etchings, your view of a giclée is likely to be a decorative reproduction. On the other hand, if you make your living selling giclees, or some other form or fine art reproductions, you may take issue with your work being called decorative art. Unfortunately, you can only control how you market your work.

Different processes create different perspectives

If you study the work and promotional information offered over the years by artists and galleries at the New York ArtExpo, I doubt you would find one exhibitor characterizing their work as decorative art – especially those who sell limited editions. It completely natural they would use descriptions designed to help sell their work.

The International Fine Print Dealers Association (IFPDA) also holds an annual show in Manhattan. You will find this small, but important, group of dealers generally eschews representing much of the work found at shows such as ArtExpo New York. Most will contend, as Kathryn Markel does on her Website, that the work found there is “wall decor."

While not stating wall decor is necessarily a bad thing, dealers, such as Kathryn Markel, would not encourage buyers to participate in paying the set prices for much of the higher priced work at ArtExpo. Their reasons are the works primarily are reproductions and that much of it these days is digital art. And, there you have the bifurcation in the art print market.

The diminishing secondary art market

When it comes to the secondary market, there is an active market for many artists whose work is found at shows such as ArtExpo New York. You will also find many other artists whose work has transcended the "wall decor" mentality. In other words, it is a mixed bag. Arguably, the best example of a secondary market player is Art Brokerage. It carries a huge selection of work from a wide range of artists, including many who have exhibited at ArtExpo over the years and many others who have never set foot inside it.

There is an implication that art reaching the secondary market will have appreciated in value having become more collectible along the way. For some artists, this is accurate, but for the few who enjoy seeing their art selling well above initial prices, finding an active secondary market for most is not a reality, especially in their lifetime. It is one of the reasons I have argued for not having limited editions of fine art digital reproductions.

There is a bit of a conundrum here

In today’s market, if an artist is productive and continues to put new editions in the market place, it tends to lower the resale of earlier pieces. Although in the boom years of limited editions prints, this dynamic was not always the case, and is not now for select artists. If artists combats the problem of lowered prices on the secondary market with small editions, of say 200 or less, they cap their income for that work and need to either generate higher and higher prices for their new work or put more editions in the pipeline to maintain a steady income, both actions have consequences.

Should artists be paid a resale royalty?

When it comes to the secondary market, artists do not participate in the inflated prices. Only California has droit de suite laws where artists are legally ensured a cut of the proceeds when it is resold in the state. The legislation is known as the California Resale Royalty Act. This type of law is more common in European Union countries. I doubt they will ever move beyond the borders of California.

Until the past few years, you could go to the back of Art Business News or Art World News and find several pages of small ads from dealers in the secondary art market. In a very telling sign of the times, those publications are today much smaller in overall ad pages and secondary market ads have nearly vanished. Coincidentally, in another telling sign, if you research art prints, particularly giclée prints on the sites of secondary market art brokers, you will find many pieces being offered well below their original price.

In the art business, more than secondary market is hurting

Another factor in the market that has diminished with trade magazine ad pages are secondary art market  Websites offering works while having very little inventory. Attorney, Joshua Kaufman, a long time columnist for Art Business News, wrote, “The Online Secondary Market: Resource or Parasite?” It is an informative piece detailing how some rouges operators business methods were having a negative effect on the market place. It also warned that much of the way they were operating was illegal.

While we like to think it was the industry policing itself that drove many of them out of the market, it was eroding market and economic conditions that took away their incentive. What remains to be seen for the industry is whether the market will return to a point where artists using the giclée medium will see an active market with rising prices for their work on the secondary market.

Where is the print market headed?

My estimation is it will be very difficult for the market to bring us back to the old days of a booming profitable secondary art market for several reasons. First, most artists working in multiple these days are using the giclée or digital printing format. I do not believe the public clamors for limited edition giclées. I think it would rather pay a little less and get to enjoy the art. This notion is supported by evidence some longtime publishers in the giclée market are moving away from creating limited editions in this market. Lastly, once there is a widespread established pattern of digital prints not increasing in value, it will be very difficult to reverse such a trend.

This may be a market with a beautiful creative product, but it also a business that follows trends. If the trend grows stronger to open editions, it will depress the secondary market for fine art print reproductions. That is not all bad. I think it will force the art to be sold for its enjoyment rather than the implied notion it will increase in value. Buyers of giclees found before the current economic crunch they could not recover close to the sale price of prints they bought when they tried to take them back to galleries, sell them on eBay, or through an art broker. Things surely have not improved in recent years.

How should an artist thinking about getting into the print market proceed?

I think giclees are a wonderful medium to help sell more work. Rather than looking to maximize the sale of a limited edition, I suggest keeping the edition open. There is no reason the pieces cannot still be numbered using your own open numbering convention. If the artist’s work does become collectible, then the lower numbers will likely have some higher than retail secondary market value.

For those who feel a need for limited editions, I would consider producing a small edition of 200 or less that is hand-embellished by the artist. I believe if it is clearly stated the edition will be accompanied by lower-priced open edition pieces, there would not be conflict with buyers. Certainly, recently retired artist, Terry Redlin, was able for decades to sell both open and limited editions of the same images without creating a problem for his self-publishing company or the dealers who carried his work. I am guessing and would suggest that in such a situation the limited edition have exclusive dimensions.

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West Coast Art & Frame Show & SmARTist Telesummit week.

Last week was a bit hectic. It started Monday with a presentation to the 2010 SmARTist Telesummit attendees on my topic of creating a second income through the art print market.

While I have conducted many seminars via the telephone and Internet, this one was different. After a brief introduction from show producer, Ariane Goodwin, I was off to see how deep into a 41-page slide presentation I could get in 45 minutes.

What made this unique was I talked with no feedback as the attendees' phones were muted. Like most speakers, I prefer getting vocal or visual clues, so this was a challenging way to present. I trust my listeners took value from the presentation. The talk was intended to be enlightening regarding the print market with some basic art marketing concepts included.

Finish one presentation and hit the road for the WCAF Show

Once the SmARTist seminar was over, my wife, Mary, and I jumped in the car for the 300-mile trip to Las Vegas where the first day of the Ninth Annual West Coast Art & Frame Show was underway. There were lots of old friends to see from the art print market, including many I had not seen in years.The print side art business is still in flux and I was eager take the pulse of the market.

Hat's off to the Gherman family and their long-time employees for producing another consistent show in Las Vegas. Watching them and their staff from Picture Framing Magazine interact with exhibitors and buyers was educational in itself. They work very hard at maintaining high touch relationships with all their constituents. The results are proof their efforts pay dividends. I did not encounter sour grapes anywhere, which is remarkable for any tradeshow at anytime. At this juncture, I suppose exhibitors are pleased for a decent chance to get exposure to buyers.

Seeing old friends still producing great work with a hopeful attitude was invigorating

Since I sold John and Laurie Chester of Wild Apple Graphics their first ads and tradeshow spaces, I was thrilled to help them celebrate 20 years in business at their booth. I also realized I was the rep to first sell trade ads and show space to to Michael and Susan Singleton' for their Sagebrush Fine Art and likewise to Nasser Shortorbani and Laurie Downing of Poems Art Publishing. Those companies are just a few years junior to Wild Apple. To find myself decades later still in the art print business with such friends is a precious rewarding experience.

Trade media promoting new venues for Decor Expo Atlanta and ArtExpo New York

This show offered a chance to visit in person with the intrepid bunch from Next Step Media. These former workmates included Kim Feager, Kim Klatt, Renee Pinner and Kristin Stefek Brashares. With Kim Feager's leadership as publisher and new CEO, they salvaged Decor Magazine and the Decor Expo shows from being shut down and put out of business. Fred Rogers also was there. He recently joined the Decor team after years as an exec with former owners Pfingsten Publishing LLC and Summit Business Media LLC.

This group is rightfully excited about relaunching Decor Expo in Atlanta on September 11-13. They are equally thrilled to be back in the refurbished America's Gift Mart running concurrent with the Atlanta Gift Show. It would be a great tribute to them and a sign of industry resilience to see Decor Expo Atlanta roar back to life this fall. They have my fondest wishes for huge success there.

Eric Smith was there representing his Redwood Media company which rescued ArtExpo New York from letting its former owners put it out of business. Like every show producer these days, Eric has his hands full trying to put together a strong enough lineup to draw buyers. In 2010, there are no sure things in the art print market. The recent history of art business tradeshows and art consumer shows proves it.

While I have had issues with ArtExpo's previous investment banker owners, I, then as now, believe losing ArtExpo New York would be a stinging blow to artists, art publishers and the industry at large.  As such, my hope for Eric and his exhibitors is the show does well this coming March. It was a pleasure to visit with both John Haffey and Sarah Seamark who were there to cover the show for Art World News. Their trade publication has been an important voice in the art print market for decades.

In these tough times hope springs eternal ... and it is more than just wishful

Just as my experience with art print exhibitors was fun and inspiring, I found it invigorating to connect with colleagues and friends who remain stalwarts in the art trade media and art tradeshow business. Changes in market conditions have been very hard on art print publishers and harsher yet on the trade media and tradeshows supporting them. So, it was delightful to observe a universal dogged determination to succeed among these long-time industry veterans.

Despite our very difficult economic times, and with other challenges around, these professionals maintain a palpable and realistic positive outlook as they demonstrate their belief the industry they serve is prepared to create new opportunities in bringing the art print market to a new era of prosperity.

Remembering Vivian Kistler

I doubt many reading this post knew Vivian Kistler, which is a shame. You can learn more about her life and contributions to the picture framing industry here. Nevertheless, I want to offer a few words of condolence to her family, friends and co-workers. She was a remarkable dynamo who for 30 years worked tirelessly at educating picture framers.

Vivian was a larger-than-life smart, funny, sassy, no-nonsense woman who produced books, workshops, seminars, videos and other materials for the benefit of those in the picture framing business. You did not have to know, or want to know anything about picture framing, to enjoy watching her put on a seminar. It was guaranteed to be lively, humorous and spot-on with great common sense business advice. Hers is a voice and legacy that will never be known again in our industry.

Art Business News, Decor magazine, Decor Expo, Artexpo Get New Owners

Amidst what often feels like an unrelenting assault of depressing and sometimes scary news stories about job losses, businesses folding and housing foreclosures comes some very good news for those in the art and picture framing industry. Summit Business Media LLC has made a deal to sell trade magazines, Art Business News, Decor and Volume, along with the Decor Expo tradeshow to its current publisher, Kim Feager. The Artexpo consumer and tradeshow is being purchased by Eric Smith, a vice-president of Summit's Art Group for many years.

Investment firm track record with media companies not good

In what is a perfect example of the poor stewardship and lack of regard for the art and framing community its magazines and shows have represented since it acquired the properties from former owner Pfingsten Publishing LLC, it published a press release, Summit Business Media Sells Art Group, but couldn't be bothered to provide all the details. The press release states the properties were solely sold to former Summit Business Media Vice-President, Eric Smith.

Inaccurate press release indicative of investment firm lack of concern

What the press release failed to mention was that in an immediate side deal the magazines, Art Business News, Decor and Volume and the Decor Expo shows were acquired by Next Step Media, a company formed by Kim Feager. Feager has been the publisher of Decor and Art Business News for three years. Having started her career with the former Commerce Publishing Company, she is a 24-year veteran in the industry. To not be bothered with clarifying the situation is indicative of the Summit management's prevalent lackadaisical attitude towards its Art Group division.

70-year-old employee-owned Commerce Publishing company was sold in 1999 to Pfingsten Publishing LLC, the publishing arm of Pfingsten Partners LLC, a private investment company. That transaction began a dreadful 10-year odyssey for the art and picture framing publishing and tradeshow industry. For those of us who had never witnessed firsthand what happens in investment driven acquisitions, which included myself and nearly everyone else in the business on any level, it was an eye-opening experience.

Art & picture framing industry had it good and didn't know it

We had been spoiled and didn't know it. Nearly all the properties serving the industry had been started by and run by either entrepreneur publishers, family-owned businesses or art tradeshow veterans. They all brought passion and a desire to serve their constituents in the best traditions of trade magazine publishing and tradeshow productions.

Yes, of course, decisions were driven by a need to make a profit. However, those same decisions were also tempered by a long-range outlook that sought to make them in the best interest of the industry rather than the short-term interest of a few well-heeled and totally disconnected investors.

What happened in our little art & framing art patch was a model for what has happened in numerous other industries where money managers gain control of them. There was a systematic purging of top executives and key players who collectively had hundreds of years of industry knowledge. Along with the loss of their experience and invaluable corporate memory was the great loss of their passion for the business.

The next steps then are to increase short-term revenue without regard to the negative effects such decisions create long term. A prime example is how the Atlanta Art Buyers Caravan (soon to be known as Decor Expo Atlanta) was oversold years in a row. The show had grown from a strong regional show into a powerhouse international affair. It was in its ascendant rise in 1999 when it was acquired by Pfingsten Publishing LLC.

Fable of golden goose holds up - gathering forces knock the industry down

The new owners were eager to capitalize on the production from its golden goose property. Instead of keeping in mind the industry standard ratio of buyers-to-exhibitors, Pfingsten's management disregarded the ratio and drove its tradeshow staff, with Eric Smith leading the charge for them, to sell as many booths as possible. They were content to grab the profits and let the chips fall when and if the results of an oversold show came about. To those of us who had been around long enough to know, it was only a matter of time before such decisions would create a reversing backlash.

What no one could envision were sets of tsunami waves forming on the horizon that would soon roil over the industry in the most deleterious damaging manner. With the magazines and shows weakened by loss of much of its top management, most experienced editorial and sales talent and now guided by top management stooges willing to do the bidding of their investment firm handlers leaving the shows and magazines in the worst position possible to be swept away by gathering forces. These forces included the fast growing importance and use of the Internet and the online retailers it spawned such as art.com, the onslaught of cheap Chinese oil paintings, the rise of big box store retailing, the dramatic decline in the number of independent art galleries, poster and picture framing shops. 

There also were other more subtle but nevertheless troubling developments for our industry including changes in consumer habits. For instance, design trends for using consumer created images, wall decor unrelated to traditional flat art and new homes with more windows and fewer spots for wall art.

The tragedy and horror of the September 11 attacks on the U.S. were painfully felt far away from the point of impact from the terrorists planes. The 2001 Decor Expo Atlanta show was slated to open on September 14. The show management had little choice but to cancel it. It was a tremendous financial blow to the entire industry as the Atlanta show had become the top producing show for most exhibitors, eclipsing Artexpo for all but a handful of high-end original and limited edition giclee publishers.

A comeback of sorts develops, but nothing like the good old days

Through grit and determination, the industry fought back to gain a somewhat steady footing, and the Atlanta show continued to produce huge numbers of booths sold. Unfortunately, the results for exhibitors began to wane in the face of too few buyers per exhibitor. Besides doing everything to drive higher revenue, investment firms are also keen to cut costs wherever possible. As a result, the marketing efforts to drive show traffic were scrutinized and what was available was often poorly used. The double whammy from those actions drove the show to near extinction in the face of fast changing industry conditions.

What has happened is in 10 short years is the once vaunted Atlanta Decor Expo show, which ranked for one year on the Tradeshow 100, meaning it was one of the 100 largest tradeshows in the U.S., had run out of gas. This year, it was slated to be held in conjunction with the Atlanta Gift Show, returning to it roots in the Merchandise Mart. A long, long way from its gilded goose glory days at the Georgia World Congress Center.

What a shame to see the change in fortunes for that show. I know I can speak for everyone in the industry who rode the escalators down the first show in the magnificent Georgia World Congress Center facility, there was a tremendous sense of pride in how our cottage industry had bloomed into something special and larger than anyone could imagine. Little did I or anyone else know how short lived that sense of pride would last.

Godspeed Kim Feager, the ultimate survivor, she and her staff need our support

Kim Feager and her battle hardened dedicated staff have wisely decided to hold off putting on a show in Atlanta this year. She and the industry need time to formulate a workable plan. And so a chapter of three decades of success closes. Kim is determined to bring the show back and make it the best in years in 2010. She carries with her my fondest wishes along with hundreds of exhibitors and thousands of attendees who have used it to grow their businesses, their contacts and industry knowledge over the years.

Kim Feager is the ultimate survivor. I give her tremendous credit for her accomplishments. She has outlasted, outplayed and outwitted a steady succession of knucklehead managers and owners whose decisions drove large portions of the industry into head shaking, hand wringing disbelief that things could have been led or intentionally managed to results this bad.

There is no question Kim and her staff face many difficult obstacles in their efforts to bring Art Business News, Decor and Decor Expo back from the brink. Given her track record, I would not bet against her. If there is one person who is formidable enough to mount a head-on challenge and succeed, it is Kim.

She has a small talented faithful group around her who also have all suffered through the trials and tribulations of working for a succession of investment companies with a spreadsheet management mentality. The result for them has been poorer working conditions, lessened, if any, long-term opportunity and stinging reduction in salary, benefits and bonuses. It is a credit to her leadership she has managed to keep her trusty cadre on board during very trying times.

Is Artexpo New York 2010 doomed?

Although I have not seen any official announcement, the word is Eric Smith and his group, which owns Artexpo, are planning a show in New York for late March in 2010 with Pier 94 as the venue. The dates are close to Passover in 2010. It ends the day before Passover begins. The venue does have the fact it follows the Architectural Digest show the week before. It will share many of the same touches AD will use to add ambiance to they show. I am guessing 2010 is a make-it or break-it year for ArtExpo New York.

Carpe Diem and best wishes to all for a brighter future and better days ahead

For those in the industry, and those observing who still care, it's been a long long time since there has been any real sense of optimism. If you have been waiting for a positive change, this is it. There won't be any better changes any time soon that will give more reason for hope and to look on the bright side than right now. Now more than ever, the worn Latin phrase " Carpe Diem" is apropos.

So, good luck to all involved. The industry is poised for a brand new chapter. It would have been better had it happened sooner, but at least it came while there is still a glimmer in the tunnel. Your own best interest is inextricably tied to the fate of the shows and magazines. We need them to succeed. You need to them to succeed. Let's all pull together to help support the new owners, including Eric Smith, if he manages to avoid disastrous decisions.

Apologies to Kim Feager

Although I told her I would wait for her press release on the Next Step Media acquisition to comment, I decided I couldn't wait any longer. I would have preferred to run it verbatim here, and will when it arrives. However, with Summit's press release floating around, (I've had numerous copies forwarded to me), I felt it was better to get the word out now and let the good news be known.

Charles Fazzino - Pop artist keeps work, style & attitude fresh - looking forward to ArtExpo 2009

Charles Fazzino - Bleeker Street

You've read here often, and in my book, that I believe being distinguishable because your work weaves a recognizable thread through it is beneficial. When you look at the careers of successful artists, especially in the print market, it is not difficult to grasp why being known for having a "style" works for them on multiple levels.

There is an argument that having or being known for a "style" effectively buries one's talent. Artist  Martin Stankewitz has gone so far to eloquently and vociferously argue this very point in his Squidoo lens: art style - how to bury your talent. I get his point and passion, but there is another side to the argument.

When I look at the oeuvre of Charles Fazzino, I see a definitive style. I also see a joyful artistic process that has given him tremendous visibility in the art community and with thousands upon thousands of collectors world wide for three decades. If you have ever seen his work, when you see it again, it is instantly recognizable. Despite the irresistible cheeriness in nearly all of his work, you will also find it presented with a social conscious. Proving you don't have to paint in depression to make a serious point.

Last year, I wrote a post mortem opinion piece titled ArtExpo New York - The Show Must Go On  wherein I did my best to lay out what I saw happening there and why it is important to support the show. In March 2008, most in the art business had already seen storm warnings of serious impending financial problems, but few, myself included, knew the full force of the storm. What's happened in the ensuing 12 months has worsened conditions dramatically and all but capped any hopes of a resurgent show there this year. Many are hoping to ride out the storm and wait for better days, show organizers included.

Charles Fazzino is not one to sit out bad times. He recently added a comment to that post about his preparations for the 2009 ArtExpo New York show coming up in just a few days. He is going well prepared with cautious optimism and I wish him and all the participants whether attendees, exhibitors and show management well. It is certain to be a difficult show compared to the glory years not that long ago. The show has have been hurt by the Las Vegas ArtExpo experience which opened on the Friday when the Dow Jones Industrials took a 500 point dive signalling more downward pressure to come. Still strong hearted optimist stalwarts like Charles Fazzino will be there to make the most of whatever opportunities arise.

So, hats off to one of the most collected and well known artists of the past 30 years. He shows no signs of slowing down or of abandoning his signature style that has only earned him tremendous reward and recognition. Check out the impressive bio and collector list below from his Web site: 

Sun Sets on Howard Behrens' Gallery Shows

Capri Coast - Howard Behrens

Howard Behrens ranks among the most successful and accomplished of a generation of artists whose work drove the phenomenal growth of the art print market in the late 20^th Century. Last year, a news item announced his last gallery show. Like Terry Redlin, another giant of the print market who retired around the same time, he's reached a milestone in his career. One I'm remiss in waiting until now to cover.

While Redlin has retired, Behrens has simply announced he has done his last gallery show. After a remarkable professional art career spanning 25 years, at age 75, who can second guess his decision?

The Path to Professional Painter Is Well Trodden Through Graphics Arts Careers

Like so many of his contemporaries, he worked successfully at another career in graphic design until well into mid-life before turning to full-time as a career artist. According to his biography, he worked with many styles and techniques, but ultimately settled on the palette knife. The results he achieved were nothing short of stunning. His bold, colorful, compelling and romantic art was perfectly suited for modern serigraphy. A medium that in the popularity of the giclee revolution still represents the best and highest end of the commercial fine art print market.

To view an original Behrens or one of his serigraphs is like taking a mini-vacation to a beautiful exotic place. The kind of place most can only dream about going. The posters and open edition prints, while still gorgeous, lack some of the visual impact of his originals and serigraphs. Given the discrepancy in prices and printing methods, this is to be expected.

Success at Every Price Point

Behrens' art has sold well throughout his career at virtually every price point. One can purchase affordable posters from dealers and online at Art.com and other sites. His originals and serigraphs, continue to sell well on the secondary market at Art Brokerage and other dealers. And, it also can be found in the giclee format as well in galleries and online.

Given Behrens' talent, travels and success, he is a model for what many artists would like to do with their careers. For those reading this who despair of enjoying similar success, keep in mind it was not until he reached 50 years of age before he turned to painting full time.

Behrens Helped Define and Make the Print Market in His Era

Behrens did have the good fortune to peak just in what many will remember as the golden years of the art print business. That was before the advent of modern print-on-demand technology that allowed the successful development of the fine art digital print technique that came to be known as giclees. Looking back on his career, one could say rather than riding the wave of popularity of the fine art print market, as epitomized by the tremendously successful ArtExpo New York shows of the late '80s and 1990s, that the interest in his work helped define and drive the market.

As with every successful artist, he has spawned legions of other artists seeking to tap into the same look and style he popularized. While some have achieved their own success, there will always only be one Howard Behrens. We salute him for his magnificent contributions and wish him well for the future.

ArtExpo - Decor Expo New York 2009 Together Again - Is It Enough?

The return of the Decor Expo show to run concurrent with ArtExpo New York show in 2009 is good news. It never made sense for the shows to be split. For nearly 30 years, various iterations of Decor Expo, e.g., Galeria and Frame-o-rama, ran concurrent with ArtExpo.

For most of that history, the Decor sponsored shows were in competition with ArtExpo as it was not until this decade that both came under the same ownership. There were some years when the animosity and tension between the competing shows grew to the point of great contention. Nevertheless, the two shows together created a greater domestic and international urgency to attend than either could ever muster alone, even in the good old days.

Splitting ArtExpo and Decor Expo New York Created Lost Opportunity and Synergy

Sure, show organizers had their reasons for making the change to shut down the Decor Expo New York show, which mostly were wholesale defections by major exhibitors in the show, but whatever caused the decision, it turned out to be a disastrous mistake. Letting things get to the point of exhibitor revolt put a hurt on both shows at the very time the industry could least afford to have either be dinged by such decisions.

In hindsight, one has to ask what adjustments and alternatives could have been made to the New York shows, particularly Decor Expo, that might have headed off the slew of long time important exhibitors deciding to sit out New York. Sending the Decor Expo show packing to a second tier city such as Baltimore further exacerbated the situation. I posted a prediction six months prior to the first Baltimore show that it would be a bust. Unfortunately, I was right.

A Voice in the Wilderness

After the Spring 2008 ArtExpo show, I published a blog post titled, ArtExpo New York, The Show Must Go On. That is because I firmly believe that despite missteps in how the shows have been managed, there is no viable alternative to ArtExpo New York. Let it crash and burn and you have an already ailing industry with a huge gaping marketing hole that would wreak untold havoc on artists, publishers, galleries and all other allied interests to the market.

Now with the once preeminent Decor Expo Atlanta show badly faltering in this precipitous economic climate and amidst a whirlwind of major changes affecting the industry, a successful show in New York -- one that can sustain itself long enough to hold its dates during this most trying of times for businesses of all sorts -- is imperative and crucial to the financial well being of the industry.

The New York Shows Are Not a Mortal Lock, They Could Collapse

Could the New York and Atlanta expos crumble and go away? Yes, without question. They are already vulnerable to that happening. The sad history of tradeshows in the art and picture framing business over the past decade has shown a decline in fortunes for them. We are now at the point where no show is sacred and anything can happen. This is not an industry phenomenon, it is endemic throughout businesses of all stripes, just look at the financial or automotive sectors, for example.

The nature of distribution of the products on display at these shows is radically changing and as a result causing all exhibitors to question how much they are willing to invest in these expensive traditional marketing behemoths. With the hassle and cost of travel and the increase in the costs of shipping, the shows are more heavily scrutinized for potential ROI (Return on Investment) than during any previous time.

We can take a step back and ponder what the industry would be like without Artexpo New York and it doesn't conjure a pretty image. But, it ought to be something on the table for a couple of reasons. One, it is a possibility. And two, should it come about, those who would be most negatively affected should have an alternative plan ready to go, or at least contemplated and well thought through what to do.

I'll add a third point. If anyone reading this is distraught over the potential loss of the New York venues to the industry, then he or she should be doing whatever is possible to avert such a dire situation. That means exhibiting if at all possible, and actively helping to the market the show. It means buyers, dealers and galleries need to come and support the show by being active buyers when they arrive. It means management ought to be looking at the long range when it comes to making decisions. Short term decisions in difficult times nearly always have less than desirable outcomes on the fortunes of the entities managed in such a way.

Decor Expo Back in New York Is a Welcome Relief

Show management is gingerly bringing back Decor Expo for a scaled back two-day trade only event. I give them credit for putting the shows back together as they should be. It is too bad such a move wasn't forcefully contemplated or acted upon to avoid the Baltimore fiasco. Obviously, I have been gone from active participation in the shows and magazines for some time, but I can say that when the first attempts to put ArtExpo and Decor Expo together in the Javits Center was discussed, it was determined by checking records that the Decor Expo show brought in more room nights than ArtExpo. This was at a time when the shows were separately owned

Room nights are the coin of the realm when it comes to getting favorable dates and venues. So, allowing the shows to be split weakened both shows along with taking some of show management's bargaining clout away in the process. In retrospect, it is very hard to understand how this could have happened. What were they thinking?

We Can't Just Root for a Rally, We Need to Participate to Help Ensure One

Time and opportunity were lost in that decision to split the shows. In the intervening years, the global economy has slipped into a recession, if not on the brink of depression and that makes making up lost ground a nearly insurmountable task. Still, for the sake of the industry, we must all pull together to make the best of what is available to us.

Let's hope 2009 brings a respite from the decline of the exhibitor base to ArtExpo and a healthy turnout from the Decor Expo pool. That could set the stage for better things to come in the second decade of this quickly aging new 21st Century. Without vigorous participation in the shows over the next couple of years, it might be the answer to the question posed in the title above was no. I don't want to see that happen and bet you don't either. This is a time to rally and do what you can.

HDExpo Puts Art in the Hospitality Picture

Changes in the tradeshow scene regarding the art business have been frequently reported here. The traditional industry shows such as ArtExpo and Decor Expo are well off their peak years in size, as are the publications that support them. And, the total number of shows serving the industry are at lows not seen in decades. No matter what factors you use to account for the downward trend, they are sadly there and showing no signs of resurgence.

Tradeshow Woes Are a Problem Across Many Industries

It's not just art and picture framing shows that are on their heels. You needn't look hard to find evidence of contraction in all kinds of industries. Given such a multi-industry trend is surely a cause to wonder if there are alternative shows worth either attending or exhibiting for artists and publishers.

There Are Bright Spots To Be Found

One growing show growing increasingly important to many art publishers and self-representing artists is the HDExpo. It is the sister tradeshow to Hospitality Design magazine, which also is growing in size. These entities primarily serve complete design needs for hotels, restaurants and corporate centers.

Gaining traction in this market is a way to create a steady cash flow from a distribution source outside the gallery and online channels that are top of mind for most artists. Not to say the field isn't competitive. It is, but I have always maintained there is ample room in the most crowded fields for artists who bring a fresh perspective to the scene.

Hospitality Design Magazine Publishes Largest Issue Ever

As a former trade magazine rep, I drooled with lust when I saw the most recent at-show copy of Hospitality Design. At 448-pages plus cover, it resembles a mid-size city phone book. I hadn't seen a trade pub that size since the heyday of Decor magazine's show issues for New York or Atlanta many moons ago. The combination of growing importance of the HDExpo show and the size of the magazine puts an exclamation point on their momentum and the market they represent.

Las Vegas Is a Boom Town for Home Furnishings & Hospitality Design Shows

Las Vegas is also home to the World Market Center. It is the host site of the Las Vegas Market, which also is bucking the downward trend as a huge fast growing international home furnishing marketplace. The common wisdom for decades was no venue could successfully compete against the IHFC show and the concurrent shows in High Point, NC for the home furnishings market.  In just a few short years, the Las Vegas Market has proven there can be a viable alternative to the IHFC.

To Be An Effective Marketer in an Industry, You Must Be a Student of It

Effective marketing is a multi-year strategy. The first stage is to become educated about potentially lucrative markets important and new to your business. If you have your own designs on seeing your originals and reproductions used in the hospitality industry, learn all you can about the shows mentioned here and the markets they represent. You likely don't have the budget to tackle them all. But spending time studying them is a great first step towards getting your foot in the door at one of them at the appropriate time.

On the HDExpo Web site, go to Expo/Exhibitor List/Product Category Search. Start with the Artwork: Prints/Reproductions/Photography category and work your way through all the other appropriate categories for ideas on companies to approach, or to see what those exhibiting are doing on their on Web sites. It will be time well spent to study this terrific resource. And, of course, if you can actually go there, all the better. This year's May 14-17 conference and May 15 -17 exhibition dates are upon us. If it's too quick for this year, tickle it as a must for 2009.

Surtex Offers Artists Yet Another Alternative to Galleries and Selling Online

The Surtex show runs May 18 - 20 at the Jacob Javits Center in Manhattan. Surtex bills itself as a licensing show for original art and design and offers a different kind of distribution and income from the hospitality business. Surtex is a terrific venue for artists who want to license their work. It's a show to walk the first year and then to decide if paying for exhibit space makes sense. Many artists are able to make connections there by respectfully and tactfully approaching publishers and licensors when they are not otherwise busy in their booths. The better you prepare for these shows, the better your experience will be.