Art Print Issues by Barney Davey

Art-Exchange.com Brouhaha Still Brewing

A four-year running discussion about Art-Exchange.com and its business practices has been raging on Wet Canvas, which is the largest artist discussion board on the Internet. A search for the term "art-exchange" there returns 21 results of different threads or discussions. Nearly all are started by artists asking for help, opinion and firsthand experience with the company.

The primary thread with "Art-Exchange.com...any opinions?" was started in June, 2005 and has more than 100 replies and 7500 views. This is an enormous amount of response and that it continues to stay lively nearly 4 years later shows the amount of interest and angst generated by the company's business tactics. The near universal response has been outrage and anger from the Wet Canvas art community. Discussion boards such as Wet Canvas serve a great need. The work as a communal watering hole where like-minded folks can gather and share their experiences, knowledge and shared interests.

The latest round of posts were started when a poster named David Miller, who introduced himself as the new president of Art-Exchange.com came on to try to defend the company. He was rightly disturbed by a comment that the employees there should be shot. We all know such talk is meaningless hyperbole attempting to portray the level of anger towards the company and its aggressive sales staff. But, on this point I think he has a right to be disturbed. Not so much, or not at all on reasoned explanations of how artists were treated and solicited by his sales staff.

Needless to say, the response was not pleasant to Mr. Miller's post. A request was put to him to provide artists who would come forth and tell about their positive experience with the company. A suspicious first-time newbie poster named Bill joined the conversation with a kind of passive-aggressive defense of the company. When challenged to prove he was not a shill by providing a Website or some evidence of a real art career, he lamely says he hasn't joined the 2000s yet and has no Internet exposure. He further says he is contemplating working with Art-Exchange.com. Not exactly a ringing endorsement.

The discussion of this company is not isolated to just Wet Canvas. You can find strongly held opinions on www.artspan.com and www.artscuttlebutt.com. The later has unfortunately lost many of its older posts when its forum was hit with a hacker attack. It contained some lengthy posts and replies all pointing to artists who had poor experiences dealing with Art-Exchange.com.

There are lessons here. For artists, take the time to perform due diligence when being asked to put up front money for marketing assistance. For companies who have vocal constituents, don't wait years to try and correct a negative perception about the company. In this case for Art-Exchange.com, the ship has sailed and the cow left the barn. Perhaps Mr. Miller can turn the company around, but it will take a long time with an ongoing effort by the company to change its image with the artist community, especially those who participate regularly on discussion boards.

The final lesson is no matter how small or large your company may be, don't take for granted that customer satisfaction is paramount to your long term success. Caveat emptor.

Using Press Releases to Gain Publicity for Visual Artists (Part Three)

I trust you have had a chance to read Part One and Part Two of this series on press releases for artists. I'll go further and assume some of you are sufficiently motivated by them to get started using press releases in your art marketing efforts. I've said many times dollar-for-dollar and for time spent, nothing will give your art business a bigger boost than well placed publicity.

There are many things I'm pretty good at, including writing my own press releases. Here are a couple that have I've published on PRWEB.com:

How to Profit from the Art Print Market: Practical Advice for Visual Artists

Chinese Assembly Line Oil Paintings Create Concerns

Five Decades of Passionate Vision Exhibit Extended - this one I dusted up for my good friend Joella Jean Mahoney. It's not something I would normally do. but given her accomplishments and this honor, I had to lend a hand. It came out pretty good for an amateur.

Speaking of being an amateur; I have no intention of trying to tell you how to write a press release when there are so many very talented professionals who can run rings around any efforts I might put forth in that arena. Here are some helpful links to useful information I've collected:

Press Releases as Marketing Tools

PRWEB.com - the anatomy of a press release

The Publicity Hound - free articles from PR expert Joan Stewart

PRWEB Review - insight and great advice from on this service from Internet & SEO marketing guru Rae Hoffman.

How to Write a Great Press Release: A Sample Press Release Template - from publicityinsider.com

10 Essential Tips to Ensure Your Press Release Makes the News

Okay, now that you are convinced regular use of publicity should be integrated into marketing program, you are wondering how you get a press worthy release written. That is you are a lover not a fighter. Just kidding, you are an artist not a promotional writer. I can heartily recommend a great editing service for you to use. It is www.Gramlee.com. You buy words on the site. It's $9.95 for 500 words. That is about the average size for a typical press release. Its professional editors will polish your copy and turn it around in 24 hours or less. You get to bank any unused words for future editing needs.

What Topics Would Be Press Worthy for a Visual Artists? (Part Two)

In my previous, "As a Visual Artist, Are You Press Release Worthy?" post, I challenged readers to assess if they were press release worthy. After all, what we be the point of going through the motions if one lacked conviction or confidence in creating and distributing a press release? I trust if you read it you got the message which is you don't have to be a famous artist to be press press release worthy. You just have to have something interesting and viable to publicize.

Here are a few ideas you could use, including,

You have:

• Published new work
• Been picked up by a gallery
• Been commissioned to work on an important piece
• Moved your studio
• Hired an assistant
• Started a blog
• Have a new Web site
• Been asked to demonstrate or speak at a meeting
• Had a piece selected for a prestigious juried show
• Have won an award at a juried show
• Had a well-known person purchase your art
• Had a piece go into a collection or museum
• Decided to exhibit at a tradeshow or consumer show
• Been interviewed on TV, radio, magazine or newspaper
• Been a guest on Oprah (okay, an admitted stretch, but you gotta dream big to do big things.)
• Had a piece selected for a magazine cover
• Been picked up by a licensing company
• Donated a piece for a charitable organization
• Had a piece donated for an auction that sold well above the reserve price
• Painted a piece for a wine label
• Joined a prestigious art group
• Taken an artist retreat in an interesting place
• Given lessons on painting to children

Those are just some ideas that come to my mind about possible topics. Some of them could be joined. Nearly all could be expanded upon.

Start a SWIPE file.

There is nothing wrong with creative borrowing. When you read anything, keep your mind open to possible PR opportunities. Make a note, put it on your brain, tear out the article and put it in your "Ideas" file. The important thing is to tune into what and where the possibilities are and then be organized to make sure you can retrieve the information when needed. The more ways you find to use publicity, the more effective your efforts will be.

Build a media contacts database.

Begin building a database of potential prospects to send press releases. This information resource, if carefully constructed, can turn into one of your most valuable marketing tools. If you see an article with a byline, drop a note to the author with a quick sincere compliment. If it is a blog article or online article and you can comment, jump in with something short and sweet. Resist the temptation to use these contacts as an opportunity to promote yourself. Save that for when you have something important to tell the world about.

However you do it, getting all those prospective names in some form of a contact manager will be crucial in your long term publicity efforts. Make sure you keep good files on every thing you submit as well. Maintain a copy of the best pieces to provide to galleries and dealer to help them in their marketing efforts. Separately keep everything you have submitted or have gotten press on in a paper file or electronic file. You can save a page from your browser by going to File: Save As and save as a complete web page (*.mht) in Internet Explorer.

Create your own sense of style

Now admittedly, you are not going to use all the suggestions from the list above. You don't need to. You just need to develop your own sense of style and purpose. Do that while building the information on who and what media you want to influence and you are on your way. There is so much media now, and these outlets all need news and features to keep their pages and time allotments filled. They are looking for interesting slice of life angles that will grab a reader, viewer or listener's attention for a few minutes. Take the time to find out what the schedules are and how the targeted media likes to receive publicity. The easier you make their job, the better your results will be.

The range of possibilities starts with national media and includes everything from talk shows, to home decorating shows, to national magazines and newspapers. There are trade publications, specialty niche publications, consumer magazines, lifestyle magazines, regional magazines and local media of all sorts. There are press release outlets such as PRWEB.com that will blast your press release to thousands of media outlets at one time.

Successful publicity is a numbers game

Start thinking about where and how you will get coverage. It is a numbers game. The more places you submit, the better your chances are for getting exposure. If you have inflect with the angle right, keep the content refreshing, interesting and compelling, the better your chances of breaking through the clutter.

Getting good at preparing and sending press releases is something you will improve on as you keep after it. The most important thing is to figure out what will best for your situation and then begin to build awareness in yourself of where your information will best fit. Publicity is an important activity that can produce better and more meaningful results for time and money spent than nearly any other marketing activity, so it is worth your valuable time to be thinking about doing this on a routine level.

If you study the most successful artists, many seem to have a knack for publicity. For most, it comes not so much from being instinctual, but more from intently observing how others get it done and then consistently adapting what they do to fit their own needs. The other part of the effortless pr that seem to follow some artists is there often was much unseen work in building trusted relationships with the press that ultimately made the greatest impact on the business of those artists. In other words, they made it a mission to create good relations with influential media contacts.

I'll get down some nuts and bolts on where to get useful information on how to write a press release, where to get help writing one and how to go about submitting them in the next post.

As a Visual Artist, Are You Press Release Worthy?

The question posed in the title of this post asks you to consider if you are doing something worthy of preparing and sending a press release.

Stop now! Think back to what your immediate reaction to the question was. Examining your self-perception and reaction should be quite insightful to you. There is no wrong answer. There are just three basic ways to respond:

1. You immediately agreed you were press release worthy.
2. You stopped to assess if you were worthy.
3. You instinctively felt you were not doing anything to make you press release worthy.

How you perceive yourself is one aspect of this challenge. And, your concept of the value of a press release and what they do could easily color your decision. There is not much, if any training on how to use a press release, and not much exposure to them for many visual artists. The lack of exposure could easily cause the activity be filed away as intimidating, mysterious, or bothersome; all leading to inactivity and improper assessment in answering the question.

While you are a product of many things, your self-perception nevertheless is your choice.

If you believe you are press release worthy, good for you. It's a shows a bit of confidence and self-awareness that undoubtedly helps you in other aspects of your career. Having a healthy ego is a good thing for artists. It's much easier to convince others about the value of your work if your persona portrays confidence and self-esteem. We might root for the underdogs, but we buy the winners.

Learning from American Idol, who'da thunk it?

Last year in an admission to a guilty pleasure, I posted Art Marketing Lessons from American Idol. Visual artists should take note of the implied advice the show offers. This year, comparable examples for visual artists are obvious. British judge, Simon Cowell, continues to make the point to those who don't portray confidence that talent alone will not win the contest. Artists need to exude self-confidence. It doesn't have to be done in a swaggering braggadocio style. Confidence can be shown in many ways. Whether it is an outgoing or quiet style is irrelevant.

In social settings, we all have radar for how someone feels about themselves.The manner of how it is expressed doesn't matter. We read the person and evaluate them on the subtle clues we observe. This is why the kids with the good voices who come off as not quite believing themselves ultimately will be voted off American Idol.

There practically is no reason for any artist not be press release worthy. If you thought you weren't or were not sure, I hope to help you change that perception. It will come in learning more about how press releases work, what their real value is and how to get a good one written and submitted. Look for information on press releases in subsequent posts here soon. I believe it will be a confidence booster for you to come to realize you are press release worthy.

Rich Resource for Blogging Tips and Blog Content

Occasionally, one encounters a person whose energy and vision cause you to stand back in awe and wonder. A reaction like this often comes upon the realization of how much good one turned on person can do, and how humbling it feels to know the work at which you marvel was crammed into an already busy productive life.

One such person is Lorelle VanFossen. She ranks with Katherine Tyrrell (Making a Mark blogger and creator of 66, and counting, Squidoo lenses) as one whose imprint from leading an interesting and prolific life is impressively evident all over the Internet.

Lorelle is a tireless blogging pioneer,author, professional nature photographer and lecturer. The subject of this post today comes courtesy of one of her many blogs: Lorelle on WordPress. Here is just part of her bio from her blog:

Who is Lorelle?

There are many sides to Lorelle VanFossen. One is a public speaker, instructor, writer, and consultant on web writing, web design, and blogging, especially working with WordPress. Another is as a transient traveling the world as part of the duo team of VanFossen productions,professional nature photographers and writers presenting workshops and programs on travel, writing, and nature photography.

Called a blog evangelist, on Lorelle on WordPress she writes about everything WordPress and blogging,covering more than you may want to know about how all this blogging business works.Taking Your Camera on the Road is dedicated to providing educational and experiential information on travel, nature photography, travel photography, and life on the road.

Lorelle is also the author of the popular Blogging Tips: What Bloggers Won’t Tell You About Blogging, a book covering the basic to intermediate tips you need to know before and during your blogging experience, the first book of its kind. She shares her many years of online journaling, web writing and publishing, and blogging experiences as one of the first website owners and publishers on the web.

Her post, Blogging Tips - Hundreds of Resources for Finding Content for Your Blog is the point of this post today. This list, compiled two years ago and still relevant, is a perfect example of Lorelle's incredible output. I cannot imagine anyone who blogs to not find this massive helpful list of links useful and inspirational. Check it out; I'm sure you will agree.

The Value of a Descriptive URL

I began publishing Art Print Issues in 2005. Initially, it came was delivered as an 8-page PDF newsletter and available in HTML at:  www.artprintissues.barneydavey.com, a subdomain of my www.barneydavey.com Web site. BarneyDavey.com serves to promote my book and consulting services. You can find links to those early newsletter archives here on Art Print Issues.

Choosing the right blogging platform is helpful

A couple of years ago, I converted to blogging using Typepad as my platform. At the time, I felt the free Blogger was not robust enough for my tastes and WordPress platform required too much tech ability. Although both alternatives have made great improvements, I have never regretted the choice.

Choosing and using the right URL is both smart and crucial

Until recently, despite owning the ArtPrintIssues.com URL since well before its newsletter inception in 2005, I forwarded the address to my BarneyDavey.blogs.com Typepad URL. That was partly due my domain registrar not allowing me to do domain mapping. With domain mapping, one can use a service such as Typepad and have their personal URL function as their blog address. This looks so much more professional than having a composite subdomain address.

I had a confessed complacency with my doing something about my Art Print Issues URL. Since the Typepad URL contained my name, I delayed the hassle of transferring my URL to another domain registrar. I was also unnecessarily concerned about losing traffic or causing confusion during the process.

Choosing the right domain registrar makes your life and marketing easier

If you pay close attention to goings on here, you may noticed I finally put in the request to transfer from Namesecure to GoDaddy for my Art Print Issues domain. Now I wish I had done it sooner. Namesecure.com, my former domain registrar, has no way to contact or communicate with it besides email. It takes 24 or more hours to get a response. If you have issues, you have to be patient. GoDaddy, by comparison, has 24/7 US-based live help for all its services. There is no comparison. I have found the GoDaddy service to be topnotch with professional, friendly and knowledgeable. It took about a week to get the URL transferred. ICANN rules state they have to be done in 5 business days.

Once I had Art Print Issues with GoDaddy, it only took a few minutes to make the well documented changes provided by Typepad to the CNAME records. A couple of hours or less later and my Art Print Issues began to appear to my blog readers in the address bar. If you have any posts saved or bookmarked to the former URL, don't worry. They still work and will point directly to what you wanted to keep.

A good domain name is worth thousands, even millions!

Domains have a commoditized value. A check at www.urlappraisal.net shows ArtPrintIssues.com has an auction value of $5,629 while BarneyDavey.com is $7,540. When you think about name value, it makes the effort to get a URL in your own name as opposed to borrowing one from one of the free services worthwhile. When you use www.yourname.blogger.com, you do not own the URL and it has no value to you. I cannot be too smug about the value of my URLs when compared to ArtBizCoach.com which comes in at $32,645, or Art.com only worth a whopping $17 million and change.

The marketing communication branding value of a good domain to an artist is priceless

More importantly than the commoditized value of your URL is the priceless value of your personal brand of which your URL should be an important part. It can be debated, but I believe using your name in your URL is the best thing you can do. It helps with keyword searches, with personal branding, with recognition and with memory. If someone knows how to spell my name, they can easily find my Web address. If I tell someone to find my blog just remember Art Print Issues, they can get there easily without having to write down or remember some long complicated multi-part (yourname.blogspot.com) nomenclature.

When it comes to promoting your art, you are the brand. I think tag lines like "Painter of Light" are nonsensical and pretty much useless. Every painter paints light, some might capture it better, but do they truly sell more work because they say something like that in a slogan? I doubt it. To my ears, such phrases sound like empty words of blah-blah bravado. If the slogan were descriptive, "Painter of Vintage Autos", it would at least have communication and marketing value. But, I digress.

It's not too late to start using a good domain to help market and promote your art business

If you don't own the URL that is your name, and it is available in any form, get it. If you need to make it: www.johnsmithartist.com,  or some other variation, then get the one that works best. I realize some names are long or difficult to pronounce and this is a special challenge. In such cases, you may to be creative in how you brand yourself. Whatever you decide, stick with it and promote it like there is no tomorrow. You may have a considerable investment in branding a URL without your name, you have to decide what the value is and what the future value of using your name would be to you. It could be a tough thing to change, but in many cases, especially for emerging artists, it's better to bite the bullet now than waiting until you feel you have no options.

If you have a blog or Website that uses a multi-part URL that you don't own, try to get it domain mapped using your new URL. GoDaddy arguably is the easiest and it provides an email account with your URL. Speaking of email, set yours up so you can use the URL as your email address even if it is forwarded to your gmail, Yahoo, or AOL email address. This is just another case of looking professional and extending your brand into cyberspace. The more searchable your name, the better off you are. The more professional you appear in the details, the more confidence you give to dealers and collectors. A lot of little things that are nearly intangible go into making your best presentation of yourself and your business.

French Incent Buying Art - Guggenheim Vegas Closing - Using Whitey Ball in a Down Market - ArtExpo Vegas a Conservative Go

Signs of changing times:

• The announcement came last week the French government is so distraught over slipping in worldwide art sales, falling to third behind China, it is offering interest free loans for its citizens to buy fine art.
• It in a sad, but not completely surprising item, the Las Vegas Sun reports the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum there is scheduled to shutter next month...sigh. But, in the perfection of hindsight, looking at Vegas marketing then and now, it seems logical it would not work.

Sin City Is the Name of the Game

You may recall Las Vegas formerly tried to tout itself as a family friendly destination with water slides, the Wizard of OZ's Yellow Brick Road at the MGM, roller coasters and so forth. However, it didn't take long for the shine to wear off that idea before Vegas reverted to true form. It is, after all, called Sin City for good reason. The popular and effective "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" slogan that replaced the family theme has been successful because it pointedly captures the allure of Vegas.

In retrospect, the familiar saying, "You can't make a silk purse out a of a sow's ear" now seems appropriate to putting one of the most prestigious fine art museums in Vegas. As the Las Vegas Sun article points out, there were other problems, but at the heart of it, it just wasn't a good fit. The closing of the Guggenheim speaks volumes about culture, or lack thereof, in Vegas, and to a degree how specialized the interest and marketing of fine art is. The wisdom of crowds theory dictates the taste for Vegas is gambling, dining, nightclubbing, extravagant shows and forbidden fruit with not much energy or enthusiasm for fine art experiences.

In the tradeshow business, the take on destinations such as Las Vegas and San Francisco is they are great convention, but largely lousy tradeshow towns. Simply, the distractions are too powerful to keep crowds on the floor for smaller shows. Behemoths, such as Comdex, draw so many attendees they override the common wisdom. That said, it is only fair to note some small tradeshows such as the annual West Coast Art & Frame show do well there regardless. And in fairness to Vegas, there are but a a handful of cities worldwide that could sustain a Guggenheim museum.

You Can't Put Round Art into a Square Frame, No Matter How Glittery the Frame

The moral of the Guggenheim Vegas story is you can't force something where it doesn't fit. Put another way, swinging for the fences in an attempt to clear the bases with a Grand Slam homerun grandiose idea is not always a winning strategy. For art marketers, this lesson could not be more true, especially in a down economy. Looking back, the concept of an exquisite fine art museum in Vegas was a grandiose idea gone awry. The baseball analogy provides a nice segue to discuss employing a strategy called "Whitey Ball" for art marketers in a down market.

The Whitey Ball Strategy for Art Marketing in a Down Market

In the 1980s, the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team didn't have big hitting sluggers on its roster. Its huge ballpark with faraway fences didn't suit having them on the payroll. Instead, the team's wily manager, Whitey Herzog, used his creativity to build a team around speed and slap hitting singles batters. During his tenure, Herzog picked players who were fleet of foot with the ability to steal bases, move fast to plug defenses and thwart their opponent's offenses. Whitey always sought as many chances at bat he could get for his players. Essentially, he adapted his strategy to conform to what he had to work with. The results were spectacular with three National League pennants and two World Series appearances, including a World Series Championship in 1982.

Piling Up Singles in Today's Economy Is a Great Strategy

Whether you are an independent self-representing artist or a big time publisher, this is a good time to employ your version of Whitey Ball marketing. For those serious about sustaining and building their businesses, smart marketing is more crucial now than in good times. Maintaining your marketing edge now will, when the economy turns, put you far ahead of those who hunker down and do nothing.

NINE IDEAS FOR USING WHITEY BALL MARKETING WITH YOUR ART BUSINESS

1. Accurately assess your resources, opportunities and goals. Doing so serves to keep your expectations real.
2. Give your business every chance at bat it can get. Look for all the publicity and media notice you can garner - there are more opportunities than you realize. It all matters and it all adds up when you find and use them.
3. Shore up your defenses by tightening non-essential spending keeping funds available for the best opportunities.
4. Go for the single when you get to bat. The first step to getting a run is to get on base. The first step to getting repeat sales is to establish a relationship with a potential collector or gallery
5. Carefully weigh your options. When it comes to deciding how to allocate your marketing budget, employing the carpenter's credo to measure twice and cut once is a wise idea.
6. Renegotiate with your suppliers to get every discount, value added service and the lowest prices they can provide you.
7. Explore every viable means to diversify your distribution channels. Going forward, alternative, creative marketing is a fact of life no matter what the economy is doing.
8. Do whatever you must to make sure your customers are happy and your service is par excellence.
9. Don't buy into fanciful untried ideas (Or, if you must, start small and play conservatively. If it's good, you'll have time later to ratchet up your participation.)

Your Best Ideas Likely May Come From Doing Something You Were Sure You Would Never Do

To get creative, it helps to get outside your comfort zone. Try thinking about doing things differently, much differently. For instance, consider where have you not been, what have you not done and what you would never do. A marvelous brainstorming activity is to take a large sheet of paper and write down all the people, places and things you would never approach or do in your business. The harder you think about it and the more ideas you conjure up, the more likely your best out of left field (baseball pun intended) idea will come.

ArtExpo Las Vegas is a Conservative Go

Is there a correlation or lesson about the ArtExpo Las Vegas show and the closing of the Guggenheim Hermitage? Of course, especially if you believed Vegas had become an art mecca. I fell under that spell. Like many others, I was a strong proponent of the ArtExpo Vegas show last year. I devoted several encouraging posts on Art Print Issues and another on the very popular AbsoluteArts.com blog, where I contribute frequently.

My post show follow up was more sanguine. Like the folks at the Guggenheim and many others, I felt Vegas offered promise. Seeing the museum close and the ArtExpo show last year come off smaller than anyone would have hoped for and now in tougher economic times, it's hard to muster great enthusiasm for the 2008 show. Still, the industry is down to few choices for shows and this is one of them.

If you have the resources, ArtExpo Vegas can work to your advantage to exhibit there.

I met several self-representing artists who were thrilled they made the decision to go. The smartest advice is to go expecting the best, but also be prepared for something less than that. By doing so, you are poised to react to a good outcome and will negate the deflation of a bummer experience by having acknowledged the possibility of it. Exhibiting there, especially as unknown artist is akin to gambling, don't play with money you can't afford to lose. Go with a good marketing plan, use solid money management to keep losses to a minimum and play hard and smart and pray for a hot streak

What the artists with whom I met that had a great ArtExpo Vegas show had in common was they had unique well developed thematic styles that appealed to certain buyers with substantial open to buy budgets. In other words, in each case it was a single buyer that made the difference for them. This scenario is likely to happen again this year, but understand the buyers are selective. It doesn't mean your images aren't good if you don't succeed. It could be they are not right for those buyers who attend. Being able to know the difference only comes with experience. If you lack it, seek the advice of others to get an honest, if not brutal, assessment of where your art comes in.

The art print market is evolving and so are the venues and media that report on, promote and support it.

What we are witnessing is the rapid deconstruction of how things were done in the past. It is far from an art industry problem. You can find reports of all kinds of shows and media contracting from their once bulging sizes. It's harder to find where the business is going. Some to the Internet, some to targeted marketing and some to marginal players folding their tents.

To maximize your return, you need to pay close attention to help you understand how the business is evolving. Playing Whitey Ball with your marketing will help you sustain your business as you wind through the challenging times we find ourselves in today.

Noah G Pop Puts Pizazz in ArtExpo New York 2008

Pop artist Noah G Pop rocked this year's 30th Annual ArtExpo New York show, which took place February 28 - March 3. It is obvious he seeks to put more glide in your stride, more hip in your dip, more zig in your zag and more cut in your strut. In other words, this dude knows how to throw a party and have fun. That he manages to do it around promoting his art makes him just that much cooler.

When it comes to enjoying success in the art business, marketing and promotion are the twin synergistic generators that drive (AIDA) attention, interest, action and desire. Noah gets this in spades and that he effectively executes around making these waves as a SOLO exhibitor makes all he does more impressive.

Putting POP in Promotion, Party and Prints

In Noah's case, you find a confluence of terrific visual art and fun promotion creating a memorable experience for all involved. You can see for yourself, his party and attendant promotion pack as much punch as his art.  Both deliver on the promise of visual treat and stimulating exciting times.

His art is themed with the Pop influences of decades past, but as with any talented artist, he manages to make it current and specific to his artistic vision. It is no surprise he did well with his Jene NYC piece, shown here. It is hot, colorful, sexy, glamorous and fun. All the things one can hope to experience when attending ArtExpo New York.

The Fun Is Back, Let's Hope It Stays

Noah singlehandedly managed put back into ArtExpo a component that has been missing for some time. And, I'm sure he did it on a budget that would put to shame some of the corporate or show producer managed invitation only parties that run on the sedate side. The history of the experience of ArtExpo was there were always happenings. You didn't dare miss the show or the parties around it. The exciting open-to-all party element has been sadly missing in the past few years. As the show declined in size, it lost some of the zest that had made it special. Thanks to Noah G Pop, the fizz is back and the buzz around his art and his next party, which he already planning for next year are already in full swing.

Here is the content of his post-show email. Read it and you'll see he hasn't stopped having fun. And, while you are reading it, think about how you can put some fun of your own into your own art promotion:

3 More Important Things I Want You to Know Direct from the Noah G POP Playbook:

1)     First, I would like to thank everyone that attended my opening night bash at the Star Lounge and believe me there were a lot of you.  Our counter finally stopped somewhere north of 400 guests including artists, models, actors and a whole plethora of all-around cool people.  The vibe was definitely one of peace, love and FUN, FUN FUN!  I so much appreciate the support of each and every one of you.  Personal highlights for me included my Mom and Dad, my brother David, my sister Farrah, NYC Fashion Designer Grace Edwards, Iconic NYC Socialite, Philanthropist and Human Rights activist Zelda Kaplan, two of my favorite artists, world-renowned Painters Fabian Perez and Ford Smith and of course, it wouldn't be a party without the Naked Cowboy.  Also, special thanks to Rob Base who showed up and performed his hit single, "it takes two to make a thing go right". 

Now, for those of you that missed it; DON'T PANIC!  I will be hosting an evening of art, music and modern dance at the Grand in April (details to follow) and believe it or not, we have already begun planning our opening night bash for ARTEXPO NY 2009 (seriously).  Cue the cocktail music!  Yes!  This one will be bigger and better (think skylight cruise) and YOU ARE INVITED SO SAVE THE DATE!!!

2)    I would like to thank everyone that stopped by my booth to look at my work.  Thanks to your support and interest in my art, we had another killer show selling at least one of each piece with the big winner being Jené NYC who now has 5 new homes.  Thank you, thank you thank you. 

3)     I just saved a bundle on my car insurance!  I kid again.  I wanted to take a moment to speak to all artists but particularly my fellow SOLO artists.  Sharing your gift with the world can be a wonderful and magical experience.  It can be filled with excitement and joy but can also be stressful at times.  As someone that has personally experienced the broad spectrum of emotions that can accompany an event like artexpo, I applaud you for having the guts and the drive to share your art with the world.  For those of you that had a great show, I congratulate you and for those of you that would have liked to have a better show, encourage you to keep pushing, keep learning from your experiences and keep striving to share yourself and your art.

With this in mind, if I can be of any assistance to you in the future, please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions, comments or simply to bounce some ideas off of each other.  After all, we artists have to stick together.  Be on the lookout for Noah G POP Management in 2008.

I thank you for all of the support that I have received over the past year and of course, most importantly, Enjoy my art!

With much love and respect,

Noah G POP

For more information call 646.413.2366or email me at noahg@noahgpop.com.  Friend requests at www.myspace.com/noahgpop.

www.noahgpop.com

Some other observations about this year's ArtExpo

The final tally on its Website for exhibitors has a count of 467 companies. It's possible there are more, but even with last minute additions, it's hard to believe the exhibitor list came anywhere near the 600 touted by show management for the '07 show. The number of blog posts about the show is down from last year too. Here are a few I found you might find interesting:

Manuela Valenti looks like she is making good on her ArtExpo experience. It looks like she used this video in her booth. Regardless, it's terrific use of video to promote her art. Congrats!

Natasha Wescoat provides insight on her ArtExpo Las Vegas experience

Adan Lerma provides a running commentary on his experiences in 2007 & 2008 here

It's great to see Noah putting forth his energy into ArtExpo. For all the show has suffered from changes in the marketplace, revolving ownership and other circumstances out of its control, it remains the single best place to showcase artists in the print medium. There is still no place like the Big Apple for such a show. The Las Vegas show last fall proved nothing can come close. Let's hope the promise of young energetic talent like Noah G Pop and his contemporaries help revive the show's sagging fortunes.

Is the Next Big Thing About to Happen?

I've been a huge fan of futurist Watts Wacker since I first heard him speak to a group of tourism executives circa 1999. His presentation was fascinating and full of compelling information.

He was as riveting a speaker as any I've heard. That he managed to mesmerize his audience of business executives while wearing long hair, shorts, sockless loafers and a rumpled button down shirt made him more interesting. It was a rare encounter where I found myself thinking, "How fun it must be to be that smart, that cool, that self-confident and worthy of having organizations fly a person in and pay them thousands to hear their ideas for a mere 90 minutes?"

At the time, his international bestselling book, co-authored with Jim Taylor, The 500 Year Delta: What Happens After What Happens Next was riding high on the charts. And, his subsequent books, Visionary's Hand, and The Deviant's Advantage plus his latest, What's Your Story?: Storytelling to Move Markets, Audiences, People, and Brands provide more profound and practical insight from this informative oracle.

Finding a Way to Fill the Yearning for Authenticity Can Drive Your Art Career

A key fact I landed on from The 500 Year Delta was in the monumental changes we are living through, there is a societal yearning for authenticity. Today's digital world, including giclees, doesn't allow much for it. If you can figure out how to create true authenticity in your art career and properly promote it, you will reap great rewards.

Wacker's always thought provoking monthly newsletter is penned by him and published by his company, First Matter LLC. The essay most apropos to this blog is from the February 2008 issue. It does not disappoint. With permission, here it is:

Keep Your Eyes Open I’m Convinced it’s About to Happen by Watts Wacker

I can’t help but keep thinking about this being the 40th anniversary of the ’68 Chicago convention and the tragedies of both Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King. Especially now that so many have suggested that we are at the same, or at least, similar crossroads today, I just keep thinking about it.

I actually disagree with the assessment of similarity to the two periods of time. In 1968 the social mood was much more “down with authority” ... today? ... it’s much more like “are you prepared? ... and is there such a thing as being an authority?” We want our institutions to be prepared for the future and we’ve not so sure they are so.

There was an artist who captured the ‘60’s, Peter Max. Peter’s an amazing man. Philanthropist, humanitarian, environmentalist and philosopher ... he is the most successful living artist in the world. He truly was the catalyst for connecting art and business. Max was the first person ever to have his work placed upon everything from bed sheets to sneakers. His product was out-licensed to the tune of $1 billion (yes, billion) before 1970.

While he would likely refer to himself as a neo-expressionist today, he has traveled from realist to pop artist (maybe archetype on this one) to his latest definition. His prescience in seeing how “the poster” was on the cusp of unprecedented ranges and intensities of color (all at inexpensive and high quality) allowed him to connect romantic, playful and psychedelic. He created the yellow submarine for the Beatles. Toulouse-Lautrec would have been proud. Peter readily says that his love of the cosmos and childhood expectation of becoming an astronomer was a major source of inspiration for the art of the 60’s. He captured a period of time.

Today, we should be looking for “that look”. What I mean is, what is the look for today? We’re far enough “in” to the 21st century. And, like Peter, I believe it will be somebody born in Europe ... developing years in Asia ... than blossom in the USA. However, in the 2010’s it will be some other order and more than likely an artist who blossoms in Asia. Keep your eyes open ... I’m convinced it’s about to happen.

I'm in agreement with Watt's observations and predictions. If you want to read my TalkBack comments on his site and peruse some very interesting links related to Watts' commentary, go here.

This post comes on the close of the 30th Annual ArtExpo New York show where in its heyday none other than Peter Max used the venue to further his career. Wouldn't it be great if the artist whose talent will rise to grab our collective consciousness as Watts' envisions was exhibiting there this year? That fantasy aside, given the changing dynamics of the art market, I wouldn't bet on such a notion. It's far more likely the art print market and its primary venue will undergo untold major changes before the next big thing comes calling. Just as The Beatles and Peter Max helped revolutionize music and art by being different and not of the status quo, I believe the next big thing will break out of some yet unknown venue or channel.

Five Ways to Market Your Art Direct

We pause this blog for a little shameless self-promotion.

An artist friend who I met after he read my book, which resulted in a series of consulting sessions over the past two years, has decided to take up the offer from a publisher to join his ranks. He had long held the notion that with his considerable business expertise and decent financing he would self-publish his work. He had begun to do that and also to shop giclees of his work to galleries in his local area. Additionally, he also managed to get some of his giclees put in the gift shop of a prestigious venue in his area.

I'm being slightly cryptic here because the ink is not dry on the contract and he has what I consider a terrific idea for an approach to working a niche. If all goes well, he will have a coming out party at the upcoming 30th Annual ArtExpo New York show at the end of this month. When I can share more details,I will be happy to do so.

My friend has recently been re-reading my book, How to Profit from the Art Print Market. It was interesting for both of us to observe what he was going through with the development of his print career. In many ways, his circumstances were exactly as I described in the book. This was down to my mention of having a marketing maven full-time to help grow the business as a key component of self-publishing success for many, if not most artists. His wife is a gifted driven very successful designer in the home furnishings field. Their company has for more than a decade supplied household name brands with licensed designs of all sorts. While she would be perfect in this role, she does not have the time to put her career on hold to help his. Nor would it make financial sense for her to do so.

Left to his own devices, this artist began to realize the difficulties for an unknown artist to be both marketing maven and full-time artist. Plus, he still puts in time at the design business as needed. The bottom line is the uphill battle was starting to look overwhelming given the plausible vision he has for his art and career. As the luck most often found in the residue of hard work would have it, a contact in one of the galleries led him to perhaps the most ideal publisher for his genre and his circumstances. I'm quite happy for him things are going to work out.

What he found was in reading and re-reading my book was two years after his first reading, the basic advice from what to do, what might happen, what the commission structure offered would be and many other things were still spot on and valuable to him in his decisions and dealings with his new potential publisher. It was heartwarming validation for me the underlying advice continued to hold water even though the business continues to undergo substantial, if not monumental, upheaval and change.

More Signs of Change for the Art Print Market

The state and health of the trade magazines and tradeshows that serve the industry are as much a harbinger of how things are working out as any. In October 2006, I put 20 years of tradeshow experience on the line and predicted the Decor Expo Baltimore show would be a bust. That was harsh given the inaugural show was still six months away in April 2007. While I have no official word, I notice the February issue of Art Business News has omitted the 2008 Baltimore show from its Calendar. Not a good sign things are working out. Further, the Web site for the show has no exhibitor list. Since this is a primary tool for enlisting more exhibitors, one can only conclude the show is being quietly mothballed, or in serious trouble. I'm left wondering if another prediction of a sale for the Art and Framing Group by current owner, Summit Business Media LLC, can be far off.

ArtExpo Booth Sales Appear to Be Well Off Previous Year Figures

Meanwhile, the aforementioned 30th Annual ArtExpo New York show appears to also be struggling to bring in the same number of exhibitors as last year. A check today shows 374 companies listed as exhibitors. The list has been updated regularly over the past month with more than 100 exhibitors added to it. Nevertheless, it remains well behind the 600 exhibitors published by the show producer last month. The trade magazines that serve the business also are showing a decline in ad pages. These are pretty good indicators it's rough patch for the art print market these days. The cover story of the ABN issue was on the state of the art economy interviewing some veteran players in the market. While most found some ways to put a bit of positive spin on their outlook, none was overly optimistic.

Five Ways to Market Your Art Direct

It's a good time to review what you are trying to achieve from a business perspective for your career. I'm not talking about a year end review and goals for the coming months. I'm thinking more about what you want for your career financially and awareness. It could be like that of my friend who seeks to find an audience and appreciation for his work and to get the work to market in a way he could profit from the effort. Besides reaching a vastly larger audience, the appeal of the print market for most successful artists who embrace it is it provides them a way to generate repeat cash flow from the effort in creating an original.

I have said it before, but believe it bears repeating. Artists ought to be developing their own direct revenue streams with collectors. Easy to say, harder to do. But when you consider the traditional means are not nearly as robust as before, it provides extra impetus. Here are some ideas for how that might work:

1. Alternative spaces, such as coffee shops, restaurants, building lobbies and waiting rooms. There is a skin care salon located here in tony Paradise Valley that also offers art from local artists. The patrons are a perfect demographic for art. And, they are spending leisure time in the salon on a repeat basis. It works for the artists and the salon owner on multiple levels.

2. Create your own shows. You don't have to have a gallery to do this for you. Decide you are going to do it and follow though. You can create a show in a public space; perhaps a local community college, a church, a rented hotel room. Build some excitement around the uniqueness of the show with publicity or charitable components. Plan far enough in advance to get a good date not competitive with other activities. Enlist your family and friends to help you generate word-of-mouth.

3. Web sites and blogs. Are you selling direct from either? If not, why? Of course, you don't want to compete with any established galleries with an online site or physical location. Why not have exclusives for the galleries that are promoted on your Web site or blog along with exclusive images available only through you? eBay just announced it has new pricing. Apparently, the past year has been difficult with sellers abandoning the once juggernaut for other venues. It might be worth revisiting it for another shot in 2008.

4. Work with other artists. Get other visual artists, or musicians or poets to create a happening. Find ways to collaborate on art and promotion. The group dynamic could be very dynamic and stimulating. You can use something like Meetup that offers tremendous potential to the person with energy and a good idea and a dash of promotional verve.

5. Get in catalogs. The Guild, which is one of my most favorite for indie artists, offers a tremendous platform for sales and visibility for artists through its Artful Home catalog and Guild Sourcebook. It is by far not the only one, but if you are interested, you can act now to submit to its annual juried entry submission process. The competition runs through February 29 and is administered by Juried Art Services, which you should check out for all its offerings. A catalog or sourcebook such as this is one degree of separation, but you ship directly and you get promoted and create a relationship with your customers.

Bottom line is now more than ever, you have to think and act for yourself. The more you take your situation under your own control, the better off you will be. I'm sure there are plenty of other great ideas. If you have any and want to share, the comments section below beckons.

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