My journey as a professional, fine art painter began at the very end of the 90s…and this is where I’d like to begin my story of a peculiar art experience in a Carmel art gallery. I was fresh out of college. As a young ambitious artist who was full of optimism and excitement, it was easy to have a lot romantic ideas about the art world. To those of you who aren’t artists, the Art World (as it’s often referred to by working artists) is composed of the people and business channels that bring art to art collectors and the public in general…and it is actually a very big business. The art world is a billion dollar business. People need art…like some people need sports.
{The pic featured above is pretty funny…it’s from my first photo shoot—I dread photos—for Carmel art gallery biography info sheets. And actually this shoot produced a whole bunch of cringe-worthy photos…not super professional considering the background is my parent’s backyard…but hey, I had bio pics for galleries!}
By the time I was ready to begin showing my paintings to the public, some big shifts in the art market were occurring. One was that Thomas Kinkade had brought a tremendous amount of art in the form of offset prints into the homes of people who would never have otherwise purchased ‘art’ in any form. If you were one of those collectors, you will remember that the offset prints were called lithographs (not to be confused with true printmaking lithographs…which perhaps I will explain on some other day). These were the numbered paper prints that were typically in additions of a couple hundred (for artists like myself)…to editions of fifty-thousand, as was the case for Kincade. He actually got quite creative with his huge editions by also offering multiple sizes (starting a number 1 for each size) and he had them numbered (again starting at number 1) in different language and numeral formulas. And then when giclee technology started to gain steam, he promoted prints on canvas where ‘master highlighters’ would paint dabs of acrylic over the canvas to help the print look closer to an original—a technique that is still popular with artists today.
Another cringable pic from this photo shoot. I’m not even looking at the camera. The other embarrassing part is that my dad was a professional photographer. I mean, really Dad, couldn’t we have set up a bit for this shoot?
Love him or hate him, he helped bring art mainstream—he was a very hard working oil painter and that in itself is admirable (may he rest in peace). Though his work was not to my personal taste, I respected him for his achievements. I’ll stop talking about Kindade’s business now—the timeframe simply puts my story into better perspective.
Some of those (Kincade) collectors realized they enjoyed owning art, that it enriched their lives…and they then went on to then purchase from other artists at fine art festivals and galleries. This time frame was a renaissance for artists like myself and it was also just slightly before you could buy good looking faux decorative art in every big box store. As I was living close to Carmel-by-the-sea at the time, I had a dream to have my paintings represented and sold through a Carmel art gallery. This early ambition lead to a valuable, peculiar first lesson in the art world…and score one of my first gallery representation opportunities, which lasted…2 whole days!
Before I elaborate about this peculiar art experience in a Carmel art gallery, I need to back up slightly. Two weeks prior, a completely different Carmel art gallery owner had accepted a couple of my paintings into her space and told me to come back the next week with my work. I did…but as I walked down Ocean Avenue, I couldn’t find her gallery! Then I backed up and told my mom, who was often with me in search of galleries in those years, that the gallery was gone! Her entire shop was completely empty.
To most people with normal jobs, it might seem crazy that an art gallery could fold overnight…but sadly, it’s not exactly rare. In the years to come, I had overheard more than one gallery on phone calls to collection agencies. It’s a tough business with expensive overhead as people tend to purchase fine art when on vacation and vacation towns have expensive rent, etc.. On that very da my Carmel art gallery hunt simply began again…only this time we walked down a side street off Ocean Avenue…and I had originals to show.
Carmel-by-the-sea is full of charming, vintage buildings. Back in Carmel’s hey-day (think circa mid-Century), it was a two week destination location and art galleries thrived. In fact, art galleries didn’t need to keep in touch with clients like they do today because there were always new people coming into town ready to buy oil paintings and sculptures. The parents of the Baby Boomers were huge patrons of the arts. And the time was different. You couldn’t purchase faux decorative art—not that there’s anything wrong with that, I mean, I’ve had decorative framed prints of my Hawaiian paintings sold in big box stores…but back then, if you didn’t want ‘something’ on velvet then you purchased original oil paintings.
By the year 2000, Carmel was bursting at the seams with fine art galleries. Art galleries were in every nook and cranny. There weren’t enough places to dine and soon an ordinance would be passed to limit the number of galleries to bring a bit of balance back to the town. The gallery that we encountered on the day that I had originals with me was open to my work was in a quaint mid-century modern building—a ski lodge-esque type of building—and the name of the man we encountered was Axel…or Alex…I can’t quite remember so I’ll just call him Axel.
Axel appreciated my paintings and he was a seasoned veteran galleriest from New York. In addition to the originas that I had on hand, I showed him a creatively made portfolio that folded out like an accordion book. He asked me to bring in a large tropical/modern fruit still life that was in the portfolio—it was the painting that spoke to him most.
This is the actual painting that this story is about…part of my cringe-worthy photo shoot for artist bios…and surely every artist has a shoot like this one early in their career. This was film…so you got what you got…and you couldn’t preview.
I’ll refrain from using the name of the gallery as it no longer exists. I’m pretty sure that this specific gallery became a casualty of the recession/s that hit the early 2000s. And to explain the problem with my work in the gallery…turns out the this art gallery had a second owner who turned out to be the primary owner—Bill. And Bill was also the gallery’s feature artist.
Axel ,being a gallery partner seemed to be an odd match with opposite artistic tastes. And to be clear, Bill’s art is virtually untraceable online as an artist today…which is a shame because I rather liked his whimsical paintings. After 20 years in the business myself, I can see all of this from his perspective…it’s just that I personally would have handled the situation a bit differently.
The day my oversized painting was delivered, I drove into Carmel and met Bill for the first time (and Axel for the second)…and the interaction was very uncomfortable as it was a surprise to discover that the gallery was owned by someone other than the person I thought I was doing business with. I sensed that my work wouldn’t be there long—I could see the displeasure on Bill’s face…and it wasn’t like my painting was hung in a prime location—it was hung low on an off wall. That said, space is at a prime in any Carmel art gallery.
The problem with my tropical fruit painting was that the primary gallery owner, Bill, didn’t authorize bringing my painting into the gallery in the first place. The painting was very large and it was framed with a wide, ornate frame and the inside matting was a linen liner that included a gold fillet—very elegant and stylish for circa 2000.
In fact I had been summoned to the gallery via a phone call earlier that day…and it was a very uncomfortable experience to see a power struggle between the two gallery owners—one who absolutely felt that my work would be a great asset to the gallery…and the other, the primary gallery owner, who didn’t have an original say in the decision to hang my work in the gallery. It truly wasn’t a prime spot yet it helped grab attention to the wall due to the size. I wish I had the foresight to bring my camera and snap of picture of it hanging there for prosperity…but I knew going into the situation that afternoon that there was displeasure.
Another awesome pic from this shoot. Did I even look at the camera once? I guarantee my dad could have directed me to when he was going to snap the pic. He was a successful wedding photographer! Like I said…cringable pics…
The price of the painting was also in dispute. Axel and I had settled on 4000 dollars. For those of you who do not know how galleries work, it’s a 50/50 split and I had a few hundred dollars into the framing. I also drove a BMW convertible and therefore paid to have my painting driven in and professionally delivered. For circa 200 (and today!) and considering that this was the famed art hot spot, Carmel-by-the-sea, 4000 USD certainly wasn’t a fortune to ask for a painting.
In the end, my beautiful tropical fruit still life painting hung in a Carmel art gallery for 2 days! Do you think that I added this to my resume??? Absolutely! Only I left out the part about the 2 days.
As the years progressed and as my career bloomed, I saw this Carmel art gallery owner at a few events, one being the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show at the Cow Palace in the early 2000s. He absolutely deserved credit for getting out there beyond the walls of his art gallery to present his work. Today, I’m not sure where he shows or if he still paints…but I’m glad to have had this odd experience—it taught me that a galley can have a more complex business dynamic behind the scenes. Experiences like this one have helped shape my perspective in doing business in the arts and has made me into the successful, professional artist and businesswoman that I am today.
{The watercolor paintings that you see here are from my Paradise Fruits Series, which were quite gorgeous—and they are available as fine art prints in multiple sizes and on numerous surfaces}.
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