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Besides the obvious reason that it simply appeals to you, is representational painting still relevant in today’s high-tech, fast-paced digital world?

The answer is a resounding YES! The more chaotic the world gets, the more important art becomes.

Purchasing an archival-quality oil painting by an emerging or established artist is generally a very sound investment. From a purely financial standpoint, a good painting should appreciate in value over time as the artist’s standing and reputation grows. How much the painting appreciates depends on the level of accomplishment the artist achieves. But even if it only appreciates a little, it’s still a better investment than most everything else in your life, which requires repeated replacement or constant consumption. Let's say you spend $1000 on a painting you love. The artist takes the money (which wouldn't even buy a decent laptop, and it would be obsolete in a few years) and pays a few bills and it's gone. You on the other hand have a wonderful piece of art to enjoy for the rest of your life!

Financial considerations aside, the real reason fine art is a great investment is about quality of life. Money can’t buy happiness, but a great painting can generate feelings of happiness, calm, nostalgia, remembrance, joy, and more each time you look at it in your home.

A great painting can light up a room. It occupies its own space. And no it doesn’t need to match your couch or decor. It simply needs to speak to you, to give you a moment to pause and think about what’s important in life. Most of the trappings of our daily lives are just accessories -- clothes go out of fashion, cars break down, furniture wears out. But a great painting continues to live for generations.

Few things allude to your intelligence and taste like an original painting in your home.

In these times of cutbacks, teaching our children the value of art is almost entirely up to their parents, as schools eliminate arts programs altogether. A great painting represents the law of increasing returns. Over time it becomes a cherished member of the family.

As the world seems to lose its way, art provides positive and fertile ground for the intelligent creative mind. Art bridges across cultures, continents and class. Art relieves stress and helps keep us grounded. Since the days of the caveman, art has held up our hopes, dreams, fears, and creativity for all to share. Art is a universal language, as the world becomes increasingly divided art has the power to help unite us. A great painting is the result not only of the artist’s vision, but also a skillful execution in paint, a story told one stroke at a time. Artists often experience flow/joy/discovery when they are deep in the creative process.

Collectors share that passion and creativity when they bring art into their home.

Yes, I know your walls are full. But unless you're a serious collector, chances are that you have more than one piece of 'decor' that you're not completely in love with anymore. Why not replace it with a piece of original art, something of real value, beauty and interest.

I am always stunned when I visit a nice home with no original art on the walls. The average person thinks nothing of spending thousands of dollars on all the ‘stuff’ that depreciates, but never really considers what a great value original art really is. For less than the cost of a new computer, or spring wardrobe, you can acquire an original oil painting that will enrich your life and quite possibly appreciate in value over time.

One of the tenets of happiness is stepping outside your day to day routine, and looking at life from a new perspective. Art provides that window.

Copyright - Cody DeLong.com 

The Oil Painters of America, in their Summer 2009 issue of Brushstrokes, posed the question below. I responded with the comments that follow.

A Question of Ethics
(From the summer 2009 issue of Brushstrokes)

You are newly affiliated with a fine art gallery and have a contract with them for the purpose of selling your artwork on a consignment basis. The gallery has hosted an opening to introduce you as their newest artist. Printed invitations were mailed to their clients, press releases were placed in newspapers, and gallery staff has promoted your art work. They are showing a good selection of your work and want to rotate paintings on a regular schedule. In short, the gallery has invested some time and capital in promoting you. The relationship is new but off to a good start. No paintings have sold yet. An important client of this gallery contacts you and expresses a wish to visit your studio and view work other than what the gallery is showing. The client also asks if your selling price is any different than the gallery price.

OPA wants to know how you the artist would handle this scenario.

My reply:
In response to your question of ethics in the summer issue of Brushstrokes.

You can have your cake and eat it too. In today’s world of search engines and websites, most potential buyers know they can find an artist online, contact them and possibly make a deal directly with the artist. It has become a common practice and one I have experienced several times. It truly is a question of ethics on the part of the artist. Anytime someone contacts me with a request to visit my studio or purchase a painting directly, the first thing I ask is “How did you hear about me?”

If they found me through my own marketing efforts then fine, but if they found out about me via your aforementioned new gallery, then I owe the gallery a commission for anything that transpires with this client, period.

When someone tries to circumvent the gallery, they are obviously trying to cut a better deal, but often they’re also genuinely interested in meeting the artist and seeing their workspace. My goal is to satisfy the client and the gallery, so I say “sure you can come by my studio, and yes I have some room to negotiate on price”. This is what the client wants to hear, what I don’t tell them is that the gallery also has room to negotiate on price, (the gallery and I have already agreed that I will accept 10-15% off for good clients and multiple sales). I will simply offer the same discount, make the sale, and then send a check to the gallery for their fair share. Usually I give the gallery just a little less than if they had made the sale since I am taking the time to deal with the client, perhaps they get 20% instead of the 40% they might get for sales directly through the gallery. This is fair and believe me, few things make a gallery owner more happy than receiving a check they were not expecting from an artist. Along with the check I also include the contact information of the client so the gallery can add them to their marketing list. I am an artist in mid-career, god willing I may have another 20-30 good painting years left, I’m in it for the long haul and I’m interested in long-term relationships with my galleries.

The gallery and I are business partners, what if your sister were managing the gallery, you wouldn’t cheat your sister would you? I know some artists live hand to mouth and the short term gains of a direct sale might be tempting, but think about the big picture. Let’s say the gallery has two artists of about equal skill and sales. They have a last minute opportunity to add an artist to a show, or use them for some publicity. One artist has shown a high level of personal integrity towards the gallery, who do you think they will promote first? And who will they be interested in investing in over the long haul with regard to advertising? If you are in this for the long haul, the answer is an easy one.

CodyDeLong.com

This is my response to Robert Genn's post The New Template, where he comments on recent gallery closings.

My response;

I think most galleries are missing a great opportunity here. Instead of practicing scarcity and trying in vain to keep customers from finding artist’s websites (impossible, ever heard of a Google search?) I propose the gallery practice abundance, and search out a few good up-and-comers and create a new arrangement. It works like this. The artist gets representation, including perhaps some co-op advertising, and exposure in a better area than where they might live. Plus there’s the gallery’s client list which, if the gallery is worth their salt, is far superior to the artist’s mailing list.

The artist agrees to send the gallery their best work from each month’s total output, in season. The gallery embraces the artist’s own website, perhaps even promoting the artist’s website right alongside the gallery’s. Am I crazy? (crickets) It's a business. Every avenue should be used to raise the profile of the artist’s work, this is after all what you’re selling. Now when a potential client visits the artist’s website, each image that’s currently on display in the gallery will say “Available at Intelligent Savvy Gallery” with a direct link to that gallery. The gallery gets the benefit of any PR efforts the artist does which brings traffic to the artist’s site, which now has lots of links back to the gallery’s site, where most of the actual sales will occur. The idea is you work together – artist and gallery, like business partners.

Here’s the catch, if a gallery want’s to represent an artist, they must actually put up some significant wall space, in season, and promote. The artist in turn helps promote, and gives the gallery their best work. Will some clients bypass the gallery and buy some of the “B” paintings directly from the artist? Yes, undoubtedly some of that will occur, but as the artist’s skill and reputation grows, the best work (in the gallery) will bring higher prices, sales will increase in volume, and before long the artist is selling nearly everything worthwhile through the gallery (or two) and will have no time to mess with the “B” paintings anyway. (In my case, I always ask collectors where they heard about me, and if it was from the aforementioned gallery, then I quietly send a check to the gallery for those sales). The artist is motivated by the exposure to a better level of clientele than they might find on their own.

Using this model means many galleries will have to cut their roster of artists down to a level where they can give each one a respectable amount of wall space, time and energy. The old ‘shotgun’ approach of splattering 60+ artists on the wall to see what sticks, is dead. They will have to choose artists who are honest and have long term business goals and, some genuine skill. The artist must be productive and communicate with the gallery regularly. Most artists only need about three or four galleries if each one is moving some work in season.

Look, most professional artists I know really don’t want to spend a lot of time marketing themselves, everything is measured in terms of ‘time away from the easel’. They do it in a serious way only when their gallery has failed them. We much prefer delivering good work to a gallery that’s actively marketing for us – online, advertising, mailing list, shows in season, etc.

Galleries were once successful based on building relationships with art buyers who walked in the door. Some of that needs to be done online now, but they also need to treat their artists like business partners to survive. The end of one era marks the beginning of the new. I think the best galleries will adapt, and the best artists will continue to be successful.

CodyDeLong.com