To Brand or not to Brand or How
to keep your art fresh
There are some
truisms in life. Artists want to be known. Artists want to sell their
work. Preferably artists would
like to do both: be known and sell their
work. That is where the conundrum comes in. To become a salable
quantity
to an art gallery requires consistency. Namely, as an artist you produce
consistently salable artwork in a timely fashion so the gallery and you can
make money.
Art gallery clients appear to value consistency and to some degree trends.
The art gallery and
your clientele accumulate your work on the premise that your style or
“brand” of artwork will stay
the same or evolve slowly over time.
This is a fine
working system until one of two things happen. One, the public becomes
saturated
with the particular style that you work in. The second is possibly more
ominous: you are bored
with the work, but need the “boring
work” to sell while you transition to a
new style. Both are indicative of a change is in the air.
One evening,
we invited a couple to dinner. The guy, Mordecai, was a 40 hour a week
outside salesman. His
dream before marriage was to be a bass player. His
dream was to play bass and “mine the groove” of bass
playing for his entire
bass playing career. The reciting of the bass
playing dream was recounted with due
reverence. It would never occur to
Mordecai that one day
the groove would be tapped out. It was
incomprehensible just like it is to
a large segment of the population that dreams of“one day I will quit my job
and pursue my passion”. What happens after the passion dims?
Finding an
answer what direction to take your style next is challenging. There is no
right or wrong. Usually there
is no one to help you with the answer. It is
a voyage of discovery.
When your
style of art feels flat and dead you need to innovate not completely discard
it. For instance if you paint delicate lilting florals; it would be jarring
to your audience for them to see you painting screamingly bright and
colorful abstracts. It stuns your clients who would then wonder
that if you were doing a commission for them what would they receive? The
client who asked for
a subtle wafting floral – would they get a hard-edged geometric in riotous
colors?
Innovation can
mean using different colors. Using the same colors in your palette
differently. Using larger or
different shaped canvases. Maybe even
introducing different elements into the art. For stone sculptors it could
mean introducing some brass or steel into your work. Also if the sculpture
has been monolithic up til now try a grouping of stones (think Stonehenge
for an over the top grouping).
The wonderful
part of exploring is that one of two things can happen. First you will be
overjoyed
with the result.
The joy will show in your work. Your clients will wonder
why you stuck with the old style so long. This is a Duh! moment.
The other
result could be that the innovation tried was okay but not as good as you
thought. Another innovation will need to be tried. But, in the meantime, going back
to the old style is like coming home again. It is always nice to
go back to
the people that love you and your current work.
You can have
it both ways!
