Jonathan Ball on Painting and Exclusivity

An interview between Jonathan Ball and Mélanie Grenier

Jonathan Ball is a young Canadian artist currently living and working in Toronto, Canada. In 2010 he has received an emerging artist award from the Ontario Arts Council. Current Artsline editor Mélanie Grenier asked him to talk about his work and exclusive relationship with the Liss Gallery in Toronto.

If you ask Jonathan, he describes his work as Sci-fi Neo Expressionism, or Neo Expressionistic Futurism. He wants his work to be perceived as dark but hopeful, and beautiful but ugly. Indeed, to look at most of his work requires a pause, a moment to take the image in and absorb what one is witnessing. His work is sublime, colorful, evocative, but most of all inspiring.

His work is exclusively shown at Liss Gallery located in Toronto’s Yorkville area, a trendy and chic neighborhood. This location allows new audiences and a more international clientele to view his work mainly due to its location in Toronto. Yorkville Avenue is an internationally known street comparable to Rodeo Drive in L.A. or Broadway Avenue in New York. It is an artist ambition to have work carried by a reputable gallery in a prestigious area. Jonathan describes this exclusive relationship as a good fit: his paintings are unique enough to stand out and good enough to fit in.

Relationships between galleries and artists can range from one-time commitments to multi-year contracts with stipends and formal production timeframes. When considering exclusivity, artists face numerous decisions to define the notion of exclusivity in their contract with a gallery. Considerations range from exclusivity with dealing with one gallery to aspects of the selling capacity to exclusivity defined by location such as city or state or country. Of course this does not give us the extent of the possibilities with partnerships or the inevitable control over charitable gifts and studio sales to avoid resale at lower prices. The rise of Internet sales and social media is also likely to affect the nature of the exclusivity contracts between artists and
galleries.

For Jonathan, the choice to target a segmented audience is also reflected in his choice of associations. The latest incarnation of this occurred during the Toronto International Film Festival, which is one of Toronto’s most notable events. As a tribute to the festival he created a show of painted works that were based on film stills of classic movies. Movies such as The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Wild One, and Rebel Without a Cause to name a few, were all apart of the body of work. Jonathan has also auctioned work for the Canadian Foundation For Aids Research and other charitable events including those for fellow artists.

Jonathan’s positioning in different magazines and appearances on television also reflect his desire to position his art in a more exclusive urban market. Jonathan has been in numerous publications, including Toronto’s Where Magazine, Where Essentials, and ARTnews. He has been interviewed on television stations such as Rogers Cable, and City TV. In 2010, he received an emerging artist award from the Ontario Arts Council.

Demystifying Non-Profit Art Galleries

7 interview questions asked to Orlando Pelliccia

Orlando Pelliccia is the Director of the Leonard Pearlstein Gallery located in Nesbitt Hall in the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts and Design at Drexel University in Philadelphia. The Pearlstein Gallery is committed to exhibiting the work of local, national, and international

contemporary artists and designers.

1. How do you find the artists you represent?

Most of the Artists shown by the Pearlstein come by way of nomination or sponsorship fostered by a particular department or faculty member within Westphal College. About 3 shows a season are Rankin scholars and represent any number of fields pertinent to the design world or fine arts; each is nominated by a faculty member and chosen by a committee. Considerations would include pertinence to a program, excellence of the work and frequency with which the subject has been shown in the past. We rotate.

2. How do you insure their work represent your vision?

This is a college gallery and not a personal or commercial venture. Its purpose is to make available to the students and faculty outstanding work associated with the areas of study undertaken in Westphal. To that end the curatorial process does not involve a personal vision it is more a winnowing of applicants and suggestions.

3. What kind of relationship exists between you and the artist?

Very little. Our relationship is most direct with the sponsoring party and rarely with the artist.

4. How do you adjust to the fluctuating trends and consumer needs?

We don't, although we do show the work of people currently active in their fields.

5. So the art market is global. But is it efficient?

At selling work? Yes. Does that validate work as good or important? No more so than it ever has, probably very little. China and India are big in the art market these days, big money collectors and burgeoning artists but most of the new work is derivative and pretty poor. The best new work is still coming out of the US, East and West Coast, Germany, France and England. The collectors will be courted for their money and their eyes and tastes will refine, the artists will take longer.

6. Do you think the future of arts galleries will involve more partnerships and new business

models?

I don't really speculate on this issue. Galleries are almost always vanity businesses financially supported from outside sources and represent the ambition, vision and salesmanship of a singular figurehead. The financier and visionary are not always the same person but it happens. That does not preclude a sincere love for the art they show. I doubt there will be a new business model, vanity and self-promotion are pretty well covered in the field and have proven very effective.

Note: Art gallery business strategies and management differ amongst the different types of venues. Commercial galleries exhibit and sell artwork for artists sometimes processing commissioned work. Business strategies include cultivating relationships with artists, whose works fit the targeted market of the gallery, promoting artwork with press releases and exhibition events, selling artwork and booking commissioned work. Nonprofit Galleries are funded with private foundations, charities or government art grants like the National Endowment for the Arts. Nonprofit galleries often specialize in art that is specific to time periods, art movements or geographic regions. Nonprofit art gallery business strategies involve conducting fundraisers, forming relationships with charities, representing artists whose careers are just developing, applying for government grants and generating revenue from educational and exhibition operations. Nonprofit galleries must show that expenses are for charitable purposes; thus, many of these galleries provide artist representation without exhibition fees. Please note, Co-op Galleries and Museum Galleries also differ in their purpose and business strategies.

Marketing Your Art in the Era of Social Networking

Scott Frederick

Scott Frederick is known for his photography of land, city and urban exploration (UrbEx).  His styles vary from high dynamic range (HDR) to minimalism, fine art black and white including architecture and abstract. When not using his Nikon DSLR, he likes to shoot with the iPhone Hipstamatic app for fun. He is an avid blogger and social networker, who strives to inspire everyone to see the world through photography. He’s been awarded Editor’s Pick at HDRSpotting.com and continues to educate himself and others on new tools and techniques. 

In November of 2009 I bought my first entry-level digital SLR camera. Years before I had taken some cool shots with my first generation iPhone and point and shoot. After purchasing a much noticeable upgraded camera system, I felt a passionate desire to go out and shoot. Philadelphia is a big city and makes a great canvas for photography. I spent my time shooting at night through the first month capturing long exposures of the city with my camera mounted on a tripod. I was hooked.

Social networking has been the single greatest platform for my success today. Without it I would not be at the level of skill and notoriety throughout the photography community. With photography I started a Facebook fan page in November 2009. Within 6 months had over 1,000 fans and the interaction and feedback on my work was encouraging. I kept shooting, posting and building my brand. Eventually my fans started to spread content for me.

This month I had 150,000 viewed posts in 19 countries. This is great exposure and it has led to some print sales through my website. I have also had the opportunity to display my work at a new Avenue of the Arts Coldwell Banker office, which has led to potential commercial jobs along with some print sales. My work is on display at 2 retail galleries called Nestology in the King of Prussia Mall and I have licensed almost 30 images to a Philadelphia law firm, which consisted of stock images and assignment work.

I also host a popular PhotoBlog. Here I've had 10,000 visitors in 5 months. What is impressive with this number is the amount of interaction I get with these visits. It's really quantity over quality. Through my blog I've become an affiliate for some software companies and the largest photo and video retailers. As I inspire and educate my followers on how to use the software and equipment, I make additional income on the sales. I am also starting to host photo walks where I explain my workflow to small groups as we take photographs.

Twitter has been an amazing tool to spread my knowledge and work to other photographers. It is amazing what you can accomplish when you can teach and inspire others in your own field. That is one of the most rewarding parts about what I do. Twitter has allowed me to land a bi-monthly contribution spot to CurrentPhotographer.com. I've also been recently included in a Digital Photography School article about HDR photography done right (which is subjective) with 18 other photographers. DPS has 3.5 million visitors a month and this article is the most popular to date. My work was included with one of the most popular photographer today Trey Ratcliff. He has had over 50 million views of his images, wow! This exposure has doubled the monthly visits to my blog, which are over 4,000 visits.

I am currently included in a photography project for charity that will be promoted through Trey Ratcliff's StuckInCustoms.com site. It's currently the #1 visited travel blog in the world, and all of this came from hard work, good photography and social networking.

The New Year brings new things. New techniques, new subject matter. It brings a clearer vision once you can look back on your past year of creativity. I am looking for new ways to generate more income from my photography. I would like to find a balance of creative work and commercial contracts. Educating others on how they can improve on their HDR photography is also in the works and I plan to share my knowledge and photography around the world. It's amazing what a year can bring.

www.ScottFrederickPhotoBlog.com
www.ScottFrederickPhotography.com

Looking Back On The Auction

Jennifer Schick

Jennifer Schick is a Drexel MS candidate currently working on her thesis. She is the Operations and Exhibitions Manager at InLiquid, a nonprofit membership organization dedicated to providing opportunities and exposure for visual artists and designers, serving as a free public hub for arts information and resources, and making the visual arts more accessible to a broader audience. More than just an online presence, InLiquid also nurtures the creative community through a continuing series of venue-based art exhibitions and events.

The Arts Administration Graduate Association’s Annual Art Auction is familiar to many who read this newsletter. For those of you who are new to Artsline, the auction is organized by the Drexel arts administration graduate students in order to raise money to send students to National Arts Advocacy Day in Washington, D.C. each spring. Every year many artists and organizations donate their artwork, theater tickets, gift certificates and more to this great cause, while guests are entertained with music, food, drink, and conversation. This has traditionally been the largest public event hosted by any student organization at Drexel.

For those who have attended the AAGA Art Auction, first I say thank you! Whether you are alum, a student, a donor, faculty, or a guest, your attendance impacted the event and the cause tremendously. Those of us who have had the opportunity to organize the auction in years past, I am sure we can all say how rewarding and challenging it was. The planning involved goes well beyond the one night event. From making decisions on a location and music, to recruiting, training, and organizing volunteers, the art auction is a big and time consuming event for those involved. During my term, one of our biggest challenges, at first, was finding enough artists to donate. Typically, we use our personal resources, as well as assistance from fellow students to find artists willing to donate. In the end, the 7th Annual Art Auction received the highest number of artworks ever - and I am confident this year will be as successful.

For a volunteer board, the AAGA is a strong and talented group of students who are dedicated to not only hosting a fabulous event, but who care deeply about Drexel’s Arts Administration community. The hours the board spends on planning and organizing are astounding as it is in addition to their schoolwork and lives outside of the program. I can definitely say from experience, that while is was extremely hard and challenging work, it prepared me in many ways I could never imagine and was very rewarding. I wouldn’t change the experience for anything, and grew so much professionally through it all. The effort that goes into this event, including the planning, teamwork, and organizing involved, prepared me for the challenges I faced once I began my current position as Operations and Exhibitions Manager at InLiquid.

I started my position three short months before InLiquid’s 11th Annual Silent Auction and Benefit. The event is about three times the size of the AAGA’s auction, and hosts a full week of events and programming. The sheer size of the event, in combination of a staff one-quarter the size of the AAGA board made for a challenging experience. However, while some logistics differed between the two events, and our small staff are full time employees compared to the volunteer AAGA board, the overall work and experience is very similar. Serving on the AAGA and organizing the 6th and 7th annual art auctions positioned me well to jump into the preparation for an event where the planning was well under way at least six months before I began my position. 

When you attend the auction this year (and I urge all of you reading this to do so), as you enjoy yourself and bid high on the fabulous artwork in the new venue at The Gallery, take a moment to look around to notice all the effort that was put into this one-night event. Find an AAGA board member and thank them. They have spent countless hours on the event, which raises crucial funds for students to travel to Washington to advocate for the arts. That is, after all, where our passions and jobs are. 

See you there!