Extreme career change

 

Most of my professional life was spent in what some people call IT (Information Technology) but that term has become so dissolute it is difficult to call yourself an “IT” person without explaining what it is exactly that you do. Would dare to say that are more disciplines under the IT umbrella than any other career. Hence I have taken to call myself a technologist .

That pretty much covers everything, from flashing a ROM BIOS to writing code for a SilverLight page. Throw database design in there, management, financial, contract skills, P&L responsibilities and if you have owned you own Web Design company well. Let’s say your resume is NOT going to be 2 pages REGARDLESS of what your headhunter demands.

 

My career was very good to me , until Sept 11 2001 – all seemed to collapse including my health  I suffered what was diagnosed as having Post Traumatic Stress Disorder . For a type A personality like mine that was REALLY not good, because the fall is so tremendous. One day you are flying to Basil signing contracts and coming back on a private yet and a few days later you do not want to get your head from under the blanket. I hit bottom, just like a junkie or an alcoholic. I recuperated somewhat to find myself in an economic tsunami. Offshore outsourcing, salaries that in no way represented a fraction of my previous life. Being an “employee” to superiors whom you day after day would like to hit with something blunt right on the forehead  and wondering “why” does HE ( I don’t say SHE because no she was ever part of this debacle) have this job making ¼ a mill a year ? WHY. My conclusion, sheer luck. They say YOU MAKE YOUR OWN LUCK and that is total BS. Yes you make your own luck if you are already lucky.

 

If you can travel first class or drop, a $100k donation on a charity event chances are you will meet someone who will advance your career. But let me know how an un-employed early 50s man makes “his own luck” . No positive thinking work, the only thing that works is to look at your life assess your position, and remap your strategy. I faced it “IT” was never going to be IT again and the young crowd coming up although sorely lacking experience worked for a hell of a lot less money that you could because they did NOT have a $750k mortgage. So you think, and just as the person we have all heard that sold everything one day and went to the Himalayas to pray with the monks you have to make THAT decision. Not as EXTREME , I still like some fine things in life and you will be surprised how many of THOSE things have given you so much pleasure and you have become so familiar with that you ”could” call yourself an expert. Therefore, I began doing silly things like writing a political commentary and sending it to a “letters to the editor” and surprisingly I got a reply asking if I was a writer and would like to expand more on my idea as an article. “Woah.. I said.. and you get paid for this ? “yes you DO!

That took me to blogging and that sent me into a whole different world where I would see my ramblings being quoted by the MSM –(that is Main Stream Media) and all of  a sudden you are a pundit . But that is no JOB. You do not find yourself with an everyday routine and honestly, there were days when I just did not have a THOUGHT in my mind. Then serendipitously a cousin asked me a favor. He had embedded himself into a group of artists in Cuba and their work was being sold at what THEY thought were GREAT prices, but because the politics between the USA and Cuba the BIG money (here in the USA) evaded them.

In my youth (and I am going back to my early teens) I showed great promise as an artist. Enough so, that the Cuban government had singled me out to attend a prestigious Art school in Havana, the problem was, that my family did not sympathize with the government and whatever they tell you, there is NO equality in a Communist country. However, I remained a pretty good artist and upon coming to the USA, my art teachers here also decided I had a “future”. The thing was that every painter that would come lecture us was living in some god forsaken hole in Greenwich Village , “suffering” for their art. And, I am just NOT the suffering type, sorry. Had I wanted misery and squalor I would had stayed in Cuba! But things as I said do seem to come full circle and this email arrives “Can you help us? Can you give us some business guidance, perhaps promote the work, what can YOU do for these people?. If you were an artist once your sensitivities do not go away , you can tell good art from bad art . You can tell a trend from a style. You can see a lucky “masterpiece” from a repeatable model where each piece in their own shows unique qualities that SCREAM at you: GENIUS!

 

If you are an arts lover, you can tell that the first typical “Pollock” was an epiphany NOTHING like it had been done. I guess the same with the first Van Gogh or even with the later smoke and mirrors as I call them, the Warhol’s, the Basquiat’s (oh lord) you can see how this work would attract a certain following.

So I said “whattahell” send me some pictures and let us see what the Revolution has produced. To my utter surprise, I was looking at GENIUS. Some of the works were derivative , some contrived pastiches of 50 different styles , but 2 or 3 were genuine overwhelming in their maturity they freshness their techniques and THAT “thing” that grabs you by the throat when you are in front of something destined to become classic.

 

And most of all, any of these pieces could had been painted ANYPLACE in the world , there was not a “proletariat” seal on any of them , there was no formula produced by the fact that as lousy their lives are the country itself is blessed with incredible beauty . You did not see palm trees, or pristine beaches as you didn’t see any hammer and sickle.These were NOT Cuba Centric, these were works that anyone could relate to.

The opportunity became my own epiphany. Do I continue a career which is starting to be more and more painful everyday and carrying diminish returns the longer you worked at it or do you take a chance at something that can hardly be called a “job” but more than anything else it is a dedication. I do not do things tentatively, I have been called a fantastic tactician in business but  a mediocre strategist. And I do not play well with strategists because once I break the strategy to the granular level of tactical maneuvers I see myself looking back at something that was not accounted for on move 12 -Oh I have to clarify , I am a pretty good chess player and my conversations are sprinkled with Chess jargon and that is how I work. So I have had enough tactical engagements in which I have pushed my tactics in a way that will eventually change the strategy , but the results are the same . Checks mate the opposition.

 

So I THROW intoto this ART opportunity and in a very few months I have to learn a LOT . The most difficult thing to learn was that I was going to do this by myself and invest my own money –“NEVER INVEST YOUR OWN MONEY” (I KNOW)   but banks were not thrilled at all about a Virtual (online) art gallery in the midst of this economic catastrophe , can not blame them. I also learned that the art world is a secretive as devious and as incestuous that writing about it could make a best seller for Dan Brown. Forget about the illuminati they are a bunch of boy scouts, so how do *I* penetrate this circle? A circle managed pretty much like the diamond business is managed. Supply and demand strictly controlled , under the table deals so intricate and backstabbings so common with war plans so intricate that it would take months to find out to whom the piece would be eventually sold and what steps would be taken so when it reached the final buyer , the piece would be worth 4 times what it was when the buyer first showed interest for it.

 

You do not enter this sphere, you must be invited. ARNET for example has a tremendous reputation for middle market pieces and does a lot of business online . I applied as a seller ( I jumped the gun. I DID have one artist of international fame Nelson Dominguez. His works have been sold to Steven Spielberg, Sean Penn , The royal Museum in Tokio, Liv Ullman etc. There are three books about this guys artistry and he is considred one of the best contemporary painters in Latin America , to  some the best. But In Cuba they have no sense of capitalism, no sense of marketing, no sense of repeat business so my entry in this circle could had been expedited with a call to Mr. Spielberg.”Hey Steven I have 3 brand new pieces by Nelson and they are here in NY and they have been sanctioned to leave the country and I will fly the pieces on MY dime to your door that is HOW sure I am you will buy at least one of these.

Now I have a name of a collectionist  who is worldwide famous in whole different circles and who bought 2 Nelson Dominguez’s . I had direct contact with artist I had provenance (which I will explain in a sec) and I had current owner who happens to be A NAME. Manna from heaven I thought !  One problem though , the artist in Cuba had not written down one single note about the transaction in fact there was no proof at all that Steven Spielberg had actually bought this piece!

They did not know the price, the dates, they didn’t take any personal information such as an address a phone number an email address.. They sold the painting in Cuba as you would sell a set of Maracas. But to a Cuban, this is enough. “hey we sold id it *I* swear”  but the day they sold it they were so plastered on Cuban Rum they had no idea what it was they sold!

And here begins the problems.

 

In one hand I have my hands on a cache of artwork that overall could be in the millions, they are at my disposal. There are pieces already sold hanging in VERY prestigious places but to the artists it was just a transaction I do NOT have that ever magic provenance.

 

That is the legal equivalent to your police record. Every step of the way must be accounted for. From the day you finished the piece to the current owner, how long was the piece with one collector , what has been the financial growth of the piece , calculate price through a probability chart, consider the importance of the owners, their role (collector or dealer) did it sell through auction ? What was the expected price and what did it sell for and then  try to come up to  a realistic selling price t on the day when someone tells you they are interested. I also noticed that “Art critics” had very little influence in the selling of a piece.

 

 Akiane the famous child prodigy whose original art regularly fetches 6 figures is constantly blasted by critics. And sometimes they are right, I mean you flung enough “merde” to the wall something is bound to stick. Now does she produce a masterpiece on EVERYONE of her  paintings? Nope ! Some are rather sophomoric pieces of absolute crap. And I am NOT using subjective “taste”” here, I am using technical mathematical principles of art. Choices of color overall composition, balance, perspective, rhythm, symmetry etc.. All are elements that may be discerned without having to make a decision whether you like it or not. As cold as this may sound ART can be broken down to mundane mathematics (so is music by the way). If you have the inclination GOOGLE “Golden Ratio” it will tell you why Elizabeth Hurley IS beautiful and Steve Buscemi  is not handsome. So beautiful can be scientifically measured.

 

But even though she has magnificent work her highest sale to date was to a Texan millionaire who paid (and I may be wrong on this number by few thousand) but it was over $120,000.00

 

You look at the piece and wonder “why? “And then you realize the focal point of the piece is a white horse on a snowy scene. Hey, the man is Texan , loking at a horse!, Gawd Damn little lady I Sure  LIKE IT and that is what’s REALLY important.

 

Because the piece sold for that much the provenance of the piece its pedigree went through the stratosphere, and the price is no longer dictated by the piece itself it is the history behind the piece.

So you learn quickly that because YOU - as a dealer - have to take a LOT of factors into consideration to come up with a price that makes sense, unless you happen to run into a Latin American Mogul who happens to like Mangoes. Nad you have a Painting with a basket full of Mangoes.

 

And here I am surrounded by what I think are masterpieces that still smell of oils and turpentine but I do NOT have ANYTHING to back up my claims of pedigree. “ A well known collectionist  paid X for  Y piece”  Hell of a sales pitch.

 

Since I am handling this Cuban painters a few Latin American painters have approached me and even a very good painter from South Korea (we have representation there) have approached us to “handle” them and to my utter surprise, they are as clueless as the people in Cuba are. And I am not talking about young men and women starting out I am talking about people with works owned by the ex-presidents of Mexico and one with a Mural at Samsung headquarters! GREAT when, how, how much, what was the story … “weellllll er don’t remember I was so damn happy I just took the money.

 

The fellow in Korea doesn’t even have a picture of his mural and can not get inside Samsung to take a damn picture.!

 

Before I got myself into this I used to think that dealers and brokers were all a bunch of thieves living off the starving artist . As I find out,.it is the dealer or broker who takes ALL the risks while the painter paints and REALLY does not want to talk business, but surely wants to be a millionaire.

Therefore, your first job when you start and do not have a lot of money and want to introduce what you feel is a potential gold mine into the circle you must TRAIN the artist.  Or someone close to him to document what is being done  AND , if you are going to spend ANY money on an unknown make sure that there’s a contract that a big percentage of the a sale goes to  pay for whatever you put upfront. ANYTHING AT ALL . A FED-EX letter to an interested party, A Dozen roses to a secretary at an important gallery that got you a meeting with the owner. In other words when you sell that first piece at a substantial price the payment to the artist is pretty much “ I GOT YOUR NAME OUT THERE” and he/she should be DELIGHTED that you had the confidence to put that money upfront and invested in THEIR future, NOT YOURS  and again you may become friends and you will like the artist and hang out but ..  Write everything and make it sign it while you make sure  there are NOT under the influence of anything. Yes it can be a LOT of fun to find someone whose work you KNOW will one day hang at the MoMA , but do not fall in love . It is a business  and once you bust your ass to get those first  5 or 6 pieces sold , pieces that - granted - the painter did not make much money on , you paid them with something MUCH MORE IMPORTANT , you put them on their way to the holy grail of the $100k club , and when that happens they will show up and tell you , sorry I am gonna work with “this” other people their commissions are a lot lower than yours !  Yes because they are picking up a fully known entity , they HAVE the rolodex , the gallery on 5^th Ave in NY  and they will not blink at asking $175,000 for a piece that you may have had to sell at $75,000 and bang on a lot of doors to do so.

Do not think you will waltz your way into the “circle”  even after you “discover” the next big thing you will NOT be invited to the opening at the 5^th Ave gallery , so BE fair to the artist , but do not take food from your mouth to feed him . it sounds VERY romantic , but it only happens in movies.  Make your money as you grow the value of the artist. if you are lucky ONE will stick with you and that ONE will bring YOU into the circle where you can have the openings with the champagne and caviar. In the meantime try to find Steven Spielberg’s private address , send him a letter telling him you have two pieces by so and so , someone whose work you know he likes and pray to GOD that you were not being bulshitted about that famous sale.

 

Oh , and when an artist tells you they sold one piece at $125,000 ask them to whom , when and how many more has he sold at THAT price . Not many Texans millionaires out there willing to part with $125,000 out of a sentimental pang.  One lucky Strike does not mean the artist is in that league and if they insist in a price were you know you will not make any money, just let them loose. Do not pamper the dellucional it is NOT worth the agrvation and for each of the ones you loose thare are 10000 waiting to get a chance to be on your web site.

 

Another important thing to keep in mind….

If you are like me and are doing your work mostly on a web site while banging at galleries and sending   catalogs to whatever names you have been able to gather . While that piece is on your web site, YOU HAVE commissions rights to the piece. I was recently hit with the news to take down two pieces because they had been sold (the pieces had been on the site for 3 months) . I was not told for how much , to whom  just “they were sold” so as you are spending money promoting the  pieces AND the artist (This was someone noone knows but has a GREAT future and I promoted the crap out of him on the site , emails blasts etc. ) , someone flew to Cuba , asked around (Not a big place and everyone knows each other) went to the painters home and he bought the paintings directly from the artist.  The story was that the fellow had not even seen the web site  so I was not entitled to any commission. Unfortunately for me legal documents with a Cuban artist  and someone in the USA, they pretty much use as toilet paper. I am POSITIVE these were sold for $1,000 each at the most and probably on credit. “The yank will give you the money on the NEXT trip” everyone looses (except the buyer) SO whether is Cuba , Mexico or Korea do NOT promote anything you do NOT have in your hands and if something like this happens , just keep one of the paintings you DO have as commission for the money you were entitled to but never got.

 

If you are interested in seeing the website , it is www.force-agency.com look at Nelson Dominguez and Esteban Leyva’s work !