Being an Independent Artist, Less Secure but Free

Here’s a quote I came across in Janson’s The History of Art, and which I like exceedingly well: “To subject the artist to the impersonal pressure of supply and demand in an egalitarian society is not necessarily worse than to make him depend on the favor of princes. The lesser men will tend to become specialists, steadily producing their marketable pictures, while artists of independent spirit, perhaps braving public indifference and economic hardship, will paint as they please and rely for support on the discerning minority. . . Even the greatest masters were sometimes hard-pressed (it was not unusual for an artist to keep an inn, or run a small business on the side). Yet they survived – less secure, but freer.” (pp. 424-25) I salute those artists, like myself, whose fiercely independent spirit keeps them free despite the hardship they must endure.

More on the Branding of Art

A well-established painter here has started calling himself “a baroque artist for the 21st century,” (I thought most artists were ba-roke – ha, ha), but, frankly, I don’t see the baroque quality in his work. The Baroque movement (1600-1750) began in Rome with such artists as Caravaggio and Cranacci, and moved north, where it was exemplified by Rubens and Rembrandt. Baroque art characteristically has movement, dramatic light, and rich color, none of which I see in the painting of this San Miguel artist. (My own work seems more baroque.) Also, his paintings are devoid of perspective – the scenes and figures are presented with a flatness that I dislike and which cannot be considered “baroque” by any stretch of the term. So what we have here is another example of meaningless labeling, in order to “brand” his style. The branding of art is something I abhor, and I am quite dismayed that this otherwise serious artist, whose work I greatly admire, would stoop to that. And while I’m on the subject, he is scheduled a “pop-up” exhibit at a local gallery called The Bordello Gallery, a name I find most contemptible because of its suggestion that artists are whores. 

Outrageous Extravagance

Three hundred million dollars for a Gauguin painting seems a bit excessive. Has the art market entered a period of collective insanity? Are collectors vying for first place in the Outrageous Extravagance category? Are high-end buyers going off the deep end? The madness of artistic genius seems to pale before the madness of buying for the sake of outdoing other buyers in the game of one-upsmanship. Where and when will it stop? Would an individual artist refuse to make a sale because it is too high? Of course not. Would an artist sell a painting knowing it would be buried in someone’s private collection and never be seen by the public? Most likely. The higher the price paid for a work, the more it drives up the prices for other work by the same artist. The value of a work seems more and more to be determined by extraneous factors such as the artist’s moral depravity. Can an artist who lives a quiet life become famous for being a recluse and thereby increase the value of his work? Perhaps. But that route to fame will probably only come to fruition posthumously. And so the game of selling art gets more and more like an unstoppable runaway train.

My New Gallery

Well, I've decided to take the plunge into gallery ownership. My new gallery is called LES FEMMES GALLERY and it features my iconic images of women. At the moment it is an online gallery only. Please take a look. Here's the link http://www.lesfemmesgallery.com

Yearning, oil on canvas, by Anthony Maulucci

San Miguel's "Art Mall" and the Cuban Phenomenon

A recent Saturday visit to Fabrica Aurora, the premier gallery space in San Miguel, prompted my thoughts on the question – Where are the art buyers? This visit followed closely on the heels of an article in the NYTimes about artists in Cuba. It seems that many international art collectors have been making art buying trips to Havana despite the fact that Cuban artists have no access to the internet and are unable to promote their work online. My speculation is that word of mouth is working for them on a very large scale. But back to the question of buyers in San Miguel. I spent an hour or so observing the people coming into Fabrica, and there were many on this particular Saturday. They were mostly young, middle-class Mexicans with one or two small children. They were well dressed and looked like they could afford the purchase of a $5000 (USD) painting. However, an interest in serious art did not appear to be the primary reason for their visit. Rather, they were gathered in the courtyard taking group photos of themselves before moving on to look at weathered doors, woven wall hangings, and antique pieces of furniture. “Perhaps one in a hundred people who come here are serious buyers,” I thought. And I am probably right. So artists who have set up shop in this very expensive, high-end “art mall” are struggling to pay the rent, and that is not the kind of struggle that fosters great art. In conclusion, I would say that the Cuban artists are far more fortunate. They have gone on quietly creating art without any help from the internet and now the buyers are showing up at their studios. Quite a remarkable development.

Caveat Artifex

There is universal agreement about the existence of art in San Miguel: Everybody wants it. But merely as a kind of pleasurable lifestyle accessory and not as a sacred creation to be approached with awe and regarded with reverence. Very few people, it seems, want serious art, art that challenges conformity and provokes thought, art that is soulful, symbolic, and deeply felt. Very few people here are interested in really looking at and contemplating serious art, art that peers through the cracks in our collective psyche. So, if you’re an artist whose work goes beyond “pretty pictures,” don’t be fooled by all the hype about art and the good life in San Miguel and think twice before you move here. 

The Women of San Miguel

Here's another example of the type of portraits I do, those inspired by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. This is a painting I did of a woman in her 20s living in San Miguel. She was working at the public library, La Biblioteca, at the time. I first met her when I came to San Miguel in 2008, and we got to know each other from my visits to the library. She was working in the cultural affairs office and I was struck by her sensual beauty and delightful personality. She is bilingual, intelligent, and lovely in an angelic way but disarmingly down-to-earth. She came to my studio and I photographed her in seated under a flowering bush in my back yard.

Portrait of Julieta, A San Miguel Woman, by Anthony Maulucci

My Iconic Images of Women

Samples of some of my portraits of women.  I call them iconic because they portray representative moods and emotions. The global media bombards us with images of conventionally beautiful women, with polished, plasticized faces covered in make-up, but there's a natural beauty in every woman if you know how to look for it. This collection of portraits celebrates the natural, sensual, soulful beauty to be found in all women.

Portraits by Anthony Maulucci

Paying the Rent

An article in today’s LA Times announces the demise of yet another arts district (http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-arts-district-20140730-story.html#page=1). In this particular 52-block area east of Little Tokyo in Los Angeles, warehouses are being converted into condominiums, trendy new restaurants are opening, and cafes are sprouting up on almost every block. It’s the same sad story of which SOHO in NYC is perhaps the prototype. Artists move into derelict neighborhoods because the rents are cheap and within a decade or so the curse of gentrification comes down upon them. Happily, however, this will probably never happen in San Miguel de Allende. The entire city might be considered an “arts district,” and although we have a full roster of trendy cafes and restaurants already in place, with new ones replacing the failed ones at a dizzying pace, it’s highly unlikely that rents will ever be an issue for most of the artists here. Rents in general are increasing little by little, like anywhere else, and at this time are averaging about $300-400 USD per month for a modest 2-3 bedroom house with a terrace and studio space, but I doubt they will ever reach the astronomical heights of major US cities. Of course there are lavish houses for the bourgeois artists who come here looking for creative resurrection or renewal, but thankfully we still have a community on a bohemian scale. I only hope that greed doesn’t gain a foothold in the future.   

Photo by Patricia Garcia Arreola

Where You Show Your Work Matters

Judging by the number of artists who are supplementing their income with teaching workshops, and by galleries that are taking on non-art merchandise such as furniture or clothes, I’d have to say that overall art sales have deeply declined. I’ve heard from several artists who haven’t sold a piece in many months. Some of them have lowered their prices and/or shifted their venues downward through various sales outlet tiers, meaning they are less fastidious about where they sell their work. A typical pattern of descent moves from a gallery to a restaurant or cafe to a bank or a retail store. Does it really matter where you show your work? I think it does. Remember the adage: “Presentation is everything”? That was instilled in me by both my elders and my experience over decades of pre-professional jobs as well as my long-term teaching career. Students are notoriously inattentive, and when you need to make sure they “get it,” the message you have to deliver must be presented in a manner that seizes their short attention span and compels them to focus on the information. In high school I was crushingly bored by the dry delivery of facts, but how my curious mind perked up whenever a teacher had a lively and imaginative way of explaining things! It's no different with art. Artists in San Miguel must display their work in a lively and imaginative manner in order to get the public to take note. Restaurants and retail stores are not only inappropriate places to hang serious art, they are dull and deadly, and a huge step downwards on the scale of seriousness. Sure there are and have always been exceptions, but those exceptions were usually unorthodox spots for bohemians and other intellectuals to meet and discuss. Sadly, that type of alternative venue, such as a bookstore run by book and art lovers, doesn't yet exist in San Miguel.

Evidently, there is a lot of new thinking going on about how to engage audiences by offering art in unusual spaces. I’ve just read a report by the James Irvine Foundation (irvine.org) on this subject, and they cite a group in Philadelphia that has pop-up gallerys. Engaging audiences for art is of course vital; however, I still have serious doubts that the way to do this is to put art into public venues without the right kind of preparation, by which I mean education. The old adage, “you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink,” applies here. 

"Spring" oil painting by Anthony Maulucci