Tag Archives: Didi Menendez

Art Books and publications, art collectors

Connecting With Art Collectors via Artist Catalogs

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Will Smith, cut paper and ink, Marco Gallotta

Will Smith, cut paper and ink, Marco Gallotta

 

PoetsArtists Magazine began publishing a series of full color art catalogs in 2015, of collections of artists’ work that, so far, includes paintings by Jeff Bess, paintings by feminist painter Daena Title that examine beauty and Barbie dolls, the cut paper-work portraits of New York based Italian artist Marco Gallotta, and the hyperreal wet faces of Erica Elan Ciganek, portraits and objects by Stephen Wright, and the nude portrait paintings of Victoria Selbach.

Painted Mask, Jess Bess

Painted Mask, Jeff Bess

Didi Menendez, publishing editor at PoetsArtists Magazine has written a short piece for us titled Connecting With an Art Collector that contains her insights on why art collector really need these catalogs to help them understand the work of any artist.

Artists can submit their art for consideration on the PoetsArtists Magazine site here .

Connecting with an Art Collector

by Didi Menendez

 

I have been noticing a trend in art collecting recently where the buyer is more interested about the story behind the facade than the artwork. These collectors seem to be perplexed about the meaning of a work. They seem concerned about the originality and motive behind the finished works. Not only do they want to know why a piece was created but also how it was conceived and the mediums used. I think it is because the art being collected by these silent art enthusiasts is being bought by a generation whom have spent half of their lifetime not only in front of a computer screen but also the ones who built the functionalities behind the screen. Even though digital art and photography belong to this conversation, I think the trend is to buy artwork which it is not mass-produced. Genuine and heartfelt pieces of work which adds an undisclosed value to the work being purchased. I think this may be why realism and figurative work may be back the limelight. These new trend may be due to how our society has become digitized to the point that soon we too may become a hallucination. These buyers want to have a connection to the artwork. This is why Facebook  and other social media exists. It allows us to connect to people we normally would not have met otherwise.

 

Offering, Erica Elan Ciganek

Offering, Erica Elan Ciganek

I realize artists want their work to speak for itself but I feel it is necessary to educate potential buyers as to why you create even if it is a simple answer as to say “This is a fish. This is a truck. This is a chair…” If there is no story behind your artwork that is fine too. Just say that. Some collectors just need to know that “the fish” is simply a painting of a fish but others want to know more. It may be important even necessary for them to understand if “the fish” took months to paint because the artist is a hyperrealist and wanted to show every speckle society and pollution has left on “the fish” and that this particular artist of “the fish” went to such and such a school to learn this technique and studied with so and so. I think the buyers I am addressing want to know this information. I don’t think they really care if the artist used the best linen, canvas, oil paints and brush. They just need to feel a connection. Whether it is love at first sight or not.

 

Big Boll, oil painting, Daena Title

Big Doll, oil painting, Daena Title

 

For example, I have been communicating lately with someone whom I went to High School with about art just because I like to talk about art in general. He showed an interest in a hyperrealist colored pencil drawing I had posted on Facebook. I reached out to my friend and asked him if he owned artwork. He said he had a few prints and such. I asked him if I could email him a few of the art catalogs I have been publishing recently and he agreed to see them. He reached out to me after he had spent some time contemplating the works and said the artwork had left him a bit perplexed because he wanted to know “what did any of it mean?”. Since I am representing these artist in not a traditional way as a gallery would but as their publisher I explained each of the works to him which he showed an interest in.  My intention in showing him the catalogs was not to sell him something but to open the conversation about art and possibly open a window for him which may have been closed.

 

Catherine 3, Stephen Wright

Catherine 3, Stephen Wright

I want to offer you my thoughts on my own recent artwork which is those thread paintings you may have seen me post on Facebook. It occurred to me to try out sewing a painting on canvas because I had seen it done before and I thought I could do it too. When I sew I can’t help but think of my mother. She worked at various factories when I was growing up until my sister and I left High School and found jobs to support ourselves. I also think about how her sewing kept our family from totally falling apart because my father was insane. Lately I have started to collaborate with another artist whom sent me a piece of an artwork she had slashed and I have been sewing it together to make it whole again. I call it the Hyphen series.

Didi Menendez PoetsArtists Magazine

Laukika Apsara, Victoria Selbach

Laukika Apsara, Victoria Selbach

View each artist’s catalog —

Jeff Bess

Daena Title

Marco Gallotta

Erica Elan Ciganek

Stephen Wright

Victoria Selbach

Artist news, Calls to Submit, Promotion Tools

Why Art Published by PoetsandArtists Ends Up In So Many Art Collections

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Rory Coyne painting feature on Poets and Artists

Rory Coyne painting featured on Poets and Artists

I asked Didi Menendez –What brings art collectors to your site? Why have so many purchases been made of artworks published in Poets and Artists? How do you account for this since you are not an online art sales site?

Didi replied–“I attribute the success of the publication to quality versus quantity. I only publish artwork based on my aesthetics and not the mass media. I do not accept advertisers or any other monies because I do not want anyone to dictate what I publish. To me publishing is also an art form. It is a creative outlet for me. I make sure to get the publications in the right hands. I also recently started publishing iARTistas which has a different feel to it.”

iArtistas is an iPAD/digital/print publication.  You will find the submission guidelines by clicking on *Submit* in the top menu on both the PoetsandArtists and the iArtistas sites.

Most of the paintings published by PoetsandArtists are figure studies and portraits– also themes of the Howard Tullman Collection. Take a walk-through with the collector in this YouTube video.

Tour of the Loft–The Howard Tullman Collection