Prostitution?

I've decided to market myself a bit more boldly in the next (rapidly approaching) year and have come up with a line of "wholesale" pieces. I tried this a few years back and wasn't too crazy about it, but have decided that it might be worth another shot.

I'll make about 6 pieces for this effort-all priced around $200. I realize that this might be too high of a price point for many, but it's in keeping with the range I'd like to be in.

I have three or four pieces almost finished-I'm going to go to Dave Coulter, who helps me with in photographing my work and get the pcs shot as soon as I feel I'm ready. What I'd like to do is to produce an online line sheet, which will primarily be emailed out. Any business requesting a printed version can print the thing out for themselves. The end of January is my goal for the line sheet.

Earlier in the year, I requested info for a wholesale show (in order to show new work) and was knocked over by the prices of the booths. It seemed to me as if they had doubled since I'd last been there (and that was just not THAT long ago). At that point, I decided that I'd use my old mailing list and see what kind of interest I could drum up for my work.

What I don't like about the idea (I had a hard time with this when I tried it before) is the notion of selling two types of work: one-offs and "multiples". Especially hard for me is "educating" potential buyers. I hate to go through my litany of facts: that each and every thing I do is by hand and when I say this, I mean MY hand. Since this is true for the "multiples" as well as the one-of-a-kinds, it makes making the distinction between them somewhat tougher.....and more annoying to me, since I see people totally happy to throw money into Giclee prints or work done by anonymous "others" and signed by the "artist". But I won't wake this dog up.

Interesting to talk about commoditizing my work, as I feel as though another part of me is drifting off artistically to areas unknown. I'm not sure that I could give a name or description to my new direction ("Let's Get Lost"comes to mind). In looking through my CD "archives" the other day (I was searching for a high-res image of a favorite piece), I realized that I'm pretty satisfied with the work done in the past few years. It certainly has a look all of its own. But this only gives the question a louder voice: "Where to now, Columbus?"

My painting (which, truth be told, is almost as much in my mind as it is on actual canvas...as they say on TV, not that there's anything wrong with that...) has led me to some interesting places-almost mirage-like in that their substance exists partially in concept and partially in reality. Maybe it's the physicality of sculpture or (probably) the fact that I sell my work, but substance-or let me put it in another way-saleability has become a habit for me. It may be a soft leash, but it's a leash nonetheless. It's a good thing to be aware of, but quite another to break out of-or even to decide to break-the ego and the pocketbook both need to be fed. There's irony here, too. I used to work part time so as not to have to think about selling work, but, of course, this diminishes the time and energy you have to put into your work. The life of the artist-what luxury!

This piece is called "Industrial Pull Toy." I made it for Bobby Hansson's book (in its tenth reprint), "The Fine Art of the Tin Can."