12 MONTHS OF BBN LOVE

This photo is from a presentation on Thursday night. I was summing up for a group where my work has been this last year. 12 months and 10 paintings later, Broken Bank Note is still as relevant and strong as ever. I am currently working on two new BBN's, and a concept for a future direction. It's safe to write, my creative output is the strongest it's been in 10 years.

Now What?
I am working on a new deal with a gallery group, for a substantial new shift in how I do business. The first 10 paintings will be considered "First Issue" and subsequent sets will follow the same ascending hierarchy. (Second Issue, Third Issue...) Once I complete my last few shows/exhibitions, this group will have exclusive rights to the BBN First Issue set. Subsequent "issues" will be determined on a yearly review. These details are important only to people who make a living selling art. I am sure the rest of you are losing interest. That's cool. I will have another video soon. However if you are in the business of art, read on.

Why Tell Us?
When I relaunched this effort, I made a commitment to transparency in my craft and business. The internet is full of people who will tell you how to mix your colors or apply paint with a given tool. Find one that will actually tell you how much their art sells for, to who and how they do it. That artist is few and far between. I don't know about you, but another video of someone painting a ho hum effort, in a way overdone, outlandish studio, on store-bought, pre-stretched canvas with craft supplies from Michaels is telling me nothing. How do you pay for that space? How do you pay a mortgage with 16x20 pieces? They never tell you that part. Or worse yet, videos of New York art luminaries, in multimillion-dollar spaces that are ridiculously out of reach for anybody watching. I learn nothing from them other than buying property in NYC in the 1970's was a good idea.

And So...
Soon, I will have a pricing matrix and a breakdown of past client purchases, my cost and final rationale for setting the Broken Bank Note price structure. In truth, there is no "right" way to do this. It's all about what the market will bear for your work. I know we all have dreams of being "discovered" and fostered through some secret society of insiders in the art world and becoming the darling of Art Basel. Or maybe jumping on the NFT train, for quick access to riches. How's that going so far? Got your Turner Prize yet? Yeah, I know, it sucks. You most likely will never be an art world darling. If so, you would have no interest in what I am writing. I know a former art world darling that never recreated the hype of years ago. They work in ad sales. I also know musicians who toured the world and played on big records. One was a bartender at last check and another was a real estate agent. Shit, my real estate agent was in blockbuster Hollywood movies. They don't talk about that on the red carpet.

Cool.
In the end, for me, I have to foster relationships and work really hard to make connections with people who find value in my work. I am not an art darling. As for the NFT market ...I have thousands of digital images I have produced in a 2 decade long career as a designer and illustrator. Some are available as NFTs. In fact some are the same images that won awards in PRINT and CA. Guess what? They have not made me hundreds, let alone millions. For every story about a Beeple, there are thousands of artists that don't make more than a few coins per image. And thousands more who don't sell anything.

I will walk you through my process and be as transparent as possible. Hopefully you will find value in the information. Maybe you can apply some of my ideas to your own business. If you are just starting out you are in a great spot. You won't be handcuffed by a lifetime of overly romantic ideas about success in your craft. But that deadly syndrome is for another post.