I received an interesting email from my friend, artist James Gillick the other day. Jim, as some regular readers will know, is a Catholic artist who has managed to make a good living by selling his work to the secular market. This is important. If we are going to spread the gospel, we have to be engaging with people on the firing line of life. And for the Catholic artist, this includes working out how to create demand for what he does even among non-believers, and without compromising on the quality of work. He is bringing beauty into the homes of non-believers and who knows how the contact with his work and with the artist might affect them.
There is a tendency among some artists to assume that the financial considerations are beneath them. I would say that it is as much part of the vocation as the creation of the art. Certainly, you must be able to create a high quality of art, but if your work doesn’t sell, you can't be an artist. The onus is on the artist to create work that sells, more than it is to demand that people ought to commission or like his work.
Undoubtedly Jim has a special knack for it. Go to his website and see the prices he charges for his work. All I can say is, congratulations Jim!
Here a tool he is using to help potential buyers consider if a painting is for them. Using your mobile phone to go onto this page of his website, your phone camera can place the new paintings in the correct scale, in 3D on any wall close to you, right now.
If the site 'sees' that your phone is suitable, a button will appear beneath each painting that reads 'View on your Wall'. Press it and follow the instructions. See a 1-minute tutorial video here. My aim is to help you see if a painting suits the space that you have, doing so in an entertaining and informative way. It worked well with my android phone.
Of course you may see the paintings in the normal way on any other type of screen on his website here. If you want to contact Jim you can call him or even arrange to visit his studio (in Lincolnshire in England). Otherwise his phone number is +44 7582 190933 and his email is gillickjames@gmail.com.
