"....If it comes back to you...it's yours, if it doesn't it never was" An old saying. Never truer about this 30x40 piece I did in 1998 when my Dad was dying. It was done as a focus piece for me to get my mind onto something big and epic as opposed to working on a painting I hated doing while my Dad lay someplace with the life slowly draining. A few years ago, a "Big business well-moneyed" showoff type asked about buying the piece. I didn't really want to sell it. I told him the price anyway. It was not cheap-$$$$$$$$$. He bought it. I asked what I asked for it for the fact it's large and it means something to me. Sometime later, I find this person is an "art flipper"-he was trying to flip the work(like the housing market which we see what's happened there!) and make a buck on it. What that means is someone buys art not because they love it, but because it's some weird way of thinking they can invest in it. Art should never,ever ever be viewed as an "investment" but as something you buy because you like it. It's why I have the smaller $100-$300 paintings on this blog because they're something everyone can afford and they're bought mostly for the joy of them. Which I am only too happy to be the cause of.
In this case, the above painting, done out of love was stored away as a commodity. The other week, a really cool art dealer contacted me. He asked me if I wanted the painting back. He said he would trade me some other pieces-illustrations for covers specifically-for what he felt was fine art that, he couldn't effectively sell. Anyway, we did a deal and both of us are happy and, this painting, now, finds it's way back to me. Maybe it should never leave again? It's an example of what I really want to do alot more of-epic landscapes with drama and dynamism.
But a note on collecting art. It's fairly a sad fact in this country that alot of art collecting is done based upon what someone else says is "worth" or "they should have". People letting others tell them what to think instead of buying what they love. I run into alot of "Businessmen" who are like this about everything. My opinion of them, is not very high. Everything is a "bottom line". They have no passions or dreams save for the acquisition of wealth at the expense of anyone or anything that gets in their way. Mind you, not everyone is this way, and to those who are the exception rather than the rule, my hat is off to you.
And, a tribute here to George Carlin. He was one of my favorite comics ever. He sums up my opinion of the kind of " cigar smoking businessmen" I detest. WARNING-the language here is fairly coarse but man o' man is he deadly funny. GET THE KIDS OUTTA THE ROOM. Enjoy:
