How to become an artistic economic man

The first step in the art business is to learn how to become an art broker. Art here refers to the works created by artists who are still alive, and does not involve antiques, calligraphy and painting.

The reason for the success of excellent art agents is, first of all, their infinite love for art, and they go deep into the artist's studio. At that time, many artists were in remote cities, and they had to squeeze green leather trains if they couldn't buy seats. In order to bring their works back, they usually have to take the canvas off the frame and roll it up before they can be checked or carried as luggage. Secondly, they dare to buy out their own works, and their "art director" at the same time has hardly left a figure today, which is why I have repeatedly stressed that "it is unprofitable not to buy". Due to the inconvenience of transportation and long-distance transactions, these brokers have to buy out their works. At the same time, cash buyout can get works at ultra-low prices, and can get the best works of painters. When a person is ready to buy a work in cash, it means that he should carefully evaluate the painter's work and bear the risk of not selling it. The so-called pressure is motivation. Buyout represents the judgment of a certain art and is an affirmation. People who dare not judge and affirm works of art from the heart will certainly not be good art brokers. Therefore, it is difficult for galleries that rely on consignment of works to have opportunities for development now. The so-called "how can people believe if they are not confident?" Even in the early 1990s, these successful art agents gained the trust of artists by buying out their works, thus monopolizing their resources. For example, the representative works after 1989 are basically monopolized by Hong Kong businessmen and Zhang Songren. Finally, the ability to open up the market. In any case, for a successful art broker, the most important thing is to sell the art to those who need it. So how to find those who need art has become a skill. Just like a hunter, you must find the prey first, and a good marksmanship can come in handy, otherwise even a sharpshooter is useless.

Back to the main line, first make an evaluation of yourself to see if your qualifications are suitable for becoming an art broker: mastering a foreign language, enjoying meeting strangers, having trust, perseverance, honesty and so on. These are the minimum requirements of an art broker.

Understanding of art is not an innate ability of human beings, and it needs to be mastered through acquired learning. These studies include: reading international art history, visiting museums to see classic masters' works, going to art galleries to see exhibitions of mature artists, going to famous galleries to see exhibitions of current artists, attending private exhibitions of artists, listening to lectures, watching auction previews and so on. Now that we have Weibo, we need to see more instant messages from Weibo.

In the field of contemporary art, there is no absolute standard to evaluate an artist's achievements, but what do we use to determine whether an artist has a chance of success? Now an unhealthy view in society is hype. I believe that as long as you spend money on publicity, you can hype a person into a master. This morbid view will make many investors fall into the bottomless pit and never emerge. For example, there is a painter in Shanghai who has been in the subway all the year round, promoting his works on outdoor billboards on the roadside, and spending money to hold exhibitions in Shanghai Art Museum (Weibo). He calls himself Oriental Picasso and sells his decorative paintings to some real estate developers in Shanghai. Although the society is impetuous and superficial now, it is difficult to mix with few painters in the art industry, so the future is far away. Give another case of Shanghai. A painter who paints dramatic faces with oil paintings has been exhibited in five-star hotels all the year round. He also made works with embroidery and sold them as gifts in some economic forums. He also organized an auction and fired the price to five or six million pieces ... but all this became a joke after dinner. This can only show that the hype itself is not right or wrong. The key is that you fry vegetables, otherwise no one will buy fried garbage, and you will pay for it after half a day.

Friends who pay attention to the history of western art or international art will find a distinctive feature, that is, the clear relationship between logic and context pedigree. Western art history is an art movement followed by another movement, and there are major events or key figures in each historical stage. For example, the development of modern art history is impressionism, followed by post-impressionism, fauvism, cubism, abstract art and surrealism, followed by American blue painting school and abstract expressionism, so the history of western art is the history of artistic movement. Only by mastering the logic of development can we find the key to enter the door of western art.

The development logic of China's art is completely different from that of western art, and it can even be said that the development of China's art has no deductive logic. We use the method of chronicle to study the history of China art, which is closely related to politics (court). China's art was attached to political ideology, not only after the founding of the People's Republic of China, but also in feudal society. It was only in ancient times that it was more manifested in aesthetics and interest, because the traditional painting themes in China were fixed, only with limited classifications such as flowers and birds, landscapes and ladies, which had no direct relationship with real life.

Only by mastering art history can you analyze the value of a work in its historical background when you see it. No work can exist independently without the time, because art is the product of the times first, and then it certainly retains the brand of the times. But back to the topic of art brokers, we want to broker the works of artists who are still creating. Knowing history does not mean that you should judge the value of any artist by art history. Knowledge of art history can make your rational judgment more accurate. But in the face of a work, we still rely on intuition. Intuition is important. You may be moved by four aspects: shock, emotion, wisdom or some kind of beauty. I avoid using these technologies here. Although many people in China are too obsessed with the techniques of oil paintings and other works, especially many realistic paintings, this problem is actually boring. I'm not even going to discuss these vulgar realistic paintings, even the so-called famous artists, such as Yang Feiyun, Chen Yifei and Liu Yi, at least in my opinion, they have nothing to do with the art I discuss. I mean to remind my friends not to be confused by these superficial and rash craftsmen's works.

It is really a challenging technical job for brokers to choose artists. I can only say that there is no absolute standard, but there is a correct direction. In addition, art history always fools human judgment. Many artists who wore full rings of light when they were alive usually disappeared after a hundred years, and some even went to the opposite side of history. And once poor artists also had salted fish turn over. These cases tell art brokers that it is a profound lesson to balance the interests of the present world and the reputation after death. However, people are always short-sighted, especially in the current economic environment. For example, the so-called academic realistic painting, whether it's Chen Yifei with mixed reputation or Chen Danqing now in full swing, will eventually be swept out of the house by art history (I will discuss the specific reasons in detail in another article), but this does not affect that some people have made a lot of money through these painters, which is the real interest. Because the only criterion to measure a businessman's success is wealth, even if there are additional conditions, it can only be law. As long as everything is in line with the law, it should not be condemned. If we must condemn it, we should first condemn the imperfect laws.

Today, successful artists must have some necessary qualities, especially contemporary artists. They must first have the ability to learn. Contemporary artists are not vases, and no one can replace their own efforts and feelings in artistic exploration. Although contemporary art has entered the present stage, great changes have taken place in the creative system, such as the studio employing dozens or even hundreds of workers to make works and so on. But we should pay attention to the essence of this phenomenon. Only the soul of the creator of the work is still charming, all this is logical, otherwise everything is nonsense.

How to shoot artists? The relationship between artists and brokers is mutual achievement, rather than one party trying to change the other, especially those who have always been strong, used to being bosses and like to impose their will on others. Please don't instruct artists to make works, but try to create more and better opportunities for artists to create works better. Therefore, artists are like old hens raised by brokers. She can't lay eggs until she has fed the old hen. What if she can't lay eggs? How do smart brokers solve this problem? Back to the first step, first of all, further judge this artist, was his original choice wrong? Many times, selling well in the market is not the only criterion to measure artists. If you are sure that there is no problem with the choice of artists, then continue to push forward, but at this time, most people will make a serious low-level mistake, that is, start to ponder the meaning of the market and try to force artists to change direction. Here, I would like to remind you that the so-called works that the market likes are actually products of Dafen Village and line drawings of flower and bird markets all over the world. They are produced entirely for the market. Therefore, if you try to cater to the market, you should leave the profession of broker as soon as possible, because it has nothing to do with what I call art.

Finding a good artist in Panjiayuan is as difficult as it is now. It is precisely because there are so few good artists that you have to open your mind to win the prize. There are many artists in China, even too many, but it should be more clear that this means that brokers have to face great challenges and use more energy and physical strength to select a few excellent artists from many mediocre talents. This requires enough patience and necessary care, and a proud attitude will make them miss the opportunity.

To choose a favorite artist, agent or gallery, you must get along with the artist for a long time. Many gallery owners and agents have used their brains to try their best to plan and sign contracts with artists, but all they need to do is to write the contract as a deed of sale. In fact, there is absolutely no need to hurt this kind of brain. Remember that art brokerage is an elegant industry. You should keep an elegant attitude, be generous and enthusiastic towards the artists who cooperate with you, and have a service heart to provide more services and help to the artists. To be an artist, an agent should do everything for the artist except creation (don't get involved in family life, you need to pay special attention). As a result, you will find that artists can't get rid of you at all, because if an artist wants to succeed in today's society, his works and creations account for less than 20% of the whole works, and exhibitions, media, academic seminars, auctions, publications, etc. are by no means something that an artist can handle.

Get along with skilled artists. Many people mistakenly think that they have to get close to artists to become agents. In fact, I emphasize professionalism and keep the necessary distance. Many people can't understand why they should keep their distance, because professional artists should be 100% devoted, especially at the peak of their creation. They may be crazy and have amazing ideas ... These things that go beyond the rules are very important for the growth of an artist, so you should not only keep such opportunities for artists, but also avoid being influenced by artists and gradually losing businessmen. It's subtle. In short, the relationship between artists and brokers is not to turn businessmen into artists, nor to turn artists into businessmen, but to make one plus one greater than two, so that artists become great artists and brokers become outstanding businessmen. It is very important for a broker to be good at understanding the artist's creation, encourage and give him confidence, provide him with more industry information and exhibition opportunities, and let him try new technologies and materials.