Native Souvenirs, Handicrafts, and Homemade Delicacies

[Lili]

You should be targetting not just the developers but also the buyers of the units.

I think you should prepare a portfolio to present to those developers so that by the time of turn-over, the owners can have some artwork to choose from when they design their places. The developers should have a listing of interior designers that the owners can tap or select from when they take over their units and start designing and decorating. Your company, on the other hand, should have a tie-up with these interior designers and also independently, have a portfolio of artwork available for perusal by the buyers. I was reading the projects under construction and some buyers there are inquiring if any one knows of good interior decorators. Just a suggestion.

@ Sugarboy should also hook-up with you and your company 'coz he has these acrylics that he created and wanted to market.

@ Olineil also has some interior designs but he is based in Singapore. I'm not sure if he is an interior designer or a graphics illustrator.

BTW, I think with the wealth of talents here in SSC Philippines, we can actually build our own company. You can take this seriously or as a joke.

[KulasKusgan]

Originally Posted by Lili

BTW, I think with the wealth of talents here in SSC Philippines, we can actually build our own company. You can take this seriously or as a joke.

yeah, very true. why not make the ssc meet a sort of expo...

[kiretoce]

I nominate Lili as CEO!

[Lili]

Joke time na naman ba ulit?

Ok, I'll start drafting the Articles of Incorporation. Can you imagine board members with names as Tigidig, Kiretoce..touch me I'm cool, Dancethingy, Boybaha, Sleepwalker Monkey Impressionist, et al.?

Hey, and I need financiers.. hello Bustero.

[bagel]

Maybe I'll sit out this time around. I don't feel invested in turning the meet into an expo. However, if it were a meat expo, I'd be much more inclined to participate.

[Lili]

Oh, don't go there.

Anyway, I don't think there is ever gonna be a meet at all.

[bagel]

No... meat as in bacon and liempo and steaks of the pork and beef kind. Foodtrip! I didn't mean meat as in meat market meat (wink wink nudge nudge).

[Lili]

I know, you are such a foodie, but some people here may not be of like mind. :wink:

[bagel]

Ok. Meat Expo, without Longganisa pls.

[kiretoce]

When you first mentioned "meat," I was thinking about the other kind of "meat." Goes to show you where my mind is today....in the gutter!

[Lili]

That dirty biali is no help either.

[sugarboy]

Originally Posted by rmn

Dear fellow Skyscrapercity members:

I am currently connected with one of the leading Art Galleries in the Country with close to 30 years experience in the field. I just have a question that I hope you could answer:

Do you think local property developers--Megaworld etc.--will be interested in buying/commissioning artworks for their buildings, or future projects?

You see, I'm trying to tap this market apart from the growing Fil-American market in order to boost the current sales slump. Sales have been slow so I'm trying to find ways.

Thanks and I look forward to a response.

@rmn, this is a very interesting question you raised. before i answer that, allow me to tell you where i'm coming from so that you'd figure why i currently have this point of view.

in the early to mid 90's when real estate was booming, i used to trade art (still do occasionally but then again, you're right...there is a slump). as you recall in the 70s when sugar was booming, many artists like joya, manansala, legaspi, abueva, virgie navarro etc. would have shows in silay, negros occidental whereby the hacenderos would snap up their works quite glibly. manansala even sold out within 10 minutes of the ribbon cutting and note, nothing was pre-sold!

twenty years later, a number of these artworks were bequeathed by the hacenderos to their kids. with sugar suffering rock bottom prices, most of these kids who were my peers just wanted to cash in. as such, i'd buy their artpieces in bacolod for a song and bring the same to manila making a substantial profit....not because they were sold at sky high prices, but, simply because they were bought at cheap prices.

my POV....i think the galleries will have a harder time selling large pieces to corporate buyers. i do large acrylic abstracts myself so i hate the idea of this but i think that the thing which will be the final nail in the casket to selling large artwork for corporate lobbies or offices will be....digital artwork printed on specialty canvas. the types of jaime zobel de ayalas's abstracts currently posted on the driveway connecting makati ave and greenbelt 3. his work though is printed on regular tarpaulin material...the type used for billboards. there exists though, specialty canvas which is used for exhibition type artwork. this specialty canvas can be used in lieu of tarpaulin. cost-wise, this can be sold to developers for half or a third of the price of an ivan acuna, lao lian ben, gus albor, or whoever does large abstracts for corporate lobbies and offices.

the next market tier of course would be the individual buyers. there will surely be a great demand for smaller pieces as these people move into their new condos. cramped condos to be more specific...hence the need for smaller pieces. i agree with lili that hook-ups ought to be made with the interior designers. however, if you're a purist, this goes against the grain of artists and dealers who actually delve into the intrinsic value of the artwork. a hook-up with an interior designer only shows that we are now selling art not for art's sake but for commerce. so yes, hooking-up with interior designers will get the pieces moving but, bear in mind, for every sale comes the gnawing feeling that once again, commerce has triumphed over art...only because the piece was bought because the painting matched the colors in the living room and not because it was a beautiful work of art.

caveat though, while there will be a wider market for smaller pieces, by the same token, this format will also be invaded by digital art printed on archive quality paper. the stuff produced by guys like rosscapili. so again, like it or not, digital art will take a large chunk out of the decreasing art market, and that really hurts.

overall, here's what i think...you mentioned that you have close to 30 years of experience in the field. that is laudable. i also go back to the days of the Luz when it as still on EDSA, the Hidalgo Gallery in Makati Commercial Center, and the Galerie Bleue in Rustan's. my take is that all businesses around us have through the years re-engineered themselves. they have gone through loads of changes from Quality Circles (a la Japan) to downsizing and outsourcing, and the evolution continues. the philippine art market for the large part has hardly evolved or re-engineered in this fashion. it's practically still the same gig: artist-gathers-collection-puts-up-show-gallery-promotes routine. i don't have any quick solutions to this but surely, there has to be a recognized art leader, the likes of an H.R. Ocampo who ought to steer philippine art into the future. admit also that without a patroness like imelda marcos (not that i like her, and not that i'm suggesting that she should assume this role again), it will also be hard to get philippine art to get out of the doldrums.

this will be a long discussion...as all discussions about art usually are. however, on my end, i'm not wasting time either. i know that my acrylic abstracts are going to be laid aside in lieu of digital art. however, having been employed for some time with an advertising agency and seeing the changes happen in the digital realm, i myself am going to put down paintbrush for awhile and also discover the possibilities of digital.

rmn, if your gallery wishes, you could start taking in pieces of digital artists...though that may seriously mean displacing the traditional artists.

it's gonna be a tough decision for the gallery owners but in the end, it may spell whether a gallery continues to exist or god forbid, close shop.

hope this lengthy 2 cents worth helps.

[Lili]

Can you give us an idea of the price range for a manansala, joya, legaspi, abueva, virgie navarro, ang kiukok, et al? Do you have any of these in your collection?

[sugarboy]

Originally Posted by Lili

Can you give us an idea of the price range for a manansala, joya, legaspi, abueva, virgie navarro, ang kiukok, et al? Do you have any of these in your collection?

rmn can best answer the prevailing prices. i don't have any for sale for the moment. these were all traded in the past. haven't been trading the past few years due to the workload in my previous employment. my mom who's in bacolod has items from the above artists but these are not for sale.

i do recall though that there are a few H.R. Ocampo's in negros. drawings lang po ito. will have to check the price from the owner.

[KulasKusgan]

our fellow forumer paulkrps is an artist too.

[KulasKusgan]

Originally Posted by Lili

Joke time na naman ba ulit?

Ok, I'll start drafting the Articles of Incorporation. Can you imagine board members with names as Tigidig, Kiretoce..touch me I'm cool, Dancethingy, Boybaha, Sleepwalker Monkey Impressionist, et al.?

Hey, and I need financiers.. hello Bustero.

nice set of board! so kelangan ang articles for sec registration. we need to register din sa DTI for our business name.

[Lili]

What's a good business name? Baka gusto mong maging Chairman of the Board or Corp. Sec.?

[KulasKusgan]

lets ask feng shui expert for a good business name. yoko maging chairman. supporting act lang pwede. why not ikaw ang chairman, boy vice, kami members. then later we'll select the management team.

[Lili]

CEO na nga ako eh. Boy bailed out na.

[bagel]

Originally Posted by Lili

That dirty biali is no help either.

Excuse me it's a bagel. A poppyseed bagel. This was my avatar before the cat with the lime helmet. (I'm assuming you're talking about my avatar and not that hairy roll I posted in another thread)

I will agree to be vice but only if some of the paintings depict food (at the very least-- it seems that my meat expo is not attracting any attention).