Art Business

One memory that came back to me recently was a headhunter I had lunch with who said, "You want to sell the most intangible thing you possibly can. If you sell something you can put in a box, it's a step down. Only the very best can sell things that can't be seen. And those are the ones who really make money." She was right. And I'm intrigued with selling, or making conceptual art profitable, because it is absoltely the most intangible product I could ever imagine.

But I think it can and should be done. Like Ed Kienholz, out of necessity would first get someone to commission the artwork he wanted to make based on the instruction of what he wanted to make. They were full scale environments, expensive and time-consuming to make. (this is from the same book, can you tell I've been reading tonight?) Anyway, they would buy the concept, with a title plaque, the commission the commission a drawing of the work, then a third, larger payment to have the work made.

It can be done.

But what's important in this is in the age of ideas, the only thing of value is ideas. So why not sell the concept, the idea, the patent, the trademark, the idea.