Keiser CollectorsI'm a great believer in keeping a close eye on what Duane Keiser does. He's the man behind A Painting A Day who literally posted a painting each day from 10th December 2004 until 1st April 2006 and has continued to post a daily painting only slightly less frequently ever since. His work is now owned by a huge number of people - many of whom endeavour to collect it. They have rather a lot of competition - from each other and all would-be Keiser collectors!
Yesterday Duane announced the creation of Keiser Collectors, a new venture which creates a website community for collectors of Keiser original art.
But first, why should this be of interest to artists and collectors alike - apart from maybe answering that niggling question of what name is behind "Private Collection"?
Here are a few things that Duane Keiser has started or helped to popularise
- having an exhibition of small postcard sized paintings - which generated the idea for....
- the daily painting blog
- He started A Painting A Day on 3rd December 2004. You can see the first ever daily painting blog artwork on the right.
- Duane's blog then became the first painting blog ever to be covered by boingboing - a top ranking blog which covers new trends (see Boingboing - a painting a day weblog - 10th December 2004)
- In August 2006, he was credited with starting the 'painting a day' movement by the New York Times and USA Today
- Duane has created new ways of making art more accessible to collectors by:
- linking his art blog to 7 day auctions selling his daily paintings on eBay under the name duanekeiser
- ensuring new artwork would be delivered to the inbox of a collector or would-be collector every day
- linking his art blogs to Google Groups
- selling giclee prints of small paintings from his website
- Increased the collectible status of small paintings
- through collectors bidding up the auction price of small original paintings for rather large sums on eBay (Although I think Duane might argue his collectors are responsible for this!)
- which in turn led to a very big increase in the number of people describing themselves as daily painters.
- Rather a lot of artists noticed the sort of auction prices Duane was getting and decided to try and emulate! For example, check out all the other artists who now produce small still life oil paintings sold for auction on eBay.com which are described as being a 'daily painting'
- and Duane sharing the process of painting and being an artist on blogs through:
- his work in progress blog called Process and his thoughts about being a painter in his blog On Painting For example:
- Duane shared his thoughts with all those wanting to know what it takes to do 'a painting a day' in a series of three posts in his blog On Painting tagged a painting a day
Some stray thoughts on what I’ve learned (or think I’ve learned) about painting and how the internet is changing the business of art.
Duane Keiser - On Painting strapline
- between November 2006 and July 2007 he developed a self-potrtrait which is captured in the video process, the movie 2
- he also developed videos of himself painting which you can see on YouTube videos of Duane painting his daily paintings
- and then in March this year switched to live studio cam sessions on ustream.tv filmed while Duane paints much larger paintings in his studio - such as the giant Oyster (I watched that one!)
- and wrote a book
creating new iconic themes by painting doughnuts, PB&J sandwiches and broken eggs! I was never been quite sure as to whether these are particular favourites of Duane's or his collectors - although I rather suspected the answer might be both! Then in June 2007 he posted the egg painting to end all egg paintings - A dozen eggs and explained why he paints eggs.
Duane's new venture Keiser Collectors is a site which limits its membership to owners of Duane's original artwork. It offers an opportunity for people to display their collections of Keiser originals and to discuss ownership in a forum. Duane sets out why he has set it up in a post On Collecting in his 'Keiser on painting' blog On Process.
I'll be doing a follow up post about this new site in due course. I've got some thoughts about what I think it might do - and why all those painters with serious followings (Julian Merrow Smith, Carol Marine and Karin Jurick are three such people who immediately spring to mind) might want to think about doing something similar - if they have the time and the inclination.
So - here's my speculation as to what this site will do:
- allow people to see work displayed as a collection - and note the way in which the sum of the parts can sometimes be greater than the whole
- allow collectors to actually find out who got which painting! (This I predict will be of major interest!)
- allow people to discuss the story behind how or why they got the painting and why they collect Duane's work
- compare notes on methods of framing small works
- generate interest in securing work which will develop or complete a collection associated with a particular motif
- possibly increase the value of new work coming to auction
- develop a secondary market for the work - between the current collectors.
Let's see how it progresses during the remainder of 2008.............
(Note: If quoting this blog post please remember to provide appropriate accreditation. All images are copyright Duane Keiser. All text copyright Katherine Tyrrell - ask if you want to use beyond a small quote. You may not reproduce this post in full on another blog or website.)
Links to Duane Keiser websites
- Duane Keiser - the website
- Duane Keiser - A Painting A Day - recent work by Duane Keiser and the blog which started it all......
- Keiser Collectors
- Duane Keiser - Process - a painting in progress by Duane Keiser
- Duane Keiser - On Painting - Some stray thoughts on what I’ve learned (or think I’ve learned) about painting and how the internet is changing the business of art.
- Duane Keiser - Topophilia - a love of places
- Making A Mark - "Why artists should blog" Part 2 - the success of painting-a-day blogs (August 2006)
- Making A Mark - Duane Keiser - processes and paintings (November 2006)
- Making A Mark - Blogging Art in 2006 - The Making A Mark Awards (December 2006) Duane was the first winner (with Julian Merrow Smith) of the Making A Mark 'Painting a Day Stickability' prize)
- Making A Mark - Duane's latest PB&J is a bit different........... (January 2007)
- Making A Mark - The Thinking Blogger Award (July 2007)
- Making A Mark - Daily painters, paintings and paintworks - and where you can see them (December 2007)
- Making A Mark - Vote for the best artwork on a blog in 2007 (December 2007)
As a Duane owner (not sure if I count as a 'collector' with only one!) I have to say that his email about this definitely piqued my interest and I'll be joining the site! :)
ReplyDeleteAnd then my second thought was "why"? He's so clever! I don't know why I want to join, but I do.
Actually I found Duane Keiser via Julian Merrow Smith. Nonetheless, they both got me painting again on a regular basis.
ReplyDeleteThey have also helped to legitimize working small. I had always liked working small but only considered them studies. Now I regard them as quite proud little paintings.
I think it was Whistler who at one point in his life decided only to paint small as a stand against critics who tended to disregard small paintings.
At any rate, though I have only committed to one painting a week due to my teaching job,( I have kept it up for almost 2 years) - I owe both of them a huge debt.
Thanks guys!
..and I'm a member having a collection of two Duanes. I agree it's a great idea and lovely to see great swathes of Duanes owned by one household--which seems to be often the case!
ReplyDeletePhenomenal post! I especially love the chronology...thank you.
ReplyDeleteI've been pretty excited about the whole concept as well and I can't wait to see where it leads. Duane always seems to be breaking new ground.
Cindy
I don't collect avidly but I can tell you it's fun to see people talking about the art they bought from Duane, connecting and sharing ideas for framing, etc, within the network. It will be interesting to watch an see how active the group is months from now. Its a great idea... fun too.
ReplyDelete