To: Whom it may concern
From: Clara B. Jones*
Knowledge Worker
929 Bonifant Street, Apt. 512
Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA
Cell: (828) 279-4429
E-mail: foucault03@gmail.com
Re: Proposal to create a market
for Poetry via the visual arts gallery network, as well as, to
monetize and to create a market for Poetry comparable to the visual
arts market intended, in part, to enhance poets' income from their
creative work, to widen Poetry's influence and impact, as well as, to broaden
the range of artforms represented by a given gallery.
Date: 12/16/2018 [revised, 1/14/19]
Visual arts as an industry: Much
has been written about the national and international monetization
and commodification of the visual arts in America created by the
influence of buyers, sellers, 3rd parties, such as, representatives,
the media, galleries & museums, critics (academics and
non-academics), artists and their agents, as well as, other entities.
Visual arts networks, in aggregate, have become an industry driven by
economic forces yielding the potential to “make or break”
artists' careers, as well as, for the potential for individual
artists to earn significant income and exposure from their creations.
Herein, I propose that...
...a given poet will, by contract, agree
to print, frame, sign, date, and number a limited series of poems
(1/1 to N/N) that will be professionally framed, represented by, and
marketed by a given art gallery for a price agreed upon by gallery
owner or representative. Mode of presentation of the printed, framed,
signed, dated, and numbered poem would constitute a category of
Radical Publishing. For example, to
suggest a few conventions that could be employed, the poet might
combine the poem with other visual art or features, such as, artwork,
varied fonts, font sizes, and/or colors. Or, creating an object potentially of value to and attractive to gallery owners or their representatives, poets might be expected to collaborate with visual artists to create an object comparable to "text art," prints, engravings, woodcuts, and the like, the difference being that the text would be an original poem presented as a single work or as one copy in a limited series.
By contract beneficial to both
entities, a given gallery would have exclusive rights to represent,
to display, and to sell the poet's creation(s) and to market
his/her/their printed, framed, signed, dated, and numbered poem
which, in effect, would be characterized and treated as a work of
visual art similar in sub-genres to text art, prints, engravings,
woodcuts, and the like. Also, by contract, poet and gallery owner
(or, representative) could agree upon series number (from 1/1 to n/N)
and other pertinent details (e.g., price of artwork, advertising,
duration of contract, handling of product after termination of
contract, terms of copyright, etc.).
Consequences for the poetry
community, its networks, and galleries: Clearly, no poet would be obligated
to participate in the marketing strategy proposed herein. However, if
the strategy is even marginally successful, advantages (stream of
income, incentive for poetry journals to pay poets, increased status
of Poetry among the Arts and in public) should obtain to poets using
this strategy. Poems not under contract could be published in
traditional ways. The gallery would be expected to benefit in ways comparable to what is gained by showing any other work of Art.
*Feedback is solicited about the
clarity, desirability, and feasibility of this proposal, or, about any other matters of concern (see contact information above).
An excellent idea, Clara.
ReplyDelete