WSJ -- painters once known for $10 posters / selling / for up to $300,000 ................................
July 14, 2006
Shopping-Mall Masters
To the art world's chagrin, painters once known for $10 posters are selling original works for up to $300,000. Our reporter on Day-Glo sunsets, cruise-ship auctions and photorealistic unicorns.
By KELLY CROW
Howard Behrens isn't the sort of artist to have his works sold by a top auction house or exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art. But that hasn't stopped him from getting paid like one.
When Mr. Behrens got his start in the early 1980s, his brightly colored Italian cafés and sun-dappled French gardens were big sellers as $20 posters or $1,000 limited-edition prints at shops such as the Village Gallery at Brea Mall in Brea, Calif. But thanks to growing demand at midtier galleries and on cruise ships, Mr. Behrens is increasingly focusing on original oil paintings. A couple of canvases showing a garden path and a lily-pad pond -- his tributes to Monet -- just went for $50,000 each, roughly the same price paid three months ago at Christie's for an intricate ink drawing of a cat's eyes by Lucian Freud. "I hit the jackpot," Mr. Behrens says.
There's a new group of contemporary artists fetching six figures a pop. Though hardly embraced by the art-world cognoscenti, artists who are known for neon sunsets, frolicking dolphins and photorealistic unicorns are increasingly selling at prices to rival critical art darlings like Rachel Whiteread, Richard Diebenkorn and Franz Kline. Their posters may still adorn the walls of dentists' offices, nursing homes and chain-hotel rooms, but their original canvases can sell for anywhere from $10,000 to $300,000, roughly double from five years ago. Often bypassing art hubs like New York and London, the artists reign over their own product-licensing empires and gallery circuits, making marquee stops in Las Vegas and coastal cities like Coconut Grove, Fla. Most have waiting lists and fan clubs; a few sport taglines like the "Painter of Light," "Picasso of Glass" and "King of the Line."
Retail-chain galleries are stocking up on originals as the market wanes for limited-edition prints and fine-art prices continue to climb. In Litchfield, Conn., Thomas McKnight is leveraging a career spent painting works of tourist-spot courtyards to sell his new, $45,000 paintings of nymphs and satyrs in forests and temples. Three years ago, galleries that carried Don Li-Leger's $99 framed posters of irises and bamboo set against burgundy backdrops started asking for originals. Now those canvases go for $15,000 each. Mr. Li-Leger has since planted extra easels around his British Columbia home and doubled his output, to 200 pieces a year.
The ascendance of these poster-shop poster boys has infuriated the formal art establishment, adding fuel to a long-simmering debate over the definition of contemporary art. Scholars and curators say today's art should pick up on ideas and styles championed by top artists of the past century, and move beyond them. Acclaimed artists like Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst imbue their work with irony and pop-culture imagery. (Mr. Koons has made a ceramic statue of Michael Jackson, while Mr. Hirst is encrusting a human skull with diamond "bling.")
"Art should be difficult," says James Elkins, who teaches art criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. As for mass-market pieces, he says, "It's kitsch with a historically short shelf life."
But beyond the world of biennials and billionaire patrons are artists who work more out of time -- emulating earlier eras like Impressionism, Realism and Romanticism, with scenes that are often steeped in nostalgia or fantasy. Diane Romanello paints winding forest paths and Adirondack chairs overlooking the beach, while George Tsui makes detailed portraits of concubines in Forbidden City costume. They're finding an audience among the broad swath of Americans who want original art, but who don't want to decorate their living rooms with sharks suspended in formaldehyde.
"Urinals placed on a wall and called art? We don't sell that," says Christian O'Mahony, chief financial officer of Wentworth Gallery, a Miami-based chain with 23 shops in malls and resort towns. "Walking into a New York gallery, you feel like you need to have a Ph.D. in art history."
Robert and Sunni Olson count themselves among the new collectors. They used to pepper their home in Jupiter, Fla., with framed prints of floral arrangements and Key West beaches. After attending an art auction on a cruise five years ago on a whim, they have bought several dozen original works, including a 6-foot-tall oil painting of a woman overlooking a lavender sea by Mr. Behrens, a $75,000 oil of a couple gazing at each other in front of a violet and yellow swirl by Alexandra Nechita and a $3,000 Guy Buffet portrait of a chef holding a platter of fish and standing beside a blue dog. The Olsons, retirees from the insurance industry, are confident their art has appreciated in value. "I only want originals now because I think their value will hold up," Ms. Olson says. "Some of these pictures belong in museums."
Indeed, these artists' works are selling for higher prices amid the growing art and collectibles market that has lifted prices of everything from contemporary works to '60s lunchboxes. Bill Mack is primarily known for relief sculptures of nude women who bear a physical resemblance to the silhouettes on semi-truck mud flaps, and go for about $5,000 each in limited editions. He's painting more, and recently sold a $75,000 portrait of Jean Harlow, and is now working on a commissioned 8-foot portrait of several "legends" he won't name. The price: $250,000, the going rate at auction this spring for minor works by Willem de Kooning, David Hockney and Gerhard Richter.
Christian Riese Lassen, based in Maui, paints Hawaiian beaches and sunsets in vivid pinks and purples, and detailed scenes of fish and dolphins, sometimes cavorting in outer space. Since the 1980s, Lassen images have been printed on everything from posters to school supplies and personal checks, and in 1990, he started his own franchise of galleries. This year, his original canvases, which can take six months to paint, have sold for $300,000, up from $125,000 five years ago and $35,000 in 1990. About 60% of his market is now in Japan; in May, 4,000 fans turned up at a Tokyo autograph signing.
Mr. Lassen says he may not be a critical favorite, but he doesn't mind. "I'm just a painter and a surfer, and I don't really care," he said, reached last week after a painting trip to Tahiti. "There are millions of people who love my work, and there may be millions who hate it."
Cruise-Ship 'Windfall'
The changing economics at frame shops and galleries have also helped boost the market for these original works. Since at least the 1950s, midlevel galleries have typically profited by selling and framing posters by hundreds of artists under contract to the country's 20-odd art publishers. In most cases, the subject of the art mattered more than its makers. (Art publishing is an estimated $150 million industry.) In the 1980s and 1990s, the industry began pushing higher-priced prints called lithographs in signed-and-numbered editions -- typically under 500, but sometimes as high as 4,000. But now that customers can comparison-shop online for posters and lithographs, the galleries are increasingly asking artists for originals.
The focus on one-of-a-kind works can pay off. At the Wentworth Gallery chain, sales of originals make up 65% of the company's business, up from 30% a decade ago. The average sale price is $2,000, double from 10 years ago, the company says.
Another growing venue: cruises. Since 1996, Carnival's Princess Cruises line has held art auctions on board its 15 ships. Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises, with a combined 3.4 million passengers on 29 ships last year, have followed. The companies declined to give revenues, but a Princess spokeswoman says its programs are "popular." Mr. Behrens has another word: "Windfall." Four years ago, he began sending about 15 original paintings a month to Princess Cruises. They have all sold, he says, for as much as $50,000 each.
Rising prices have angered some blue-chip dealers, who justify their own prices by saying their work comes with the blessing of academics, a solid exhibition history and the ability to be resold at major auction houses. So far, the two biggest auction houses have declined to accept mass-retail art. "You're seeing a self-created art market that's sleazy and embarrassing," says Richard Polsky, a Sausalito, Calif., art dealer who has exhibited and sold works by Andy Warhol and Ed Ruscha. "The assumption at high prices is that it is investment-grade art, but these works aren't really liquid."
The works' resale market -- the traditional bellwether for artistic legacy -- typically hasn't been strong. Mr. McKnight's paintings have resold at regional auction houses for around $2,000, compared with his retail prices of $16,000 to $45,000. A year ago, a painting by Mr. Behrens, "Walking on a Beach," fetched $5,000 when it was auctioned at an estate sale at the Arthur James Galleries in Delray Beach, Fla. Mr. Behrens's wife and publisher Judi Behrens says the artist doesn't track resale prices but thinks the piece was "grossly undervalued." Gallery director George Martin says he was surprised it got that much, because the artist's work usually resells for one-third of retail prices. He had estimated a high of $3,000.
Collector Tom Colich is optimistic that prices will rise. He has paid from $15,000 to $120,000 each for nearly a dozen portraits by the concubine portraitist Mr. Tsui over the past 10 years, and likes the art's "three-dimensional element." Mr. Colich, who runs a Torrance, Calif., firm that builds tract housing, believes museums will eventually agree on the art's potential. "In the long run, they'll see that."
A few so-called commercial artists have crossed over to fine-art acceptance, from sports painter LeRoy Neiman to fashion portraitist Erte. Norman Rockwell, once scorned by critics, has been exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. His 1945 painting of a soldier's homecoming sold this year at auction for a record $9.2 million. Scottish artist Jack Vettriano found fans for his paintings of well-to-do couples dancing on beaches. Two years ago, Sotheby's sold his best-known work, 1992's "The Singing Butler," for a record $1.3 million. But Simon Toll, Sotheby's specialist in Scottish pictures, says this year the artist is selling for about one-third of his "Singing Butler" prices. "Collectors have moved on," he says.
With fame has also come a downside: copycats and thieves. Last year, Mr. Li-Leger's publisher sent a cease-and-desist letter to an online vendor that imprinted his signature irises-and-bamboo look on garden clogs. Galerie Lassen, an outpost for Mr. Lassen's marine art at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, was robbed three years ago, allegedly by a cleaning crew that took two original paintings (one of Mickey Mouse), estimated to be worth up to $800,000. Police later recovered both works; one thief was caught attempting to sell one for $300 at an auto-body shop.
For some buyers, investment value and high-brow criticism aren't a concern. Mike Farro and his wife, Teri, of Sierra Vista, Ariz., have bought 17 pieces by Mr. Lassen over the last three years, including one of dolphins playing in the water and three original portraits of the Statue of Liberty, bought for $75,000 each. They say they intend to never sell the work.
Last month, the couple flew to Las Vegas for a reception at Galerie Lassen, and applauded as the artist unveiled his new series of calm and stormy beaches. "They left me speechless," says Ms. Farro, a paralegal. "He's a genius."
Write to Kelly Crow at kelly.crow@wsj.com
Copyright © 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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From Frame Shop to Fine Art
The frenzied art market is spiking demand for a group of artists long snubbed by art critics and museums. Here, in alphabetical order, are a few titans of mass-market art, with examples of their work aimed at bargain hunters, plus examples of top-dollar sales for each artist.
ARTIST / KNOWN FOR LOW PRICE / VENDOR HIGH PRICE / VENDOR COMMENTS
Howard Behrens
Sundrenched cafes, coastal scenes 500-piece puzzle of flowery path in Italy, $14.08 / jigboxx.com Lily pond in violet and aquamarine, $50,000 / Ocean Galleries, Stone Harbor, N.J. After 17 years of illustrating stamps and brochures for the U.S. Government Printing Office, Mr. Behrens reinvented himself as a painter of European coastal towns. He publishes his own digital prints, appears on cruises and allows tours of Villa Behrens, his studio in Potomac, Md.
Paul Brent
Watercolors of flip-flops, ferns and deck chairs Hula-dancer glass tumbler from his Aloha Collection, $7 / homeandgardenart.com $5,000 for "Palm Bay," a painting of a sailboat in a Hawaiian bay / Paul Brent Gallery Oklahoma-born Mr. Brent studied architecture but gained a following by the late 1970s for breezy beach paintings. Today, he holds more than 70 licenses for branded products, with $59 million in retail sales last year. In his own collection? "I've got a Rauschenberg and several pieces by Dale Chihuly."
Thomas Kinkade
Lush village landscapes with glowing cottages Screensaver, $19.95/ piersidegallery.com $4 million for a Kinkade-inspired house / The HST Group, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho Mr. Kinkade began publishing his art 22 years ago. He took his company public in 1994, but it reverted to private hands several years later in part because of its low stock performance. Last year, sales of Kinkade-branded products topped $360 million, says trade magazine License. The company calls him "the most successful and collected artist in U.S. history."
Christian Riese Lassen
Beaches with neon skies, photorealistic dolphins Faux-crystal figurine of a fish-filled tropical reef, $29.95 / bradfordexchange.com $300,000 for "Heaven's Path," a coral-colored landscape of a wave crashing onto a beach / Galerie Lassen Mr. Lassen's art combines the meticulous detail and romance of the Hudson River School painters with the bright palette of surfboard decor. A lifelong surfer who grew up in Maui, he says 100 manufacturers produce items showing his images of marine life. His fantasy work -- such as his view of dolphins soaring amid a solar system of planets -- is popular in Japan.
Bill Mack
Medium-relief wall sculptures of reclining nude women "Flowing Light," a bonded-clay low relief of a woman holding a robe, $1,950 / Just Ducky Fine Art, Chicago Oil-on-metal portrait of Hollywood legend Jean Harlow, $75,000 / custom commission Mr. Mack paints but he is better known for sculpting seductive, 3-D alto reliefs, whose subjects' limbs often dangle or gesture beyond the frame borders. The handlebar-mustachioed artist gives out red roses at art shows -- 30,000 of them, he says, last year. "They're my signature."
Thomas McKnight
Official holiday cards for the Clinton White House Print of island resort room with sea view, bright furniture ("Dominica," $10.49) / postercheckout.com $45,000 for original canvas from "Arcadia" series of nymphs in temples / Thomas McKnight Gallery Mr. McKnight studied art at Wesleyan and Columbia and found a commercial market for prints of lively rooms from Greece to Manhattan, and was earning $4 million a year from art sales by the late 1980s. He says New York's Metropolitan Museum has one of his prints, though Met records do not confirm this. Lately, he's been striving for a less-commercial look: "It's better if you can get a painting in the Met that they'd actually want to hang."
Steven Meyers
X-ray images of flowers, leaves, seashells $79.99 for "Four Callas #3," framed print of X-rayed calla lilies / Target Avon spent $30,000 last year to put 23 of Mr. Meyers's pieces in corporate headquarters / custom commission Back in 1995, Mr. Meyers, an X-ray technician in Bothell, Wash., put a rose in his X-ray machine and digitally scanned the result. Eureka! The silky, semi-translucent image delineated each petal in skeletal detail. Now his publisher sells 200,000 prints a year and he licenses products that sell at QVC.com and Macy's. He's also selling 200 originals a year through galleries, up from 40 about five years ago.
Pino
Lush boudoir portraits Framed "Beachside Stroll" print, $34.99, a woman in a red dress on a beach / Macy's $35,000 for "Vanessa at Rest" of a woman in a bedroom / Chasen Galleries in Richmond, Va. Italy-born Pino started out designing book covers for romance publishers like Harlequin; he's done more than 3,500 to date. (His son and publisher says Pino helped discover model Fabio.) He now sells $20 million worth of art a year; a decade ago, his originals sold for around $6,500.
Diane Romanello
Realistic azalea-draped gazebos, leaf-strewn paths $34.95 for "Red Sails," a framed print of two sailboats in silhouette before a sunset / Brylanehome.com $11,500 for "Paradise Sunset," original oil of two Adirondack chairs overlooking a beach at salmon-colored sunset Ms. Romanello taught herself to paint as a child in New York's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood. At 29, she opened a retail gallery on nearby Long Island and then began publishing her own work. Her posters sell in chain retailers; originals go for up to $25,000, up from $7,500 a decade ago. New Jersey energy broker Christopher Kent owns four originals: He says, "Her work helps me relax."
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