Serving Up A Free Lunch

Restaurants, cafes and bars benefit greatly from having art on their walls. It draws customers in. It helps create an environment conducive staying to spend more money, and returning to spend even more. Decor can be the difference between a dive and an upscale establishment. This is why they often pay thousands of dollars to interior designers to create a space people will love coming to.

But what of the actual art on the walls that is such a large part of that? Well, that has become a free service for them. And it probably took no less effort and creativity than the interior designer expended. But hey, at least the artist gets the chance to sell his or her work to the diners and drinkers, right? Well, sort of...

See, the fact is few pieces are going to sell. That's because a restaurant is not an art gallery. People go to restaurants expecting to spend money on food, not on an expensive item like a painting. If you're actually looking to buy art, you go to a gallery, not a restaurant or bar. And a gallery is motivated to sell art, because that's their entire business. A restaurant, cafe or bar have no motivation to sell the art on their walls. If anything, customers purchasing their decor regularly would be an inconvenience to them, and a good sales night for the artist could leave the place looking like they've been looted the next day. Fortunately for them that doesn't really ever happen. On top of that it's an environment that caries a certain potential for damage. Coffee splatters. Dishes can be spilled. maybe somebody gets a drink thrown in their face. All the while, the art is in the line of fire.

So they get something valuable out of the deal, and the artist gets little to nothing out of it aside from hope. Not exactly equitable, is it? what would be more fair, and allow the artist an the cafe a mutually beneficial arrangement? The could buy the art they use, of course. But that's going to be pretty expensive, and mid-range establishments would be denied that opportunity. I think a better system for most would be a rental arrangement. This way the artist could make money off the work without having to sell it, and the business could opt to renew at the end of the month for pieces they particularly like. Perhaps even a rent-to-own system could be implemented. Or a rent-or-sale arrangement might be of use to places that are serious about selling art, where the deal would be they rent the works for a set price unless a certain agreed upon figure is achieved in sales, in which case they would not have to pay for the rentals. The important thing is that they be scalable to serve the particular needs of a given establishment.

A rental model would also benefit the restaurants and cafes, as it would be attractive to more established artists as well, thus giving them a chance to hang art on their walls by artists they'd never have had access to short of buying their work outright. Likewise, artists could develop rates commensurate with reputations that would allow them to move up in the community, and make the artist himself someone to draw a crowd to the establishment willing to pay his rate.

But how do we accomplish this in a time when our independent refusal to play the game as it exists means that they will just find someone else who will? We organize ourselves. we educated ourselves and the younger artists. We negotiate with businesses collectively. If need be, we picket. But first we need to grow and spread the message. I would like you to send links to this blog and the AFTVA facebook page (to the right, under links) to fellow artists and anyone else who wants to support artists in standing up for their rights in the marketplace. Together we can mobilize for change.

The important thing to understand is that AFTVA does not seek to make these establishments take down the art. We only ask that they pay for a service that is of value to them. It's just good business.