 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
GRAB NEWS
July, 2007
Making Money from Art featuring James Picard
by Rod Drown
Few artists have painted Jack Nicholson and had a Swiss watch named after
them. Versatile and internationally respected Vancouver artist James Picard
is one who has.
An energetic teacher, connected and increasingly successful financially,
Picard is an
artist/entrepreneur with definite opinions.
"[Marketing] requires hard work. Unless art is marketed properly
and regularly, [it doesn't
sell]," emphasizes the 42 year old painter and sculptor whose works
hangs in private collections around the world and, in London, is represented
by the prestigious RM Gallery.
Childhood wasn't easy for Picard. His violently alcoholic father scorned
his son's passionate interest in art.
Undaunted, in 1982 an 18 year old Picard hitchhiked from Toronto to Montreal
for aretrospective exhibition of Picasso, taking along a loaf of bread,
a jar of peanut butter, and
enough money for a couple of shows.
At 23 the striving artist won his first recognition -Outstanding Achievement
Award at the
1987 International New York Art Competition.
Then he apprenticed to the sculptor Thaddaeus Szpelowitz. As broke and
hungry as his mentor, Picard sustained himself on tomato soup made from
fast food ketchup packages.
These lean years began to end in 2003. He started doing classical style
paintings for
Hollywood movie sets and his Nicholson portrait sold big for charity in
Los Angeles.
Unsuccessful grant applications early led Picard to shun the Canada Council.
"Always a lot of work - a real crap-shoot, and [failure to get a
grant] can be so discouraging. So I just worked as Frank Sinatra sang.
"I did it my way."
Flair figures large for Picard. Good at imaginative self-promotion whether
portraying himself as a punch drunk boxer in his "off the canvas"
painting seminars or as a Marine drill
sergeant at Art Boot Camp barking at a young painter to "drop and
give me ten sketches", the flamboyance prevails.
It peaked when, elevated high above the choir and the Edmonton Symphony's
pipe organ, he painted as the orchestra debuted its new "Masonic
Symphony".
He criticizes artists who get buried in their groove. "[Staying]
with one thing indefinitely leads to self repetition and boredom."
Vancouver can be hard for selling the art that an artist cares about.
"[High living costs
make it very difficult to create. Many artists stop producing what they
want [and love] and
start producing what they think will sell - in order to make a few bucks!
So wrong!
Picard energetically contributes to charity events. One poignant incident involved a tearful little girl, too shamed and embarrassed by her baldness after cancer treatment to attend the painting workshop he was leading."[So] I asked the hospital's barber to shave my head. [After being shorn] I joined the child, who smiled widely at my cue ball head. She had a great workshop!"