Think Small

Every artist longs to see their work splashed across the wall of a museum or covering the side of a building. Mural-sized work is in the blood, it’s a tradition, the greatest of our kind worked on a grand scale and the size of it made a lasting impression on our little minds.

But as the times changed, so did the need for giant-sized art. The great patrons, the Church, the politicos, the government, great men with great egos, and great ideas have gone high-tech. Wanna get the message out take to the Internet. Advertising has gone there, companies have gone there, even artists have gone there, there’s something wonderful about a place where you can do anything you want or say anything you want and no one can rat you out to the hall monitor.

But by moving into cyber space the need for gallery-sized art has slipped away. Oh sure there are still folks who have a house the size of the Metrodome and need murals to fill all those bare walls and be shown overhead on the Jumbotron, but you can’t count on them, they’re like unicorns, great if ya see one but hard to come by.

So where to go what to do?

Go small. Miniatures were once all the rage in the art world and we have come full circle to the time when once again they are the jewels of the game. There are shows for them, collectors for them, television shows and books and private exhibits all for those daring young minis in their cute, little frames.

But I have a vision. Good make it small and you’ll have something you can work with. And don’t forget the biggest parts of an artist’s income comes from all those annoying peripherals, the mouse pads, coffee mugs, T-shirts and key chains and let’s just see you try to put Guernica on that.

I know, you never set out to become a midnight pitchman hawking your wares on TV, but it does matter, it does work, it does, sell and that in turn makes for income which can be spent on huge canvases.

And while I’m harping, don’t forget those little treasures hiding in your closet, the sketches you made while researching your latest masterpiece. That’s right, your own notes to the artist, the rushed drawings, the oil sketches, the charcoal layouts that go with you back to the studio. What becomes of them when you are done with that brilliant work and off on your next adventure?

Most of them wind up being kindling for the fireplace to keep out the winter chill. Shame, shame on you, pull them out and put a mat on them and see if you have something to offer for less than the three thousand dollars you want, (and need) for that sixty-four by eighty-two canvas. What happens when you need something to post on the Net? Yes, of course you are Net-savvy and do all of your press-releases and marketing on the Cyber Super Highway. You can’t post a twenty meg picture on your web-site.

Oh you do have Photoshop? And you’ve actually read all of the manual and known just exactly how to reduce the size without changing the perspective? So why haven’t you burned that smaller file to a disc and taken it to have a mini-Giclee made, (Keep the disc, portfolio in a briefcase, remember)?

And for cards and mugs, mouse pads and key chains you’ll need a small high detail file so that the screen printer can make a lossless screen.

Ya just have to get your head out of the clouds and come back down to earth, big is better, but small can be a big idea.