Excerpt
…say. I’m one of the few painters who has actually experienced this fact
during their own lifetime—not once, but coming up three times. The
painting itself is not really worth much. It is the prestige attributed to
the name on the bottom of the piece that sets the price. The story the
seller presents is the value added for the buyer. Most often, the story
comes first and drives the desire for the painting.
This gallery owner appeared open to new ideas, especially if they
resulted in sales, and Ken assured him that if he followed instructions to the
letter, he would be guaranteed to make sales.
He wanted to discuss specifics so Ken pointed out the small storeroom
off the gallery, “First, clear that room completely and put a lock on the door.”
Ken also requested the small window be blacked out, a rheostat installed to
replace the light switch, and a single light to be mounted over the lone easel
in the centre of the bare room. Then, with a twinkle in his eye, he instructed
the owner to gather all the spare and useless keys he could find onto one big
keychain and add the key for the storeroom to the collection.
“Make sure it jangles. It’s all about showmanship,” he insisted.
With all that done, Ken would choose one painting—just one, to be
placed on the easel in the locked room. He would tell the owner a story,
which was to be practiced until it could comfortably be spieled to the client.
“At that point you can call someone you’ve thought hard about.
Someone who buys paintings.”
The owner looked as if he didn’t know whether to laugh or to argue.
“That will never work!”
Ken shrugged. “It’s your choice. You want my paintings? Well this is
how you get one to sell.”
While he is rarely confrontational, when Ken is serious he exudes a
quiet determination that leaves no doubt that it will be his way or not at all.
The choice is entirely yours, but you soon accept that you need him far more
than he needs you.
So, perhaps as much out of curiosity as any belief that this obdurate
painter knew what he was talking about, the gallery owner agreed. They
shook hands, and within a few days Ken brought in a painting of a sparkling,
blue-grey sea beyond a broken limbed tree. Several large granite boulders
stood prominent on the shore.
