What should a podcast about selling art be in a moment where so little of that is happening? 



Do we carry on as normal? Or maybe even attempt to answer the questions about how to survive in the present and adapt to the coming future?



These are the questions I’ve asked for months. And then it hit me. Do what art dealers do when we stuck in the corner and there are no moves left— TELL SOME DAMN STORIES.



No one can advise us on how to tread these strange waters. Much less set a course for the uncertain future. So, while the world waits to see what comes next, we can huddle for a bit around the electric candlelight in our little corner booth here at the ol’ art dealer bar to share our stories. 



Because when we find ourselves asking “what are we going to become?” it’s best to remind ourselves what we love about who we’ve been. And there is no better way I know to do that than this. Or at least not as much fun. 



Going forward I’m counting on hearing your best tales that we can share on the show. Seriously — email, call, Instagram, tweet, I wanna hear from you. But for now, I’ll get this ball of yarns rolling with one of my personal favorites. 



Tonight I have a story that goes miles beyond the “you never know who will buy” parables. It’s a story about an unexpected collector who taught me a lifetime of lessons on how to be a better art dealer as well as a happier person. 



And if that is not enough to get you to quickly smash down on that play button (and subscribe to the podcast) – you’re also going to meet him in this new episode of the Art Dealer Show. 



Cheers, my art dealers!



Danny 

In the late 1980’s I crashed an art opening on Le Brea Blvd. in Los Angeles. I was an art student and yes, it was partly to make a meal out of cheese and crackers and to get some white wine cheer on. But it was also to see one of my new favorite photographers – Joel-Peter Witkin. 



Witkin’s disturbing art was amazing to see in person. But in retrospect it was the gallery that impressed me the most. At this time most serious galleries did not show photography. Most would consider it unworthy of wasting wall space on. Let alone using the walls for photographers as “daring” (hard to sell for a living room) as Witkin. 



The gallery that dared to do what others of the day would not was Fahey Klein, owned and directed by this episode’s feature guest David Fahey. 



David Fahey photographed by Ralph Elliott Starkweather



For years his gallery has been considered a leader in the curating and selling of contemporary photography. From well-established masters to photographers whose images have changed the course of history, to ones who push our understanding of the medium and the world.



Today, sitting in his gallery office recording our conversation for the show, representing fine art photography feels as normal as selling any other form of art. These days photographs sell in galleries for tens of thousands. And in auctions, they hammer down even in the millions. 



When David began his career working for the G Ray Hawkins gallery collecting photography was a market often in the hundreds. And would have politely been referred to as esoteric or “affordable art” which may have turned off most any newcomer to the art business who was looking to make their fortune. But for David, he did not enter into the field to become a dealer for the sake of dealing. As a photographer himself, it was his love for the medium that propelled him. 



Photographer Joel Peter-Witkin – photographed by David Fahey

Ruth Ann Thorn (Exclusive Collections)



We are finally back with the second half of our conversation with San Diego gallerist Ruth Ann Thorn (Exclusive Collections). And maybe being a year and a half later you have concluded that the reason for the wait is because the second half was just more of the same. And if that’s you, prepare to be surprised.



I’ve heard lots of art dealers go on about how they need to find artists who are not just talented but are doing things their collectors have truly not seen before. And then wait for them to walk in the door, or hope to find them at the next art fair. But Ruth Anne does much more than keep her eyes open. She goes on the hunt.



Junkies, Schizoids, and Ex-Cons – oh my.



Listen to this new episode of the Art Dealer Show and find out what happens when a gallery owner makes a practice of placing ads on Craig’s list that start with “Looking for weird people creating weird things”. Follow her journey into Hollywood flops and other corners of the world no other art dealer I know is willing to brave, just to find their next artist.



But before we get into all that, a year and a half is a long time, particularly in today’s art world. So from our corner booth in the back of the ol’ art dealer bar, I gave Ruth Ann a call to check in and see what has been going on since we first spoke with her. And I’ll say this, it’s not a lot of same old – same old.



Ruth Anne has seen the changes coming come and like anyone who will survive to thrive, she’s adapting with the changing climate.



So slide on in, order yourself up the perfect tonic to carry you through the hour and join us.



Cheers.



Danny



Sponsors:Art World NewsRelavent CommunicationsArt Santa Fe – a Redwood Media Group show



Guest:Ruth-Ann Thorn, CEO and owner of Exclusive Collections:San Diego • Beverly Hills • Las Vegas • Laguna Beach(619) 238-0320www.ecgallery.comhttps://www.facebook.com/ecgalleries



Us:www.artdealer.showhey@artdealer.show@artdealershowfacebook.com/artdealershow

This is not your typical episode of the Art Dealer Show.
If you have not heard the news, the often controversial comedic actor and social commentator Sacha Baron Cohen is back with a brand new show. And what does that have to do with the art business? Well, right out of the gate in his first episode he’s pointed his sardonic lens at one of our own—art consultant Cristy Cones. And we’ve got her on the show.
Try to imagine that you have agreed to allow a UK-based reality TV crew film a sit down with you and an ex-con who has dreams of turning the art he started to make in prison during his recently completed twenty-one year stint. And then, when the time comes, in walks a hulking figure with a shaved head and a prison tattoo under his eye nervelessly clutching a folio.
Over the course of a “getting to know each other” conversation, he reveals that after a cell protest when he smeared his own excrement on the wall, he became inspired to create works of art with the same medium. He then hands you a primitive portrait of his cellmates. Next you are informed that their shirts are made with another fluid that was involuntarily provided by one of his subjects. I’m not going to go any further but this insanity does.
If you are asking “how would I react?” or just “what the hell?” then you definitely don’t want to miss this interview with the art dealer who got to live it.
Be forewarned: this is the first episode that I’ve had to put a content warning on. It’s also the first one that I’m suggesting you have no less than two drinks to properly prepare yourself.
Cheers my art dealer.
Danny
Guest:
Christi Cones
@ChristyCones
Us:
www.artdealer.show
hey@artdealer.show
@artdealershow
facebook.com/artdealershow

YES, we’ve returned to our corner booth at the ol’ art dealer bar and we have a new episode of the Art Dealer Show show for you.
Even though the break went much longer than I expected, it did not go to waste — during that time I gave the show many new tweaks. All with the goal of being able to get more of them out to you. If you’re a regular listener, I’m sure you’ll notice them along the way. And I’d very much like to hear what you think?
I’m about as excited as I am nervous about this new episode. I’ve decided to finally take on one of the sacred cows in the art gallery business: pricing art based on Keystone (double net) as a firm rule.
Ironically rigid rules of this kind, which are intended to secure fiscal safety, can literally cause the opposite result. And over the years I’ve watched galleries undermine their own success, and even place their business in direct danger, by hanging onto hard and fast rules of this kind. For many people in the art business even suggesting that this type of guiding rule should be thrown away is heresy. But that’s exactly the case I’m going to make.
…Annnnd there’s a lot of funny and interesting stories in there too — along with a time machine, a duck and an old joke about ham.
Hope you take a listen.
Danny

 
If you listened to Part One of our conversation with San Francisco Art Exchange’s co-owner Jim Hartley, I’m sure you have been eagerly waiting this episode. It’s not going to be easy to top an art dealer origin story that involves coming under fire during the Iranian revolution but I think we’ve met the challenge. In Part Two, Jim and I go over the amazing story about how a gallery that was started to be an active brokerage for blue chip art ended up bringing Alberto Vargas, one of the most noted American illustrators, to the market for the first time. How a chance encounter with a music agent led them to representing the art of one of The Rolling Stones and that led to creating its own market of celebrity artists. And how that later became the beginnings of…well, you’re just going to have to listen to the show. Because Jim is going to tell this story, and many more, much better than I can. But before we head off to talk with Jim, I’m going to buy you all a drink over at the ol’ Art Dealer Bar. Because this time I have a story from the front line that just happened to me. I have a tail about a top-flight show that we (Limelight Agency) just put on with one of our partner galleries (Mouche in Beverly Hills) and the walk-in that became a “coconut” the size of an “elephant.” And how it was brought to a halt by Asian inches. And if you’re asking “what does that mean?” — you’re not alone. Cheers. Danny
Sponsors:
Art World News
Relavent Communications 
Guest:
Jim Hartley
San Francisco Art Exchange
@sfae
facebook.com/san.francisco.art.exchange/
Us:
www.artdealer.show
hey@artdealer.show
@artdealershow
facebook.com/artdealershow

For such a down-to-earth guy, our guest Jim Hartley has had quite a glitzy career in the art biz. Jim, along with his partner (and past guest) Theron Kabrich, have owned the San Francisco Art Exchange for about thirty years. Their gallery has hosted some of the biggest names in rock-n-roll, movies and popular culture—both as artists, clients and artistic subjects. It is also where I started my own gallery career.
Jim is an Art Dealer’s Art Dealer and he’s one of the few who I consider a teacher. Not just for me, but for dozens of people who have had the chance to work with him over the years. In fact, the first lesson that I learned from Jim happened when he offered me my first job in an art gallery. He called me to make the offer…which I didn’t actually accept. I asked for a week to consider it—selling art at the time felt a bit like joining the circus. But instead of saying yes or no, he just kept talking—talking about life, what I wanted from it and what he’d done in his own. He told me about his family and asked about mine. I think we even talked about movies. And an hour or two later, he said “How about you come in tomorrow?” and I said “Okay.” Yep, I got tricked into this racket by one of the best talkers I’ve ever met.
So it’s Jim who I have to blame on the worst of days. And it’s Jim who I have to thank on the best.
But even if I didn’t stick in the art biz, I would owe him debt of gratitude for that valuable lesson which has brought me some of the biggest artists I’ve worked with, allowed me to close sales in the millions and may even be responsible for how I stole the heart of my wife. That aside from the clever things we tell people, great stories, jokes and facts we dazzle the non-believers with—it comes down to just being there. Sticking it out, taking our time, getting to know each other. And underneath that having the strength of will like a force of nature that erodes walls over time.
Cheers to that.
Danny
Sponsors:
Art World News
Relavent Communications 
Guest:
Jim Hartley
San Francisco Art Exchange
Us:
www.artdealer.show
hey@artdealer.show
@artdealershow
facebook.com/artdealershow

It’s been a while but I’m back and comfortably settled in my usual corner booth at the ol’ art dealer bar. Having been away for a bit, there’s a lot bouncing around in my head. First up is something most of us can relate to: It’s a story about an art gallery which I sell to, and my less-than-impressive attempt to help them convince a client that a big ticket painting was really worth the price. It’s a part of the job that I’ve never liked but which somehow calls to me like the siren’s song in the fog…to wreck myself onto its jagged shore. So this time, instead of pontificating on my own, we’re calling in an old friend of the show, Jeff Jaffe, to help shed some light on this age-old obstacle.
We’re also going to return to the second half of our conversation with San Diego gallerist and art dealer Alex Salazar. The first half is not a prerequisite to enjoy this episode but I highly suggest checking it out as well. This time we’ll get a lot deeper into how a young Alex with multiple masters degrees in art and religion found his way into the world of art sales. And moreover, the lessons he learned along the way that make him the successful and more importantly, happy art dealer he is today.
Not all episodes of the “Art Dealer Show” have moral to them. Typically, they probably raise more questions than answers. But after relistening to the conversations with Alex and Jeff while I edited this week’s show, I kept noticing that the parts that made the most sense had almost the same basic points. While talking to Jeff for several minutes about how best to deal with a client that is not easily convinced of the value of a painting, he finally said “just be the person they’d trust buying from.” With Alex there was a point when he explained that the qualities of a good art dealer are much the same as being a “good human.” And that may be the secret to it all—that the key to selling art, and being happy in life doing it, are the same lessons that our parents, kindergarten teacher, friends, every religion and the occasional fortune cookie has told us. Be a good person (for all that means) and the rest will start to fall into place from there.
Seems I’m two glasses ahead of you so please hit play and catch up with me.
Cheers
Danny
Sponsors:
Art World News
Relavent Communications
Art Santa Fe – a Redwood Media Group show
Guest:
Alexander Salazar, owner of Alexander Salazar Fine Art:
225 WEST MARKET STREET – San Diego, CA 92101
Downtown San Diego
(619) 531 8996
www.alexandersalazarfineart.com
https://www.facebook.com/alexartdealer
Guest call:
Jeff Jaffe, owner of Pop International Galleries:
195 Bowery (at Spring Street), New York, NY 10002
T: 212 533 4262 F: 212 533 6553
art@popinternational.com
www.popinternational.com
Facebook
Twitter
Us:
www.artdealer.show
hey@artdealer.show
@artdealershow
facebook.com/artdealershow
 
 

To be a seasoned art dealer is to have taken some knocks over the years. There’s just no way around it. Stay in the business beyond the length of a college internship and you’re going to get some scrapes on your skin and soul. Slide back the cuffs and hems of the designer suits and dresses worn by those of us who have made it to the top, and you will see the well-earned scars from battles won and lost.
Despite this, it’s not the occasional backwards drag through the thorny bushes that makes our business challenging. It’s that, despite this, our craft demands that that we always have a smile for a collector walking in the front door. That even in our darkest moments we need to be living in the moment of the best day of our charmed careers.
Now I’m not saying we are a beaten and cynical lot — far from it. As someone who talks to dozens of art-selling folk every week, that’s not the case at all. Heck, you could not pull off this schizoid performance if, at your core, you weren’t relentlessly optimistic. I’m just saying that we’re…complicated. And not without our dark sides.
Perhaps that’s why, when I came out to Exclusive Collections’ San Diego gallery location to record a conversation with their CEO and owner Ruth-Ann Thorn, it took me a moment to get my bearings. Ruth-Ann always seems to find her way to the positive, no matter how frustrating the topic or painful the tale. No matter how much I personally pushed, poked and tried to chisel away at that candy shell, I just kept on finding more of the same positivity. And it pissed me off almost as much as it endeared me to her.
Ruth-Ann has been through her wars too. In some ways, much more so than many others. And she is always willing to admit how hard things are. She just refuses to take on the negative when there is a choice. During the first part of our two-part conversation, we spent a lot of time discussing one of the most difficult topics for us in the art biz: Whether or not the next generation entering into what has typically been the art-buying age will actually be buying art. We considered that maybe they will but just not in a way we are able to sell it. Or maybe they just won’t be buying from us in particular.
A conversation like this will mostly get you lot of deep breaths and pained looks into the middle distance from just about any art dealer I know. But not Ruth-Ann. It almost felt like she was not only unafraid, she was actually excited to take it on — to figure out and win the greatest challenge facing the gallery world today.
She’s a fabulously annoying bundle of art-selling optimism.
Cheers.
Danny Stern
Sponsors:
Art World News
Relavent Communications
Art Santa Fe – a Redwood Media Group show
Guest:
Ruth-Ann Thorn, CEO and owner of Exclusive Collections:
San Diego • Beverly Hills • Las Vegas • Laguna Beach
(619) 238-0320
www.ecgallery.com
https://www.facebook.com/ecgalleries
Us:
www.artdealer.show
hey@artdealer.show
@artdealershow
facebook.com/artdealershow

Years ago I called Alex Salazar (this episode’s guest) to go over some increasingly complicated and continuously changing details pertaining to a show that we were working on together. One of Alex’s galleries was going to host one of our celebrity artists. And as is often the nature of working with celebs in the art business, there were going to be “requests” made of the gallery—well beyond the norm. After going over the newly added accommodations to the already complex list, with long-winded explanations and, of course, the customary and often patronizing case made for how they will actually “benefit” the gallery as well, Alex stopped me. He took a short breath to refocus and said “Nope, too complicated. I’m just here to sell art.” Coming out of the mouth of almost anyone else that is not necessarily profound. But from Alex, an art dealer who can pack more creative ideas turned into actual actions in a year than most of us will attempt in a career, it was a drop of sage wisdom. Alex, of all the art dealers I’ve known, can be the most focused and clear-headed about getting down to the marrow of what he really wants to achieve. That’s why when I reconnected with Alex years later to interview him for this show, it was at first shocking but ultimately not surprising to learn that he had turned the business he’d been building for years inside out. In one year, he closed all of his seven galleries throughout greater San Diego and moved into seven hundred square foot showroom well off the main track. And from this tiny headquarters, he is now doing as much business as ever, mostly by working off of his hard-earned rolodex of collectors who adore him.
Cheers.
Danny Stern
Sponsors:
Art World News
Relavent Communications
Art Santa Fe – a Redwood Media Group show
Guest:
Alexander Salazar, owner of Alexander Salazar Fine Art:
225 WEST MARKET STREET – San Diego, CA 92101
Downtown San Diego
(619) 531 8996
www.alexandersalazarfineart.com
https://www.facebook.com/alexartdealer
 
Us:
www.artdealer.show
hey@artdealer.show
@artdealershow
facebook.com/artdealershow

How about this for a show tease? An Andy Warhol painting changes the lives of a civil servant’s family forever, Dali’s pet ocelot gets out of control, and the chance encounter of a 19 year old and a famous eccentric millionaire made gallery history in Las Vegas. Now if that does not have you hooked for an hour of listening than this podcast will never be for you. But if it has, I’m thrilled to welcome you back for part two of our conversation with Richard (Dick to his friends) Perry. In our first episode, we learned how the government seizing every penny a young Perry had led him to taking a key role in what would eventually become a gallery dynasty — and the great stories that came from those early days at Merrill Chase Galleries. (listen to episode one) This episode picks up in the second chapter of Richard’s career as we follow him to Las Vegas where he opens Centaur Galleries, the first major art gallery on the strip. But before we jump into all of that, I’d like to buy you a drink and bend your ear a bit over at the Ol’ Art Dealer Lounge. This week I’ve been thinking about how two hundred years of our frontal lobe evolution, and the answer to why you should never order a cocktail at a bar with plastic pourer tops, may be the reason that some people didn’t buy that big painting from you. If nothing else, it’s worth seeing how I dig myself out of that cryptic set up…Cheers
Danny Stern
Show Host and Producer
Sponsors:
Art World News
Relavent Communications
Art Santa Fe – a Redwood Media Group show
Guest:
Richard Perry – Owner of Centaur Gallery, Las Vegas NV:
4345 Dean Martin Dr #200, Las Vegas, NV
(702) 737-1234
Centaur Gallery
Us:
www.artdealer.show
hey@artdealer.show
@artdealershow
facebook.com/artdealershow

From day one, it was a goal of the show to talk as many different types of art sellers as we could get on the mic—from art consultants working the floor of a mall gallery to the jet set industry movers who make headlines. Which certainly includes the art brokers who find their own place in odd shaped spaces in-between and my guest, Dewey Graff, is about as perfect a representative of this territory of art dealing as I can think of.
Dewey Graff is one of those people who has found a couple square feet to stand on that was never declared before and staked a flag in it. And once he chooses to step off of it, there will be a permanent Dewey-sized footprint—one that will never be filled by anyone who comes along afterwards.
Back in the 1990’s, Graff identified a piece of virtual retail real-estate which millionaires walk by every day: The Robb Report. For over two decades, his ad has run every month without fail in this high-rent print neighborhood and through this ad Graff has met the people who live the high-flying lifestyle described in its pages.
However, meeting people of this caliber is a far cry from selling to them. Over many years, Graff has refined his already bigger-than-life selling personality to leap over some major obstacles: not having a gallery and the credibility that comes with that, along with typically never being anything more than a voice on the phone may have be impossible to overcome for some. But Graff somehow found a way to make these work in his favor and to understand how, you’ll just have to listen to this episode.
As always, I’ll take a moment of my own to offer my cocktail-fueled stories on the art world: this week a call from a fellow art dealer who is lamenting how her biggest client running short on wall space may spell the end of a great thing. Which reminds me of one of the earliest and biggest lessons I learned in the art biz—making sure that the collectors know that they are the COLLECTOR. And all that entails.
Cheers.
Danny Stern
Show Host and Producer
Sponsors:
Art World News
Relavent Communications 
Art Expo New York
Guest:
Dewey Graff – Owner of Dewey Graff Fine Art Inc.
(952) 935-2289<
deweygfa.com
dewey@deweygfa.com
Us:
www.artdealer.show
hey@artdealer.show
@artdealershow
facebook.com/artdealershow

As promised, we’ve returned with part two of our conversation with Heidi Leigh, owner of AFA Gallery in SOHO New York and Belcastel France. And if you liked part one, I can promise that you’ll love part two.
When I asked Heidi “what is the toughest thing about running a gallery today?”, she replied “same as it was yesterday—finding good help.”
There is so much packed into that very honest answer. And the truth is, you may have the most desirable pieces of art by the hottest artists, the grandest gallery showplace on the perfect corner but if you don’t have the people who can do the job of selling art—well then, you’ve got nothing. Heidi and I may not have come up with the answers on how to get those people, let alone keep them, but we do hit on a few worthwhile bits of wisdom that may get us all a little closer.
But this rich dialogue between dealers doesn’t end there: Heidi will argue on whether blind faith is needed to survive; and if there is anything to “manifesting” success (guess which side this curmudgeon is on.) We’ll even talk about her art gallery in France that sits inside her castle, surrounded by a real moat with a drawbridge. And why even with that – THE FRENCH STILL WON’T BUY ART FROM US.
Cheers.
Danny Stern
Show Host and Producer
Sponsors:
Art World News
Relavent Communications 
Art Expo New York
Guest:
Heidi Leigh – Owner of AFA Gallery NYC/France:
54 Greene Street New York, NY 10013
212.226.7374
AFA Galleries
facebook.com/AFANYC
@AFANYC
Us:
www.artdealer.show
hey@artdealer.show
@artdealershow
facebook.com/artdealershow

How about this for an interview starter? When this episode’s guest Richard Perry, the owner of Centaur Gallery in Las Vegas, first entered into the art business the company he built his career at had just been shut down by the IRS, the president had fled to Mexico with the accountant, and the Fed seized everything but the clothes on Richard’s back. With no more than a couple bucks in his pocket, Richard answered a want ad for an art gallery job. That job would quickly develop into a pivotal role helping to build a gallery dynasty that shaped much of the business.
But before we go deep into Richard’s story, we’ll drop on over to the ol’ Art Dealer Bar, for bit of gin-fueled gospel from the booth in the back.
This week I had a bit of a realization about how the art selling business entered into the center of the zeitgeist of the 20th century, how it lost contact with that stardust, how it all but died, and how that gave me a lot of hope for the future.
Now that I have that to live up to, let me suggest you throw off your coat, loosen that tie, strap in, and take a long deep sip of what of what I’m drinking.
Cheers.
Danny Stern
Show Host and Producer
Sponsors:
Art World News
Relavent Communications
Art Santa Fe – a Redwood Media Group show
Guest:
Richard Perry – Owner of Centaur Gallery, Las Vegas NV:
4345 Dean Martin Dr #200, Las Vegas, NV
(702) 737-1234
Centaur Gallery
Us:
www.artdealer.show
hey@artdealer.show
@artdealershow
facebook.com/artdealershow

As you know by Now, I love a good art dealer story. And our guest Heidi Leigh, the owner of AFA Gallery (Soho New York / Paris) has brought us some great ones. We are going follow the unlikely journey that a professional dancer in San Francisco took to become a SOHO gallerist. We’ll hear how a stranger with a briefcase filled with art put her in the center of one of the biggest crazes that the art business has seen. And we’ll learn how she survived, and even prospered, after the craze came to its crashing end.
But before we jump into Heidi’s stories, we’ll make a stop at the ol’ art dealer bar so I can share a recent realization. That during a decade of working alongside The Rolling Stones on the road, I was being taught by example a simple but profound lesson that can make us all better at selling art. Really, no kidding.
Cheers.
Danny Stern
Show Host and Producer
Sponsors:
Art World News
Relavent Communications 
Art Expo New York
Guest:
Heidi Leigh – Owner of AFA Gallery NYC/France:
54 Greene Street New York, NY 10013
212.226.7374
AFA Galleries
facebook.com/AFANYC
@AFANYC
Us:
www.artdealer.show
hey@artdealer.show
@artdealershow
facebook.com/artdealershow

The wait is over, and we are back with part II of my conversation with Bob Chase, president of Chase Art. And If you enjoyed part one as much as I did, I can assure you that this second chapter is as interesting as it is different from the first.
(if you didn’t hear part I, this is your chance)
Previously Bob and I talked about the early days in the street level gallery business when his father and grandfather first started Merrill Chase Galleries. In this episode, we move on to Bob’s own personal experiences in the gallery world. Including the inspiring story about his company’s early struggles getting the Dr. Sues art program started in its first years. And how he was able to bring it to become one of the most represented and collected published art programs in the market.
We also spent some time digging down to the roots of what makes for a great, or even just good, art dealer. And as often is the case, the answer is the ABCs of good selling – Always Be Challenging yourself. I know it’s hokey, but it’s also true.
Picking up where we left off with Bob is not the only unfinished business in this episode. We also pick up from where I left you hanging after our conversation at the ol’ art dealer bar.
In part I shared a story about an old gallery owner friend of mine, who late one night after binge listening to several of our podcasts, called me up to hit me with a question many gallery owners would like to ask someone “What should I do next?” And after doing my best to skirt around the question, I confessed that I don’t possess those visionary powers. Despite having the chutzpah to pontificate into the mic show after show. But I did declare I knew one thing for sure. That an answer is coming and there will be a new day for the gallery business. And then with that tease I promised I’d tell you how I know that for sure right after the ad-break.
And when we came back from that ad… (nothin’) Well I guess I owe you and everyone else an apology. I meant to. Really I did. What I really meant was when we return with this episode.
But now the time has come. And in this episode I finally do deliver on my promise to make my case.
(Yes, I just used a tease again…Shamelessly.)
Cheers.
Sponsors:
Art World News
Relavent Communications 
Art Expo New York
Guest:
Bob Chase, President of:
Chase Art
Us:
www.artdealer.show
hey@artdealer.show
@artdealershow
facebook.com/artdealershow

Nim Vaswani

An Art Dealer By Any Other Name

If the art world has its equivalent to an old-time tent revival it would the “Road Show Company.” Since 1997, Nim Vaswani and his devoted crew of art dealers have criss-crossed the United States and beyond, putting on art shows with A-list artists inside galleries in B–level markets. Dali to Tampa, Max to Omaha, Taupin to Scottsdale.

The path that led Nim into the gallery business, to opening a successful gallery of his own in Florida and choosing this gypsy life, was arguably serendipitous. But it was not without direction. As we learn in this week’s episode, Nim is driven by some very specific beliefs about his place in the art business. And along the way as his travels have taken him to scores of galleries, he’s made some very interesting observations about the gallery world that are well worth considering.

If you are a regular listener of the Art Dealer Show, this may be the first time you’ve heard Nim’s name come up. But it’s not, the first time I’ve introduced you to him.

Back in episode 007, I shared with listeners an experience that I had while meeting an art dealer friend for dinner at the airport in San Francisco. During that dinner my unnamed friend asserted that he felt that there was little to no distinction between being an art dealer and any other sales person of high-end goods (Rolexes, cars, boats). I’ll save you the blow-by-blow of my inner dialogue that I narrated. But in simply put comma my visceral response was a bit of an existential tail spin. By the end of sharing the story I had brought things to a bit a boil. I think that at one point I exclaimed that art dealers are “fucking magicians.” Or something to that effect.

The story was true. As well as my inner turmoil? and feeling about what it is to be an art dealer. But nonetheless, it was unfair. I used Nim as a bit of foil to express a point. And in the telling of the story I really did not give him a fair chance to have his views fully understood—certainly not in context.

And even though this episode longer then the usual, I think you’ll find it riveting all the way through…and just remember you can always pause it and come back later.”

Cheers.


Danny Stern


Sponsors:
Art World News
Relavent Communications 
Redwood Media Group 
Art Expo 2017
Guest:
Nim Viswani, owner of:
Road show Company
Facebook
@RoadShowArtists
Us:
www.artdealer.show
hey@artdealer.show
@artdealershow
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Are you ready for the first Art Dealer Show of the New Year?
We are back with part II of my conversation with Thad Markham, the owner of Artifacts Gallery in Cambria, California and the designer/publisher of Out Of The Bowl.
Last time Thad and I talked a lot about the path he took to come into the art gallery business. It’s a great story and if you missed part I you should really check it out.
In this second half of our conversation, we dive much deeper into Thad’s driving philosophies on running a gallery business that guided him through the tough years. And how he’s refined his thinking over time to help him go far beyond just surviving.
Before we jump head deep into that great talk, we once again gather at our table in the dark end of the old art dealer bar, where I pose the question “what does gang initiation killings and Zappos’ unique employee indoctrination methods have to do with a basic but unspoken truth about selling art?” I’ll give you a hint, it’s how I’m getting through the next four years. But you’ll just have to listen to the show to get the full answer.
 
Sponsors:
Art World News
Relavent Communications 
Redwood Media Group 
Art Expo 2017
Guest:
Thad Markham, owner of:
Artifacts Gallery in Cambria CA
Publisher of:
Out Of the Bowl
Facebook
Us:
www.artdealer.show
hey@artdealer.show
@artdealershow
facebook.com/artdealershow

Many are calling 2016 a year of loss. If it was not a presidential candidate for you, it was at least Prince, Bowie and of course Leonard Cohen. As much as I’m personally saddened by our loss of them and many others, I am grateful for at least one thing–I got to launch The Art Dealer Show. And I want to thank you and everyone else who helped breathe life into it.
Our podcast is not even a full year old and already a community of art-selling professionals has clearly begun to take shape. Not only in numbers but outright support.
From the beginning, my biggest hope for the show was that it would become the proverbial water cooler where we could all gather around. A place where we could be reminded that, even though we are scattered around the world in our respective galleries, offices and studios, we are still connected by the work we do, the things that drive us and the similar challenges we face. And by meeting each other and getting to share our stories, ideas and even questions, we’d gain a better understanding of who we collectively are.
Our guest for this week’s episode Bridgette Mayer is a perfect example of this. Bridgette has just release her first book of what I know will be many Art Cure: A Memoir of Abuse and Fortune. It’s a candid autobiography that explains how young girl who came through social services and foster care ended up in the art world with a multi-million dollar gallery and consulting business. This is an inspirational tale about how a life that started with gross neglect and violent abuse ultimately ended in personal redemption as one of Philadelphia’s most celebrated gallery owners.
As always I’ll hold court for a bit from my usual corner booth, in the back of the ol’ art dealer bar. Having just come back from a little tour of some of the galleries that show my art in Hawaii, I’m still a bit high on a mixture of Mai Tais and getting to meet some great art dealers. And while the buzz is still fresh, I’m going to share some thoughts about what I that our real job is as art sellers. Just a little tip, it rhymes with shoe-missness… I think I might need to slow down a bit on those drinks…
Cheers.
Danny Stern
Sponsors:
Art World News
Relavent Communications 
Redwood Media Group 
Art Expo 2017
Guest:
Bridgette Mayer, owner of:
Bridgette Mayer Gallery
Facebook
@BMayerGallery
Us:
www.artdealer.show
hey@artdealer.show
@artdealershow
facebook.com/artdealershow

I’ve alway been fond of the cautionary words from an unknown sage – “choose your profession before it chooses you.” These sobering words used to guid me as much as keep me up all night staring at the ceiling.
This week those words of wisdom have once again found their way back in to my head, as my business travels have returned me to the Hawaiian Islands to visit with some of my gallery accounts. While here I’ve been training many young art dealers on one of my artists during the day and by night I’ve been editing this new episode of the Art Dealer Show. And the juxtaposition of these fresh new art dealers with as little as a month or two of experience on the gallery floor in contrast to this episode’s guest Tony Pernicone, who has nearly forty years under his belt, could not be more striking.
Tony’s career in the art business is – like most of the greats I know – more of an odyssey than a CV. And while relistening describe his career that started in the entertainment world as an actor, folk musician and sit-com writer that led to a storied gallery career, I could not help by think this is someone who disproves the axiom that has haunted me for all these years.
Because often a career “finds you” but sometimes it’s a calling. And those are not the same things. For Tony I think it was the latter.
Tony Pernicone has been an art dealer since 1980, an appraiser since 1991 and an auctioneer since 1995.
He is an Accredited Senior Appraiser with the American Society of Appraisers; a Member of the National Auctioneers Association and the California State Auctioneers Association. He also currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Northern California Division of the American Society of Appraisers as the Discipline Director of the Personal Property Division.
He successfully participated in the Society’s mandatory Reaccreditation program and has complied with its continuing education requirements, as set forth in the organization Constitution, Bylaws and Administrative rules. Formal reaccreditation was granted by the International Board of Governors and is valid through January 9, 2014. He is currently acquiring the educational credits to reaccredit again at that time.
In 2004, as one of only two appraisers in the nation, he was asked to assist eBay.com in their efforts to weed out any fraudulent art. His responsibilities were to offer his opinion as to the authenticity of questionable works of art appearing for sale on eBay’s Internet auction site, and to help establish permanent guidelines and standards for any seller to list their art for auction. Considered one of the leading fine art appraisers in the country, he is also qualified, and has served as an expert witness in all fine art-related fields; He’s a published lecturer whose most recent articles were for the 2011 and 2012 Journal of Advanced Appraisal Studies, respectively titled, ” Beyond Auction Sales: Selecting Fine Art FMV Comparables”; and “Caveat Emptor! Fakes and Frauds at EBay and other Online Auction Sites.” He lectured on the same subject at the 75th International Appraisers Conference in Washington D.C. in August of 2011. Currently, he is working on an article regarding the value of “Art as an Investment”.
 
Sponsors:
Art World News
Relavent Communications 
Redwood Media Group 
Guest:
Tony Pernicone, owner of:
Avanti Fine Arts
Us:
www.artdealer.show
hey@artdealer.show
@artdealershow
facebook.com/artdealershow