What to Know About Licensing Your Art

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Being an artist can be a hard job when it comes to making money and getting customers. One of the best ways to turn your art into income is by licensing your artwork. When you license your art, you’re allowing a bigger company to reproduce it on their end. This isn’t something that needs to be done for all of your pieces, but every artist should have a few in mind that they would like to share with a larger audience. Many times licensed artwork is put onto tote bags, phone cases, pillowcases, and many other products. Licensing agreements state what percentage of sales an artist will receive. Before jumping the gun and licensing your art, here are important things you need to know about licensing.

 

Manufacturing

There are so many ways and places you can license your artwork. Many times opportunities of collaboration will come up with someone you know or even a brand that saw your art on social media. Check out small local businesses that may be interested in teaming up with an artist to work on their products. Some restaurants might want to rebrand themselves by having new cups and coasters for tables and selling merchandise. If you’re interested in working with a larger manufacturer, then check out options on online stores. Redbuddle is an online shop where over 700,00 independent artists sell their art on just about any product you can think of. This option is great for artists who may not have time to create products themselves.

 

Understand your Deal

Every licensing deal is different, so it is important as an artist to sit down and understand the terms. For some companies, you may be asked to create art that is specifically designed for them to manufacture. If you team up with a well-known company to license your art this most times means that they take care of work behind the scenes. From manufacturing, shipping, and customer service, none of these things will be on your hands. Look deep into your deals to see if you can license the same pieces of art to more than one company. The most important thing to consider in a licensing agreement is the responsibility of you as an artist and the amount of money you receive from sales.

 

Enjoy the Benefits

After licensing your art you will begin to gain new customers and attract followers on social media. Your sales won’t only increase through licensing but as well as your selling. It can take some time for your art to be noticed, but once it is, it’s up from there. By continuing to create art and selling it from your home or a local store, and licensing other pieces of art, you’ve created multiple streams of income for yourself! 

What is Environmental Art?

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Environmental art, also referred to as ecological art, is a genre that encompasses a blend of both craft and nature. The idea of showcasing the Earth through art has been around since the dawn of man, starting with paleolithic cave paintings. They were, in essence, the beginning of landscape art. Back then, their only purpose was to display the beauty of nature itself, not to send any type of political message. In this era of a growing concern for our planet, a lot of people are feeling ecologically motivated to send a social message along with displaying their talent. There is a strong movement towards educating the public about growing concerns all around us. 

Instead of using nature as merely a background that is used to tell human tales, many artists nowadays are working alongside nature to create works of art in order to convey a deeper message about climate change and how it relates to society as a whole. By choosing a specific landscape to showcase their work instead of working within the confines of a studio, environmental artists help draw their audiences’ attention to the canvas of nature itself. This can help bring attention in a positive way to those areas that need human intervention.

Some artists in this field have chosen to express themselves in a very literal sense, using only all-natural materials and working only within natural landscapes. This can be rural, urban, or a combination of both. These particular artists try to achieve two things simultaneously – they seek to display a certain area as it has always been in its natural state, while also transforming it into a new vision to send a message. The purpose of having a twofold goal in mind is to help people see the existing world around them from a new perspective. 

A common thread among environmental artists, regardless of location, is that they must do no harm. Their purpose is to raise awareness while drawing attention to a specific area or plight without harming it further. Some artists take a more figurative approach, but most of them will use organic material in order to represent their subject matter. The types of substances they might use include rocks, sticks, leaves, sand, flowers, or water, to name just a few. This leaves them open to vulnerability, much like in nature itself which falls prey to the changing of the seasons and predictable decay. 

 

Upcoming Picasso Exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery

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Qingxiang Guo from the Wanda Group art collection has agreed to loan Picasso’s famous “Claude et Paloma” painting to the Vancouver Art Gallery.

China’s Wanda Group purchased Claude et Paloma for $28.2 million US, including fees at Christie’s November auction in 2013. The oil on canvas work depicts two of Picasso’s children born as a result of his long-term relationship with Françoise Gilot, which will be on display at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Moreover, Qingxiang Guo oversees the Wanda Group art collection, which is owned by Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin. Wang Jianlin is known as the richest person in China with a net worth of $31.5 billion US.The Wanda Group is known as one of the largest world property owning companies, as seen by their recent acquisition of the American media company called Legendary Entertainment.

Guo said he agreed to loan the painting to the Vancouver Art Gallery due to his familial connections in the area, with both son and granddaughter born in this city.

Guo also reaffirmed a notion about the “art experience” by stating that he wanted to offer this painting a space where it could be appreciated by the public eye, not only his personal use.

With over a $1.6 billion value, the works owned by the Wanda Group consist of over one-thousand paintings ranging from Pollock to Picasso.

Around 30 years ago, Guo founded the art collection that fueled his lifelong passion for all different types of art. To mark his first purchase, he gladly invested in a painting by Guanzhong Wu, who is a Chinese artist known for finding a balance between western and oriental artistic styles.

vancouver art galleryThe gallery has works by Impressionists and Modernists from not only Western tradition, but also from Chinese culture. Throughout this process, Guo has worked with a team of around 10 professionals to grow and expand this collection to what it is today.

This painting, which was crafted in 1950, depicts a brother and a sister in their everyday lives. Claude et Paloma exhibits all the visual forms of a children’s world including fat stubby fingers and the decorative ornaments from an adolescent’s perspective.

This work by Picasso lets viewers into the children’s playful, imaginary world in relation to the various patterns and playful visual components that highlight Picasso’s artistic versatility in his field. Instead deriving from historical or political subjects, this Spanish cubist chose to draw from the simplicity from a child’s gaze.

As well, Guo said what is not as widely known is that the painting is more than a portrait of two children: The painting depicts both Claude and Paloma as well as Picasso and Gilot, which provides an interesting visual dynamic for onlookers to view.

What You Need to Know About Art Authentication

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Although it can be a bit difficult to decipher whether or not a certain individual is deemed as a “qualified authority,” when approaching a conversation with this kind of individual, be sure to make note of the following:

Generally speaking, individuals who are known as qualified authorities are people who have extensively studied the artists, published scholarly papers about them and Also, another important attribute of a qualified authority is if this certain individual has sold a mass scale of anywhere between twenty to a hundred works by the given artist, or has previously written or is currently writing a piece highlighting the artist’s life work.

art authenticationQualified authorities may also be the artists themselves, relatives of artists, employees of artists, direct, individuals who have legal, formal, or estate-granted entitlements to provide their professional opinions on works of art created by particular artists. Among the rest of these important attributes, qualified authorities are those recognized throughout the art community as the professionals who are able to provide in depth analysis of a particular artist and their work.

Before purchasing art, be sure to look out for these traits that indicate the individual is not a professional qualified authority in the art community.

► Individuals who have written about an artist’s work or experience, but are not the primary experts in the art field.
► People who in any way, shape, or form attribute their art to artists, but who have no concrete proof of attribution and who are not recognized authorities on those artists.
► During this process, individuals that believe or sell art on the fact since art is signed by a certain artist, there is no question that work or painting is authentic.
► People who say “that’s what the previous owner told me,” but who have no other forms of proof.
► Be sure to keep a lookout for individuals who may be self-proclaimed qualified authorities, but who are not recognized by their peers as authorities.
► Art appraisers who are not recognized authorities on the artists in question, but who appraise the art as
being by those artists anyway.
► Individuals who are unable to produce tangible first-party proof that their art is by certain artists. This lack of evidence therefore highlights that you should in fact not go through with the deal.

Along with these tips, it is important to utilize a fair amount of common sense before you purchase art from a certain person. In addition to being extremely careful under all circumstances, make sure you have concrete proof that everything you’re being told is true before you make the purchase. Also, if you have the time or resources, make an extra effort to look for a second opinion to reaffirm any lingering doubts or concerns you may have.

Estate Planning for Your Art Collection

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art-collectionsAs an art collector, a good rule of thumb is to buy what you like, not what you expect to appreciate in value at the fastest rate. First and foremost, it’s a collection and something to be appreciated and enjoyed. Secondarily, it’s an investment. And when it comes to investments, there’s always one tricky thing to figure out: inheritance. An increasingly important part of estate planning is figuring out what will happen to your art when you are no longer around to appreciate it.

One problem many heirs run into when they inherit pieces or an entire collection is unwanted tax consequences, especially if the person isn’t related to the collector or simply isn’t as personally invested in the art as the owner once was. While the owner may feel a strong responsibility towards their art, it’s not necessarily going to resonate with their children or loved ones as much as it once did them. Family’s run into unintended challenges when resources have to be allocated towards something the collector is no longer around to cherish.

Luckily, there are specialist advisers well equipped to handle such issues. They have a deep understanding of tax law in estate planning and philanthropy as they apply to each country and it’s unique tax codes.

This vocation requires a specific background and niche expertise not just because of it’s complexity, but because it’s difficult to put a price on art. The value of art actually changes depending on your use for it. If you’re going to keep it, give it away, or lend it to an institution, you’re going to have different goals and priorities in mind.

For example, if you want to pass your Cezanne on to your children, it’s actually better for it to be valued as low as possible. Transfers to heirs are taxed at very high rates in most countries if the estate or gift amount is of a large enough value. You can appraise a piece of art for less for gifting purposes because it is illiquid, and there may not have been comparable sales in recent years. Because a precise value for the work is hard to gauge, tax authorities are likely to accept a low estimate, but it must come from an independent appraiser. Keep in mind, rules on valuation and tax treatment vary from country to country.

Lack of liquidity can sometimes help and sometimes hurt in estate planning. When you sell, the transaction occurs in a public market and is recorded, creating a potential taxable event for the new owners.

One complication comes when an illiquid asset generates a liquid liability. Say a collector’s heirs inherit $15 million of artwork and the same amount of liquid assets, as well as a $15 million estate tax bill. They can either sell the liquid assets to pay the bill which will leave them with all their wealth tied up in art, or they can sell the art.

Financial advisers often come up with complicated techniques for transferring ownership of art without transferring the art itself. For example, collectors can sell art to heirs and then lease it back to them, but the tax break, depends on a jurisdiction’s legal framework.

Another complication comes from a feature of many tax codes that state that property can be subject to estate tax wherever it is located when the owner dies. So, if you normally reside in Switzerland and decide to bring our Warhol to Quebec to hang in your second home, but die during your layover in Chicago, the United States will assess estate tax on the value of the Warhol. Even worse, because you are not an American citizen or resident, only the first $60,000 of the piece’s value escapes taxes, instead of the $5.43 million that is exempt for American citizens.

Another area of concern for art collectors is that of tax-efficient philanthropy. When giving art to an institution, you want to appraise in the opposite direction from which you would gift. In this case, it is best to get as high an estimate of valuation as possible in order to maximize the tax write-off. There is also a case where a collector may maintain ownership of an artwork for a given period, while lending their work to an institution. Under American law, a collector can lend work to an institution and take a prorated charitable deduction, but the collector must give the work away entirely within 10 years or at death (whichever comes first.)

Each country has its own set of rules and regulations towards estates, taxation, inheritance, etc, so it’s important to have an advisor skilled in every aspect of these laws and codes who can walk you through this complicated process. Without the proper planning, you can never be sure with whom or where your art collection may end up.