Richard Young – The Business of Art

The Art of Grace, c Richard Young

What is art? It’s a question that’s foxed generations and we’ve yet to come up with a satisfactory answer that pleases all. Each year, many Turner Prize nominees ( who can forget the outcry at Tracy Emin's "My Bed") and exhibits in modern galleries attract everything from full-on controversy to sneers of derision that the works are : ‘art gone mad’; or that the art world must comprise a bunch of lunatics completely out-of-touch from the rest of the sensible world. And some of the eye-watering prices attached to art make many not only wince, but question whether it’s all about expression, or, really, down to cash. Yet,the misunderstandings aren’t one-sided.

The art world too, create their own trends and artists-of-the-moment, and have a certain distance from commercial art.
A case in point is Jack Vettriano, Britain’s most popular artist whose Singing Butler sold for £744,000, yet he’s never exhibited in any of our major galleries.
With the increasing popularity of art can the gap between what we gasp at in a gallery to what the majority would happily hang over the mantelpiece really close? And should it?
Loma-Ann Bonner caught up with Richard Young, 47, a self-taught, commercial artist who gave up art aged 22 to become a design consultant and returned to it five years ago – he’s exhibited across the globe from Harvey Nicols, Hong Kong to Fine Art UK in Gloucestershire and Primary Element Gallery, Oregon -  to get his take on the art-world taboos: the nature of art, business, money, skill and  marketing.

You're an engineering consultant by day, and an artist by night. How do you find it?
It's very tiring and certainly limits the time I can spend creating new artwork, especially in a single session. Unfortunately it's necessary at the moment as revenue from my artwork is not consistent enough to give up my engineering consultancy work and maintain the lifestyle of a large family. What makes it worse is that I work abroad in the Middle East, so selling and marketing my artwork is difficult.

There's certainly a trend for the arts and business to collaborate. But are the two really easy bedfellows? We have an image of a suffering, starving artist who sacrifices a great deal for their art.  Is this a fair image and how does this sit with business and with artists as businesspeople?
From my side I am a consultant from 7am until 6pm, five days a week, then I paint from 7pm until around midnight almost every evening. I usually have one evening off and  at weekends, from 9am until 3pm each day I catch up with paperwork, marketing, administration and financial activities, which are surprisingly time consuming even for an Artist, then I paint again until evening.
Whilst I'mnot starving as such, I'm not actually living in the lap of luxury and I certainly sacrifice a tremendous amount in terms of my social life and relaxation.
 I could easily work in the UK in my consulting role, though I wouldn't  get the time to also operate as an Artist while at home, so I choose to continue working away from home until I can focus solely on my art activities and business.
I’m in my fifth year now as a practicing commercial artist and each year gets better in terms of art business development as a whole, hence I feel it's worth continuing in order to achieve my dream to be a full time Artist.
The problem is that it's all really time consuming and occasionally stressful, hence my suffering, starvation and sacrifice are in terms of my family, social life and time in general, which are all put to one side for nine months of each year... I guess that many Artists are the same if they are trying to succeed and in general, most artists don't make good businesspeople as the two activities are often in conflict.

What do you think of art as a commodity? 
As a semi professional Artist, it's an important commodity to me, though I find a lot of fine, especially contemporary art far too overpriced considering the level of skill and effort that goes into its creation.

 Is the art world elitist? How have you found it? Is there any snobbery towards commercial art?
Personally, I feel that there's a level of 'unfair representation' to a degree (snobbery isn't necessarily the right term, though it occasionally applies towards traditional fine art) particularly in certain high end commercial outlets that's actually not reflected in the artwork offered.
A problem is perhaps that quality is very difficult to define, particularly in Art, though I feel that in general, it's usually proportionate to the capabilities, time and effort taken by the Artist  and  that should be proportionate to selling price.
 I am obviously not a follower of the trend that successful art should shock, disturb or puzzle its audience as with the Turner Prize for example. Yes, it's usually very difficult for many very talented Artists producing very high quality artwork and yet not having the right contacts or being in the right location to effectively market themselves and succeed. It certainly appears to be in some areas, especially at higher commercial levels. Many superb artists achieve little or no recognition due to their inabilities to actively market themselves.

Why are you drawn to painting dancers?
I love the passion of any artistic performance hence I choose to paint dancers who show this. I have also produced several pastels of musicians and plan to expend upon this given time..

How do you build a rapport with the subject? How many sittings do you usually need?
I paint mostly from photographs nowadays in order to capture a frozen moment of a performance and I am extremely lucky to have many photographer and dancer friends who support me and provide many reference images.

Who are your favourite living artists?
There are many and off the top of my head my favoutires are Royo and Pino Daeni, though I also greatly admire Rolf Harris, Fabian Perez, Fletcher Sibthorpe, Mark Spain and my friend Esher Van Den Bogerd.

Do you think that the YBA's are all over now? What's the next  art trend?
 I have to admit that I'm not a great fan of the YBA movement and I'm not great at predicting future trends! However, I think that both realism and impressionism will always be there in the background and there will always be a demand for high quality artwork.

 Is the increasing popularity of art ( and the arts in general ) a good thing for artists? Or does it make the market too crowded?
I think that the increasing popularity and tremendous diversity of art available, especially due to the internet phenomenon, is a good thing. However, the huge volume of fine art on the market eclipses a lot of tremendous talent that is never recognised or even noticed outside of small communities.

 What kind of people buy your work? Why do you think most of it sells in the US?
Whilst I rarely meet people who buy my artwork, I probably communicate with around half of them and they are usually well educated professionals who are fortunate enough to be able to own an original piece. I do also receive many orders from returning customers, which is a nice thing. I'm not really sure why I sell most of my artwork to the USA to be honest, especially considering the present dollar to pound exchange rate. However, as I am increasing exhibition activity in the UK I hope this will change.

Who would you like to paint?
Very difficult one this. Not in any particular order of preference: Madonna, Sheryl Crow, Darcey Bussell, Daria Pavlenko, Diana Vishneva, Paloma Herrera, Sophiane Sylvie, Alessandra Ferri, Ansuya, Eric Clapton, Chris Martin, John Travolta, Sting, Shania Twain.

Why did you decide to paint with a knife?
I decided after a while to allow myself a limited time for each painting and it's much quicker to use a knife because of cleaning between colours and being able to quickly apply large amounts of paint. Also, I only mix colours from a quite limited palette on the canvas itself, which I find easier with a knife. I was wearing at least one brush out on each painting too, which is expensive when compared with a knife that lasts upwards of 20 paintings. My initial knife paintings were done in parallel to my brush paintings and almost impressionistic as I felt that was their only use, though I've learned to paint almost to the same level of detailed realism as with a brush and there are some really great effects that simply cannot be created using a brush. I may return to brush painting one day as they are great for portraits in particular.

In the time that you weren't painting, did you miss it? What was the catalyst to make you start again?
Yes, I missed it though I didn't see any potential for earning a living or even any serious revenue from it, hence as a hobby alone, I just didn't have the spare time. My wife and brother occasionally encouraged me to start again and when I set aside some time for further education that had to be postponed, I decided to try again.

Richard is showing in Fine Art UK's British Modern Masters exhibition roadshow, until December 2008. He has a solo exhibtion at Tavistock Wharf Arts and Entertainment Centre, Wharf Gallery, Canal Road, Tavistock, Devon PL19 8AT from 25th October to 29th November. More details on www.ryoung-art.com

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