Malibu Show Pics

As some of you know, I did an art show in Malibu this past weekend. I figured I share a few pics. (OK, quite a few pics.) The show was slow both days, with pretty thin crowds. Saturday was particularly dismal for nearly all the vendors, but by the end of Sunday, nearly everyone I talked to had done OK overall. I also did (just) OK and made more than my entry fee, but didn't do as well as I did at the Malibu show in June. Nonetheless, it was great weather both days, and I had a good time with interesting and entertaining booth neighbors. This was my first solo show. My booth bunny had a wedding shower to attend Saturday, and wasn't feeling well Sunday, so I did both days by myself. Things were slow enough that it wasn't a problem leaving the booth unattended for bathroom and food breaks. (Booth neighbors tend to watch out for each other.)

As before, this show had a lot of good, high-end art. Just in my immediate area were four different sculptors, all with pieces ranging from the mid $100s into four figures. All but one sold enough to pay for the show, plus some. (At their price points, they are somewhat accustomed to having shows where they sell nothing. They make up for the bad shows with good shows where they sell thousands of dollars worth of work.) I sold a few small pieces and one of my main showcase pieces. The big bowl was purchased by a young college-aged kid...someone who I'd not expect to be interested in buying one of my most expensive pieces. He walked into the booth, looked around for no more than a minute or two, then asked the price on that bowl. I told him, and he started pulling $20 bills out of his wallet without hesitation. Although he didn't make it by my booth, Jon Lovitz bought a piece from one of my neighbors, and Pierce Brosnan was also at the show (although I didn't see him).

As I mentioned above, I have a few pics to show, so let's get on with it...

The obligatory booth shots:



And just in case Larry happens to see it in the background, I figured I should show this one a bit closer:



(I still need to get some better studio shots of that chocolate platter, and when I do, I'll post a new thread about it.)

And a couple of crowd shots. Prepare to be overwhelmed by the throngs of people...



My booth neighbor to the west was Roberto Gutierrez, a Colombian sculptor based out of Phoenix, who does very cool cast bronze work. I took more pics of his stuff than my own. He specializes in muscular human forms, often climbing or suspended in various ways. Here's part of his booth...



And a few pieces...

The lady in the "mirror"...



...is actually two matching ladies and a piece of glass:



This lazy guy is holding an apple on a string:



More pics in the next post...

Some more pics of Roberto's work...

The shadow people (the shadows are black steel):



Steel-bending gymnasts:



Suspended gymnast:



The diver (the glass is suspended by the figure):



The backstroke (the rim of the "pool" is suspended from a single point on the swimmer's toe):



Some small wall climbers:



And a detail shot of a climber:



You may have noticed a large sculpture of a gymnast suspended in a copper hoop in the first pic of Roberto's booth above. I helped him load it up after the show. The bottom of the hoop has a square tube that fits into the display base, but the hoop can be removed from the base and plugged into a receiver welded to the trailer hitch on his van. I thought it was a brilliant solution, since the hoop is too big to fit inside the van. He pads it with pillows and covers it with a tarp before strapping everything down tight so it can't move. As we were plugging it into the trailer hitch, I said "Roberto, most people settle for a bumper sticker. I think you're going a bit overboard with a bumper sculpture."



He's a great guy, and I'm looking forward to running into him at future shows. Check out some of the other work he's done here:

http://robertogutierrez.com

Glad the show was somewhat successful for you. Your work is amazing
The brass sculptures are pretty cool. Very talented guy.

Sounds like you have had more fun than sales. That is not bad either. At least you got the entry fee back.

Those sculptures must look awesome upclose as they look great from the pics.

glad you broke even vaughn,, what makes one so hot and the next one a dud??? the waether looked great and they must advertize if the big wigs showed up, the star people you mentioned????

Looks like a good day overall. I think the folks who consider their show results on an average over time are thinking about it right. If every show was "great" you should probably be in a gallery and cranking out stuff full tilt. Glad it was a good day and it looked like a good time.

Very cool pics Vaughn. Thanks for sharing!

Great shots of both yours and your neighbor's booth... he is very talented.

Glad you weekend ended on a positive note... loved the shots of the Malibu hills... I haven't been in Malibu in over 40 years... some fond memories of the short time I lived in LA... but it wasn't my favorite place to live in CA... much preferred the Bay Area.

Good to hear that the show wasn't a complete dud. Of course, weather like that and getting to see others art is a pretty good weekend too. Great pics.

So did any of the dyed pieces sell?

(Said in a Jon Lovitz voice) ....

Vaughn had a pretty good show....yeah that's it, that's the ticket!

Vaughn your booth is looking great. Not much you can do if the organizers dont pull the crowd. Heck thats what you are paying for. I like the spacing of the booths. Provides a break for people walking buy before they get to the next one.

A show like that must be a little overwhelming for a visitor with so much good art on display. Kinda creates a stiff competition.

Those sculptures are very creative especially his use of glass as mirror or water.

This booth show thing seems to be like retail stores to me. Only the landlord seems to be making money while the retailers work to pay him. But i have seen it from the landlords side too and they end up paying the bank. So who knows.

Thanks for the comments, guys.

larry merlau said:

...what makes one so hot and the next one a dud??? the waether looked great and they must advertize if the big wigs showed up, the star people you mentioned????

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The only consistent thing about these shows is that they're inconsistent. Pretty much any vendor will say the same thing. There really seems to be no logic to it.

I don't know how much this show is advertised. I think the bulk of the customer traffic came from tourists who happened to see the rows of white canopies set up in the supermarket parking lot, and locals who were out doing their grocery shopping or stopping at Starbucks for a coffee. I suspect the celebs that were at the show live in the area and just happened to be out running errands.

Darren Wright said:

...So did any of the dyed pieces sell?

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None of the recent dyed pieces sold, but I did sell a dyed vase that I made a few months ago.

Rob Keeble said:

...I like the spacing of the booths. Provides a break for people walking buy before they get to the next one...

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This show has a bit wider spaces than some (15 x 10 instead of 10 x 10), but the space you see beside my booth is empty because nobody rented it. I was close to an end row (space #3), and there were a few empties in the area. Most of the other booths were pretty much side by side.

You're right about the landlord being the real winner in this game. Ever since the economy took a dive in the fall of 2008, vendors and promoters both have been seeing a slowdown in income. When I started doing these shows, I did a number of them that were organized by del Mano Productions. (The del Mano Gallery is a biggie in the wood art world.) They were doing 6 or 7 shows per year when I started. I think they're down to just 2 or 3 per year now. This show was put on by West Coast Artists. They do a number of high-end shows, and a lot of the vendors at this one also exhibit at other West Coast Artists shows. Quite a few of the regulars travel from out of town (or even out of state) to do the West Coast Artists shows, since they are usually pretty profitable for the vendors. Now that I've successfully proven I can do a show solo, I'm going to be looking at the viability of trying some of the bigger out of town shows myself.

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(I still need to get some better studio shots of that chocolate platter, and when I do, I'll post a new thread about it.)

well lets see i its been awhile must be that new camera is harder to use than his old one was

Larry, unfortunately that platter took a tumble off the table (a gust of wind got it) and although it missed the asphalt and landed in the sand behind the booth, it got a small ding on it that's gonna require putting it back on the lathe, then going through the finishing process again. Also unfortunately, it has warped on me, so the trip back to the lathe is going to be a bit more involved than I'd have liked...good thing I left it a bit thick. This is the price I pay for having rushed it a bit in the first place. (I shoulda let it dry longer, but I wanted to have it done for this show.) I'll let it sit another few weeks to stabilize some more, then get going on it again. I won't be rushing it this time.

BTW, I checked the big slab the other day, and it's looking great. No cracks, and it's still nice and flat. I still need to post pics of the crate I put it in to protect the bark and try to keep things flat. Just been too busy getting nothing done.

Bummer

Mohammad Madha said:

Bummer

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a second on the wind blemish,, at least it didnt shatter..was at a large antique show the other day and it was windy there too.. heard a crash and a whole wall of glass stuff fell over and broke alot of it..couldnt imagine what the owner of the stuff thought as he turned to see the after math..just as you did watching your work take a tumble,,, use that experience vaughn to make your displays safer next time.. if its possible.

Your display is great.
I have never even seen a show that classy.
The sculptor pieces are very arty as well. Capturing the human form, in any media, is very difficult.

Cool pics and concepts Vaughn, any idea about their price?

Toni Ciuraneta said:

Cool pics and concepts Vaughn, any idea about their price?

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Toni, the little wall climbers were in the $250 range. The bigger pieces were over $1000. He was selling little sculpted bronze hand-shaped business card holders for $50. (He gave me one after I gave him a pen of mine that he greatly admired.)