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Author Topic: Peter Lik Declares Himself God  (Read 95102 times)

JoeKitchen

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Re: Peter Lik Declares Himself God
« Reply #20 on: February 22, 2015, 01:03:58 pm »

According to the article he has sold $420 million dollars worth of photos.  I don;t know the accuracy of that number.  But he has galleries throughout the world that have to cost a fortune to run.  I stopped by one in Oahu while on vacation; ran through on my own as my wife waited outside.  The photos were very good, presented very [professionally in an admirably looking gallery that has to cost a lot of money to rent in Honolulu with sales people, and the interior decorations of the store were excellent and expensive.  He knows how to market.

The way he raises prices as the number of a particular photo decreases is used by many sellers.  Creating rarity to sell art at higher prices is a well established procedure.   Here's a guy who can sell his photos while the rest of us complain we can't sell ours because photos have gotten so cheaply available because of digital photography and the Internet.   I would recommend to anyone interested in learning how a pro does it to visit one of his galleries and see.  You might pick up a few pointers.

I was only aware of the gallery in Las Vegas.  Considering he has many through out the world, that makes it ... more interesting in a way, from a business stand point.  When I see his prices, I do also think about what his overhead is?   

How much of what he makes goes to him vs. goes to the business? 
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JoeKitchen

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Re: Peter Lik Declares Himself God
« Reply #21 on: February 22, 2015, 01:06:43 pm »

If photography were a country, it would have experienced a transformation in name (and essence) from Mediocristan to Exremistan. In Mediocristan, most photographers were making a decent amount of money, not too high, nor too low, but around a median. In Extremistan, however, only a handful of photographers would make a huge amount of money, while the rest would be fighting for survival.

Well at least we're not the music industry.  You want to see something scary, watch to the documentary "UnSound" when it comes out.  

Insofar as your comment about the second hand market, the person who I saw recommend to hold onto even more limited addition "Artist's Print" that you could sell later, which is normal.  

The real thing here is that exposure causes values to increase, so long as you can sell and keep the product limited.  The question becomes, do you (or can you) handle this by yourself or do you need to have someone else to do it.  

In most cases, artist need someone else to do it, due to lack of business sense, which is why most sell their work in others' galleries.  If you go this route, having "Artist's Prints" and selling them later makes sense.  

However, if you are like Peter Lik, and can handle all of the business yourself (and are good at it), then secondary market prices do not matter.  You gain everything from the primary.  

This is not a route most can achieve though.  It takes a special kind of person to run just one location and make it profitable.  Several locations becomes even more difficult and unachievable.  
« Last Edit: February 22, 2015, 01:14:38 pm by JoeKitchen »
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jjj

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Re: Peter Lik Declares Himself God
« Reply #22 on: February 22, 2015, 01:13:57 pm »

Now your twisting my intentions and using a red herring to further your argument mixed with a little bit a satire. 

Sure, the destitute artist would not be appreciative that in years to come, others not related to him, would make large sums of money off of his work.  But I am not discussing the feelings of the artist, you are. 
No twisting intended. I was simply talking about being a Van Gogh or a Peter Lik and who people would prefer to be. That's purely about feelings.
Very, very few people would be happier about remembered in posterity whilst being unable to feed their family.
Obviously achieving both would be optimal
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jjj

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Re: Peter Lik Declares Himself God
« Reply #23 on: February 22, 2015, 01:14:59 pm »

This is not a route most can achieve though.  It takes a special kind of person to run just one location and make it profitable.  Several locations becomes even more difficult and unachievable. 
Lik seems to have managed it though.  :-\
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JoeKitchen

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Re: Peter Lik Declares Himself God
« Reply #24 on: February 22, 2015, 02:28:01 pm »

Lik seems to have managed it though.  :-\

Which is what I said in the post that you are quoting me from. 
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Stephen Ray

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Re: Peter Lik Declares Himself God
« Reply #25 on: February 22, 2015, 02:29:28 pm »

Seems the Times published the photo "ghost" (red color) where they should have run "phantom" (b&w).
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jjj

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Re: Peter Lik Declares Himself God
« Reply #26 on: February 22, 2015, 02:31:20 pm »

Which is what I said in the post that you are quoting me from. 
Ah, you must have a different meaning for 'unachievable' in your parts then.  ;)
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Phil Indeblanc

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Re: Peter Lik Declares Himself God
« Reply #27 on: February 22, 2015, 03:03:09 pm »

Lets see which photographer will make a print or two and destroy the digital files. That would have some resale value, given the images are exceptional.

Was it Andy Warhol who made art what he wanted it to be? Not that related to Lik, but in my opinion AW was more BS Artist than a fine artist, and he knew it. He also knew how to draw attention.

Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art. _Warhol

"If you want to know all about Andy Warhol, just look at the surface of my paintings and films and me, and there I am. There’s nothing behind it." _Warhol
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Osprey

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Re: Peter Lik Declares Himself God
« Reply #28 on: February 22, 2015, 04:25:14 pm »

Buy art because you like it. Buying art or indeed anything for investment purposes usually ends up with most people out of pocket.

Lik is a smart businessman, whether or not you like his photography.

There are many smart and wealthy businessmen in New York buying art who are not interested in art.
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Theodoros

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Re: Peter Lik Declares Himself God
« Reply #29 on: February 22, 2015, 08:01:02 pm »

I have to wonder what the resale value of his work is?  (Any stats on that?) 

Actually his "work" is so great that there are half a billion sales (1.2 million per week) and none has resale his valuable investment... The buyers are so exited with their purchase that won't resale for all the world's gold...  ;)
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Griffin86

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Re: Peter Lik Declares Himself God
« Reply #30 on: February 22, 2015, 09:51:48 pm »

I'm happy for Peter, he has figured out how to be very successful. I stumbled upon his gallerying in Waikiki last year and I loved his work. The salesman was very aggressive though, didn't care for him or his poor sales tactics.

I really wanted to purchase a couple of his prints.. but in the ended I decided I should eventually buy the equipment to make my own prints and try to replicate his success.
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JoeKitchen

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Re: Peter Lik Declares Himself God
« Reply #31 on: February 24, 2015, 08:00:37 am »

Ah, you must have a different meaning for 'unachievable' in your parts then.  ;)

Not really, but if you took the time to read the line above and applied some reading comprehension you would have figured out I did say exactly what you implied I did and that the line you quoted was not applied to Peter Lik.

"However, if you are like Peter Lik, and can handle all of the business yourself (and are good at it), then secondary market prices do not matter.  You gain everything from the primary."

Yes, I know it is a compound complex sentence, and this is an art forum, not an english one, but, still, it is not that hard to figure what I meant in that sentence.  

The sentence you did quote (once again after some thought and reading comprehension) was directed to and about the many thousands of photographers who do not have the business skills to run multiple locations like Peter Lik.  
« Last Edit: February 24, 2015, 08:11:16 am by JoeKitchen »
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Kevin Raber

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Re: Peter Lik Declares Himself God
« Reply #32 on: February 24, 2015, 12:50:51 pm »

The Rantatorial on Peter Lik has been updated with some new and interesting links at the bottom of the article.   http://luminous-landscape.com/rantatorial/peter-lik-like-not/

Kevin Raber
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Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: Peter Lik Declares Himself God
« Reply #33 on: February 24, 2015, 01:09:55 pm »

...interesting links at the bottom of the article...

Better Call Saul. ;)

Justinr

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Re: Peter Lik Declares Himself God
« Reply #34 on: February 24, 2015, 03:12:03 pm »

His fan club may not be as extensive as he would like us to believe -

but Lik has quietly managed to turn himself into the Thomas Kinkade of photography, selling pretty, pleasing, banal images that are wildly popular with a certain class of inexperienced collectors, but are barely recognized by the art establishment.


http://news.artnet.com/in-brief/new-york-times-exposes-peter-lik-photography-scheme-264858

p.s. Who on earth is Thomas Kincade?
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NancyP

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Re: Peter Lik Declares Himself God
« Reply #35 on: February 24, 2015, 03:41:14 pm »

Slobodan, that sounds like the USA in general - hedge fund managers rule, ordinary people's salaries/wages go down.

Lik has the knack of selling to nouveaux riche tourists whose trophy wives are looking for trophy images to put in the trophy homes.  However, I suspect that Lik's business may tank after this article was published in the business pages of the NYT. The tourists buying photos aren't going to be readers of the arts sections, but for sure are readers of the business news. I wouldn't want to be in Lik's highly leveraged shoes at this moment.

My parents made a little money from purchase (use over 40 years) and sale of modern art vintage circa 1960s, but to tell you the truth, they read Art News, visited a lot of Manhattan galleries before they actually started buying, and a lot of the art is not worth much but is enjoyable (and will still be hanging in the kids' places).
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NancyP

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Re: Peter Lik Declares Himself God
« Reply #36 on: February 24, 2015, 03:52:56 pm »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Kinkade

his own site: http://thomaskinkade.com/

messy legacy - GF and widow in court battle: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/08/the-drunken-downfall-of-evangelical-america-s-favorite-painter.html

Kinkade painted a romanticised prettified rural past. Give me Thomas Hart Benton any day.

But really, this Peter Lik fellow is uncouth. Rich, but doesn't have a clue about keeping a dignified interview face.
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Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: Peter Lik Declares Himself God
« Reply #37 on: February 24, 2015, 05:37:18 pm »

... But really, this Peter Lik fellow is uncouth. Rich, but doesn't have a clue about keeping a dignified interview face.

You need dignity when you are poor, not when you are rich ;)

Justinr

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Re: Peter Lik Declares Himself God
« Reply #38 on: February 24, 2015, 06:47:07 pm »

I almost wish I hadn't asked now!  :D
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Justinr

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Re: Peter Lik Declares Himself God
« Reply #39 on: February 24, 2015, 06:50:12 pm »

It's probably more a case that nobody cares whether you have it not just so long as you have money, not that I'm cynical or anything.  ;)
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