Vincent Van Gogh is the greatest painter of the Post-Impressionism era and one of the most important figures in art history. In the auction business, Vincent Van Gogh is the magical name that has every collector trembling at the knees. Although a prolific artist, Vincent Van Gogh is most often remembered for his Sunflower and Irises paintings. Although Vincent Van Gogh is a world-famous artist today, he did not receive much recognition during his lifetime. Everyone familiar with the story of Vincent Van Gogh is well-aware of the artist’s mutilation of his left ear but very few know much more about his history. In this article we will dig just a little deeper into his world, influences and more.

Before the Artist

Van Gogh had many influences on his life including his family and friends, other artists, and his ill health in later life. A servant who worked for the Van Gogh family when Vincent was a child described him as an, “odd, aloof child who had queer manners and seemed more like an old man,” than the child he was. This personal account gives us a major clue that Vincent Van Gogh was a unique character, even from an early age. From the viewpoint of children in the neighborhood, Vincent Van Gogh was a curious sight indeed. As a man, unaware of his own artistic genius, Vincent Van Gogh first tried to learn the art of selling the works of other artists. Following his failure as an art dealer, Vincent Van Gogh later wrote to his sister Wilhelmina Van Gogh that the art galleries and art firms “are in the clutches of fellows who intercept all the money,” and that only “one-tenth of all the business that is transacted is really done out of belief in art.

The Artist Emerges

In 1880, Vincent moved to Brussels and decided to become an artist. As a post impressionist painter and one of the most famous artists of all time, Vincent Van Gogh has become an icon. As often with an artist of his caliber, Van Gogh’s art wasn’t understood nor appreciated in his days. Eventually, Vincent was deemed a disappointment to his mother, and eventually to his entire family, even his beloved brother Theo Van Gogh who supported him financially for the 10 years that he worked as a painter. While many emphasize the madness, Vincent had a had a deep rooted passion to show through his art the struggle for beauty and the unending desire of the artist to capture all that he loves. Van Gogh held a great deal of respect for the forces of nature and includes turbulent skies in a number of his works because the subject is so powerful and so full of artistic potential in the face of an empty canvas. Even in his later years when his illness grew, he produced some of his most famous works.

The Illness

His use of absinthe, an alcoholic beverage with convulsant properties favored by French artists of the time, appears to have played a crucial role in rise of Van Gogh’s illness. During this period he would now create perhaps the most intense paintings ever produced. Yet in Arles his illness evolved and grew to psychotic dimensions for the first time before the end of 1888. The major illness of his last 2 years developed in the presence of seizures, and its nature has remained controversial. At the height of his illness, Van Gogh became hallucinatory, paranoid, and delusional, all known to occur in psychosis due to epilepsy. He had recovered from his severe illness and was discharged from the asylum, with the support from his brother. Vincent depended on his brother so heavily for everything during this period, his career as an artist, had become seriously threatened.

Vincent Van Gogh the Legacy

Even in this short article we have learned a few pieces of a much larger puzzle that was the troubled and tortured artist, Vincent Van Gogh. Vincent is known for his chaotic paintings and similarly tumultuous state of mind. He is also famous for selling only one painting in his own lifetime and for slicing off part of his own ear in a fit of madness. Ironically, It is ironic that with all of this, he is deemed by society to be one of our greatest and most successful artists of all time.

We need to quit ‘sugar coating’ the music business. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great business, as long as you understand the bottom lines.  Most artist or at leas the ones I communicate with frequently do not understand the amount of time & work one must commit to to become successful.

It’s sad that most artist are seeking what they think is  that ‘golden parachute’, a label deal. Which really tells me, how uninformed they are about where the state of the music business is heading. The internet & technology are making it possible to be successful without having to deal with what Major labels are now offering  their rip off  “360 Deals”. Label deals, today, must be a WIN/WIN for all parties involved, or they should be passed on. Most artist have no ideal about what’s going on, in the business side of music, therefore they sign many years of their careers away to what they think is ‘stardom’.

Having an unlimited budget will help move your career  along at a faster pace, but, no amount of money will guarantee you of artistic or business success in this business.

Artist will only become successful when they fully understand the difference between friends & true blue fans.  TBF are what generate the income for them to continue to tour & have funds in the bank to pay expenses.  How many TBF will move your career towards success?  For our clients we suggest a mininium of 5,000 & prefer 10,000 to insure supporting a band, your music team, & all associated expenses required to move towards success. Remember, on average, each TBF will spend $100 / year on your shows & your merchandise.  How does an artist get to these numers of TBF? How about starting with 1 & asking them to find a minimium of 5 more, etc.  If this is done religiously, in 3-5 years, you fan base will be at these levels.  Yes there are many ways of accomplising this, which will be detailed in another article.

Many of the artist on My Space don’t have bands; they have no idea how many songs they need to do a 1,2,3,4,5 hour gig; they don’t have a standardized play list; they don’t know enough songs that will enable them to customize their play list according to what the venue owners expect for their clientele; they don’t have a following; they don’t understand most venue owners could care less about how great they can sing, instead the venue owners want to see how many fans dance to each song you play, which leads to more sales; so on and on.

It’s time every artist understand the music business, both the art & the business side. It can be very rewarding as long as each artist & their band know  the amount of work they must do each day to keep the wheels of their music machine turning in the direction of success.

No matter how great a musician you have if they are not willing to do their fair share of work to promote you & your music, cut them, they are not team members & have no right to any of the successes you achieve through you hard work.

Success equals:

1. Good Singer/Singers

2. Great Entertainer  (Including band members)

3. Good/Great Songs

3.1 Songs must make a connection
3.2 Songs must creates moments

4. Fans that support & show up (having 20,000 fans on My Space that don’t show up or buy your tunes, equals very little success, it does however waste a lot of your creative time)

5. Great team around you…this includes your band.

and

Don’t forget how important it is to have a knowledge sound person/engineer….acknowledge them, thank them, they are one of the unsung people in the music business that are so important to putting on a successful show.

and

Don’t forget to experiment with mics. Yes the Shure 58′s have been the workhorses of the industry for many years, but, great workhorses need to be retired at some point…that is if you want your sound person/engineer to deliver the best sound possible to your audiences/fans.  What mics do we recomemnd?  Basically any that improves the quality of your voice through the sound board. We do know there are mics. that work better for females than males. Any example would be the Electoro Voice ND-967. Just make sure the artist knows how to use it properly & the sound engineer knows where it’s cutoff limits are, so he can adust this mic’s channel properly on the board.

–End

Reply 2009.01.03 at 08:24 AM

How to become a famous artist.

1. It does not matter what kind of painting or graphic techniques you use.

2. By painting oil is the easiest to use.

3. Talent is undoubtedly the biggest, but not the main factor.

4. Hard work is one of the main factors.

5. Ambition is almost the main factor.

6. A good and up to date concept is decisive factor in creating your artwork.

7. Bad critic is in most cases a positive critic.

8. Try to be as much eccentric as you can.

9. Don’t mind critic and unpleasant statements from eccentric “art” activists.

10. Attend an Art College, Art School, or take some private lessons. Even if you don’t like realistic stiles, it is very important to study the human anatomy. Picasso creates “childish human forms”, but he possesses perfect knowledge of the human anatomy and that makes

him Picasso.

11. Who you know, is a very important factor of success. Of course most of the really good painters and artists are not the most social people in the world, but please try to make contacts, be social, in most cases the help and the best solutions came from friends of friends.

12. Something which should motivate you is the phrase: “The best artists are made, not born.”

13. Invest as much time as you can in your art initiative. Take your time, concentrate on your work. Very few famous artists were hobby painters. If you practise it as a hobby, you can forget it! If you feel it strong enough, you will probably sacrifice everything in the name of art. Once again ambition is almost the main factor but hard work is one of the main factors.

14. Travel as much as you can and can afford.

15. Visit as many museums as you can.

16. Take notes when you visit a museum. If you like an artwork, just write down the name of the author and study his biography and works. Try to get as much as you can from brochures and books.

17. Read as much books as you can, most of the famous artists are well educated and well-read people. Nevertheless classic literature will influence your ideology.

18. Take your time to explore the internet, find suitable galleries for your artworks and apply to the best art galleries online, or by the traditional way.

19. Visit public events and try to make contacts.

20. Create accounts in online sources. Very important! Nowadays internet plays a very important role.

21. Please don’t cut your ear!

22. If you don’t live in a big City, try to move to one. Most of the galleries and considerable

art dealers and galleries are situated in big cities.

When you create, never forget, that less is more. Try to be as minimalist (especially nowadays) as possible.

23. Be unique.

24. Be your self. When you create, try to be yourself, try to be unique, create something special.

25. Expose your art, don’t be ashamed, if you feel it, show it, if you are sure, you are going to make it. Believe in your self.

26. And once again Ambition is almost the main factor.

27. And the last thing; I am an art collector and you can contact me and present me your artworks. Please write to me at artimpresia@abv.bg or check on http://artimpresia.com

Have you lately perhaps noticed tension and uncreative atmosphere in your company? Than it is time to make some changes for better relationship between coworkers, because that is the only way you can get effecter work in your company, and the most important better results.

Round tested practices tells as that entertainment team approach works the best. Before planning an entertainment event, it is worth to make some team-building plan. The best start is to make a written plan of what you want to achieve through your event, and how you plan to make it happen. Include approximate guest figures and a budget, as these figures can come in handy when choosing venues and supplies.

If you have been to enough office gatherings throughout your working years, you would probably agree that these events are not easy to plan. The problem occurs when you throw coworkers into a social situation such as an office party, no one knows how to act. Most people act differently in front of their peers, supervisors, and subordinates. Add spouses and dates to the picture, mixes different departments, and you have a recipe for boredom at best, and disaster at worst.

It can be a great idea to try new party ideas or themes, helping to make your event memorable to your coworkers. Sophisticated corporate events could even include a party theme. Why not impress colleagues by showing them you aren’t afraid to have fun? It can be a great way to bond with work colleagues and something to laugh about on Monday morning.

If you are planning a big event, instead of wasting your staff’s time, the best and easier way is to hire corporate event planners. In general, corporate entertainment relates to private events held by corporations or businesses for their staff, clients, or stakeholders. They can even plan private concerts inviting different artist as well and hand on part of a work on artist management.

So, once you have chosen a theme explain it to your corporate event planner because it is important that they understand your aim. Each event starts with a good theme and well-chosen party favors will extend the good feelings at you party.

Think about hiring entertainers or artist to help break the ice. Like we already mention, artist management agencies will search for appropriate artists for your entertainment and take care of all event organization so you can focus on more important things. The most frequent and most usual choice is live bands or singers. However, it can be DJ, a local choral group or anything else that can cover for those awkward silences that are bound to occur at the beginning of the party.

For truly memorable entertainment you can even think of alternatives that are more interesting like dance group, single dancers, magicians with amazing close up magic for your staff or funny comedians, even look-alikes, who will surprise you with amazing resemblance to the famous celebrities.

The choice is in your hand and after having the theme and chosen artist you and your corporate event planner expert will work better and will put show biz into your biz. But for perfect conclusion of organization you mustn’t forgot about the manner how to invite fellow workers to a party.

Be as generous as your budget allows. Employees have worked hard for you all year and they are looking for a show of appreciation. After the party, you will see that all the work was worth it. What could be better as seeing smiling faces at the working desks.