I can't believe I've been so bad about posting regularly, but in my defense, a LOT has been going on. I don't know why it hasn't dawned on me that it is precisely when there is tons of activity and change in our art careers that I should be posting more often. Makes sense to me that I would get that backwards.
We started the year off with the publication of our new book, Art Collecting: An Artist's Perspective. We are giving the text away as a free download from www.johnbishopfineart.com, in exchange for an email, so grab your copy today. We also have some physical copies for sale here in the studio, so if you want a printed copy, stop by and say hello.
The publication of that book came in conjunction with a big collector's event we held with a presentation from local art curator and consultant Rosa Ana Orlando. It was a lovely evening, and hopefully transmitted to our remarkable collectors just how important they are to us. Mostly though, it was an attempt for us to give them some content that wasn't about selling our work, but rather information that would help them in their own endeavors as art collectors. We need more art enthusiasts out there, and we want to let them know how important their function is to the overall health of the local art community. It was also super nice to get them all in a room together, and hopefully foster relationships between our collectors.
The biggest news is that while Bogdan was in Romania gathering information about local artists, the approval for our tax free status was finally granted by the IRS. We are now officially a tax exempt charity for our 501(c)3 organization Aripa Arte. We aim to assist Romanian visual artists with educational, cultural, collaborative programming and grants to individual artists who apply for our help. That announcement was followed quickly by our first Gala fundraising event on March 1st, where we raised about 10,000 toward our cause. It has been an amazing journey so far, but the work is only just beginning. If you'd like to know more, check out our website at www.aripaarte.org. So as badly as I feel about neglecting my blog and YouTube channel content, I feel totally jazzed about all the great things we've been doing this year so far. As we end our first quarter of the year, I feel very proud and pretty tired.
Bogdan and I have been talking for some time as to what we want to do with our online content, and here's the dilema we face. We have a company called Buburuza Productions, which in turn is the parent organization doing business as both John Bishop Fine Art, and Bogdan Foto Art. All of the content that pertains to our fine art businesses lives under my channel, John Bishop Fine Art. We tried to brand the content that pertained to both of us differently, but as it turns out, Art Life is a title already owned by someone else. The owner of that domain wrote and asked if we could rename our vlog and podcast, and I think he is right. The title of our vlog and podcast was to be Art Life with John and Bogdan, but we often abbreviated it to Art Life. The guy was super nice about it, and we've stopped branding our content with that title. Check out his podcast, it really is quite informative.
As we struggled with how to proceed, we've finally decided that what we want to do is separate some of our content. The issue is not only that people interested in Bogdan's work have to come through my channel to see it, but also that people interested in my art are confused by the inclusion of Bogdan's artwork under my name. We were just talking yesterday that one solution may be to create a new YouTube channel called John & Bogdan, where we created shared content about our lives and our shared experiences in the pursuit of art, and then maintain separate channels specific to our individual art businesses and creative output. So we've now created a new YouTube channel called John & Bogdan, and our vlog will move to that channel, and we can create playlists that include the content from the other channels to create the coveted backlinks that may provide. What do you think? I'm a little afraid that it may create a lot more work, but I do feel that people are confused as to where to look for our content.
I suppose there is a drawback to changing lanes often, but I really think in this case, our rebranding will serve us well. None of our old content will be lost, but our future content will be somehow more appropriate going forward. It is conceivable that there may be a time when Bogdan's or my work is picked up by a gallery. How awkward would that be for a gallerist to represent one artist, and be saddled with content that presents two. I don't know, it just seems cleaner to me. It also has become apparent over time that I value more consistent content production, where Bogdan prefers to present fewer posts, but at a much higher production quality. That difference has often been a frustration between us. Now we can post as we see fit, and in a way that best highlights the trajectories of both of our art businesses.
Having said that, I also realize that Bogdan is the editing wizard, having worked as a TV editor and producer for years. I'm guessing my content will take a bit of a nose dive in quality. While that is unfortunate, it's probably more honest in the long run. I'm what you get... and don't worry, I will improve over time.
John Bishop Fine Art is an art business run by visual artist John Bishop. John is based in Houston and partners with his husband, Bogdan Mihai, as owners of Buburuza Productions, LLC, and co-founder of the charity Aripa Arte. John is an abstract painter and illustrator, a blogger, a vlogger, podcaster, and creative writer. He has authored several children's zines and books, as well as co authored books on photography, and art business themes. He and his husband also own and manage a company in Romania, and travel often to Eastern Europe. He maintains a studio at Silver Street Studios in Houston. John posts a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. He wants to discuss what he's learning, what he's experienced, and whom he's met in his journey of running a freelance creative business. John's art explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Join the conversation, the community, and share the journey together.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Aripa Arte Nonprofit: https://www.aripaarte.org