It was great sadness to hear the news of Bruce Roberts' passing.  He was kind, compassionate and dedicated to the craft of photography and print making.  Welcoming me into his home, Bruce was incredibly generous with his time, sharing stories about current events across the US, particularly in the South, during the 1960s.  As technology accelerates, I hope we do not lose personal connections and friendships made across from kitchen tables and the art of film that has captured eyes for over 100 years.  History is yet to determine such things, but what I know will remain is that Bruce Roberts will always be known as one of the best to photograph the Civil Rights movement that changed the world. 

Non-fungible (NFTs) tokens are currently one of the most well-liked trends in the cryptocurrency art market. NFTs, which are different digital assets, represent the ownership of a particular thing, such as a piece of art, music, a movie, or even a tweet. The NFT marketplaces have been fast growing as more artistis - and collectors - have started adopting NFTs to monetize their content.

First, we must understand the medium of a print.  A print is any work of art made in multiple iterations, created through a transfer process. There are many different types of prints, and the process is constantly evolving, but the best-known technique in contemporary art is a screensprint. 

My most peaceful moments occur on Charleston's wintered beaches. The dimmer skies and emptier shores that welcome November to February are backdrops to watch an occasional surfer gracing the Atlantic. I remain in awe of this patient athlete, more so than any other, as they turn, paddle, and time a man-made object with Mother Nature, who is completely unpredictable. I once asked a friend who clocks most of his days off the shores of Folly the trick to consistency and growth as a surfer. He replied gently, "We don't boil the ocean."

 

 

 

 

 

NFTs. Cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin. Ethereum. Web3. To someone who has never directly interacted with these things before, the crypto world can seem obtuse, opaque, and overtly strange. All of which is completely understandable. The advent of the blockchain and the technologies it supports represent a sea-change on par with the advent of the internet itself. And just as people reacted to the early days of the internet with a wide variety of emotions that included skepticism, excitement, and outright fear, blockchain-based technology is inspiring the same gamut in people today. 

The only art project that stands a chance for success is that which can cultivate an online community.  I believe this most in the NFT world, as projects earning the most tractions and transactions are NFTs focusing on smaller collections and narrative storytelling (often with a dose of humor). I suggest that in 2023 you'll still have winners here and there (like one-off collections that soared during the hype period of 2022) ; but for the most part, it's high-quality effort to build community that will be rewarded.

 

I migrated to New York City to become an art dealer. It was time to leave Mississippi, a cradle of love and predictability. Despite the turmoil in New York following the 9/11 attacks, I boarded a plane in Memphis with two red, tapestry suitcases, heading for an intrinsically challenging city. It would, at times, be navigational warfare to survive and conquer.  

An NFT is a digital asset that exists completely in the digital universe—you can't touch it, but you can own it. An NFT can be any type of digital file: an artwork, an article, music or even a meme such as “Disaster Girl”, the original photo of which sold for $500k earlier this year.

I was immediately charmed by Charleston. I had a sense of place and longing to be surrounded by this elegant land. The delicately aged antebellum architecture, tranquil breeze off the bay, and familiar conversational rhythms were—and continue to be—a salve to the North’s hurried aggression. Walking the cobblestone streets, laid long before my childhood hometown was built, was an awakening to a newer version of me that realized home—and particularly Charleston—was the most romantic destination all along and perhaps the one I’d been longing for.

Growing up in Mississippi, a complex and often heated bedrock for political discussion, a series of books, travels, and conversations made me aware of the South’s complex racial problems, even as young child.   And it has been through my constant work of mining Civil Rights photographs that I have come to some understanding of racial inequality and injustice.  I hope I have been part of change.

Looking back over my shoulder, so much of the procurement in my life occurred in the compacted time of my senior year at Ole Miss and it has taken me years of couch sitting in my SueBella’s therapy office to process so much of it.  That time is undoubtedly when my life shifted and my career as an art dealer began.

My childhood was rich. I was raised in a secure family, dwelling in the nostalgically beautiful southern town of Clarksdale, Mississippi, which sits on the Sunflower River, a small tributary of the Mississippi River, the widest river in the world and arguably the most aggressive.  This majestic entity—and its parallel levee—has appropriately been the setting for masterpieces by the literary Greats:  Eudora Welty, Mark Twain, Tennessee Williams, Walker Percy, among others.    

There is no formula or blueprint for becoming an art dealer or for the discipline, creativity, and business style that one pursues.  It has been a long and, at times, treacherous journey, but one filled with thrill, adventure, and the unexpected. The art hunt has been has been my obsession, my relentless pursuit.

On an art hunt in the late 90s (during Cuba’s Special Period), I met the great Raul Corrales. He was wearing a straw hat, trunks, and flip flops and seemed as grumpy about the heat as he did visitors. In time, he warmed up to me and allowed the, in his words, “the only blonde on the island” to sift though his treasures. I spent a long, hot afternoon with the Great, and remember our conversations and his photographic treasures well.

The modest James Karales only occasionally printed his work and rarely presented it in exhibitions or publications beyond the initial assignment for which it was created.  delving into his meticulously preserved archive, I worked to share Karales's voice with a larger audience, focusing on the period 1960-65.

Art and technology have a complex but meaningful history of working together and influencing one another, particularly in the last decade. Art and technology has eclipsed and evolved alongside each other, arriving at their place in the world today; a digital era where they constantly portray new ideas and new ways of viewing art. This blog will discusses how diverse innovations in technology have directly impacted the creation and viewing of art, and will continue to do so in the years to come.

This blog is Part Three (and the final installment) in a resource series for the new and seasoned photography collector. Here, I'll offer tips on buying art at commercial retail venues and auctions, as well as archiving and framing your collection. This blog specifically outlines photography terminology for a quick "study" before viewing and purchasing photography. Follow this series of blogs for a quick resource when looking for and buying photography.

I confess only one regret as a Mississippian:  that I never met Ms. Eudora Welty, the great writer and photographer whose words and images have offered me consistent, generous inspiration.  As I was reminded during a recent visit to her home at 1119 Pinehurst Street, Jackson, a failure of courage deprived me of a chance to have the privilege of knowing her. I have since tried mightily to rectify this misjudgment by immersing myself in her photography, learning about the person posthumously through her lens.

Passion and courage fuel the creative entrepreneur to move forward, innovate, and take risks that others wouldn’t dare. Passion and courage fuel us to believe in ourselves to do our best as our lives unfold. As Albert Camus wrote, “Life is a sum of all your choices. Large or small, our actions forge our futures, hopefully inspiring others along the way.”

This blog is Part Two in a resource series for the new and seasoned photography collector. Here, I'll offer tips on buying art at commercial retail venues and auctions, as well as archiving and framing your collection. Further, the guide outlines photography terminology and a selected bibliography. Follow this series of blogs for a quick resource when looking for and buying photography.

Writers were my ticket out of the South; visual artists, my compass back home.  Raised on the wide open Mississippi Delta, with pages of expansive porches and miles of two-lane highways for meandering thoughts, I believed that words were a vehicle to see the world. As an English major, my Ole Miss education of bourbon-soaked conversations about the romantic lives of Ernest Hemingway’s Havana and Walker Percy’s New York spurred me to seek out a definition of myself that seemed somehow bigger than my current surroundings would allow.