Image: Peter Max at his NYC studio, July 1972 by Ed
Dear Peter.
We are entering a new year that follows a suite of terrible memories for the USA, but this resilient country will withstand this and much more and as the Phoenix, it will emerge from the ashes with a new bright and colorful plumage. This is also a perfect opportunity for you and your business entourage to perceive that your name, and the history behind it, should be preserved and respected and that your artwork should be elevated to the high standard and merit it really deserves.
How many more financial needs must you carry? How many more homes and real estate investments, or dusty antique cars will you amass? How many more related companies and galleries must you please, and how many more Charities must you fund in order to recognize that your name is inexorably going downhill and losing credibility?
PETER MAX is not a Walmart mass marketed brand, he's the last true Iconic POP-ART and fauvist American artist, yet his work is now being distributed as if it were a comic book monthly run. People are talking, questions are being asked, opinions are being posted, knowledgeable collectors are possibly downplaying new items, fans and collector as myself, are doubting about the spirit of anything coming out from the studio lately. On Ebay and Craiglist resellers and dealers are having a field day distorting the real value of the pieces, the prices are often out of context and misleading, only by mere chance there's some worthy seller on the market.
Who is doing all of this? Who’s producing the thousands of 8 x 11 Mixed Media papers? Who is painting the hundreds of "original" acrylic on canvas pieces? Who is signing the Posters your company sold online? How many more Meet and Greet presentations will you have to attend to in order to shed some personal touch to the items sold? What happened with the spirit of the transcendent Max, the man with an international upbringing and many stories of the love for your art and the natural creativity you were given? It does not take a genius to figure out that one person alone cannot humanly produce such large quantities for hundreds of Galleries, dealers and the cruise ships ( understandably, they are the ones keeping the prices high).
Let me tell you something funny: We true collectors are a bit savvy of your professional trajectory, and we'd rather keep the Seventies or older pieces, which for all intents and purposes are more authentic than anything else you can obtain on today's market. I personally would rather have an old signed book than a huge post-2010 canvas, even if the comparison is price disproportionate.
Have a Paw Wow with your team, and analyze where is you Concept directed for the years to come, and remember HongKou, where all started.
Have a Paw Wow with your team, and analyze where is you Concept directed for the years to come, and remember HongKou, where all started.
Happy new year 2012
December 26th, 2011
Ed Gugliotta
The Max Collector.
NOTE: My eldest son just laughed at me saying that I am a stupid romantic and that PETER MAX and his staff could not care less about my thoughts, and this is probably very true, still, it's a pity that the world has lost its art luster and the little remaining of humanity. All good for Park West business though.
NOTE: My eldest son just laughed at me saying that I am a stupid romantic and that PETER MAX and his staff could not care less about my thoughts, and this is probably very true, still, it's a pity that the world has lost its art luster and the little remaining of humanity. All good for Park West business though.
PS: This is a personal point of view post. The reader should draw it's own conclusion and follow their personal line of thoughts.
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