Wow , 20 freakin years !! …….how the hell did that happen....??
I remember my first trip to Amsterdam as a ' tourist ' back in the year 1999 , the turn of the new century it was supposed to be a group trip .. but I ended up outside Amsterdam airport on my own .. with only a ' smoker guide to Amsterdam ' to help me figure the place out !
the resultant fruits of this European emulation of Hunter Thompsons visit to las Vegas … was a piece if writing entitled ' Fear and Loathing of the Mass Consensus '( a short story that later found its way into some anthologies ) while I was in the city I drew three self portrait cartoons as footnotes in the sketchbook I was carrying with me , each a little homage to the illustration works of Ralph Steadman , so naturally when it came to writing up my little experience .. the illustrations made a suitable visual aide and accompaniment .
a few years later in 2006 I was showing some work in London under the title of ' my back pages ', a lot of work went on show original paintings , design concepts , architectural designs … even a few current sketchbooks as well as an example of the finished piece of illustrated writing.
Setting up the exhibition had , as is often the case , been a absolute adventure in itself and as a result within the current sketchbooks were a couple of additional illustrations that fitted beautifully into the series of previously started auto- biographical cartoons …. and they were all very popular , maybe one of the most popular aspects of the whole exhibition …. and upon review, these little diary entries of moments of utter unfathomable disarray and tumult … in hindsight do bring a little smile to my face ! and I think of the white knuckled anxious wreck that sketched out the original sketchbook note … and think ' well we survived that ! ' from a reflective position .. that is offering the public a humorous view on what was a very vulnerable situation , one way or another
It was around 2006 that I began producing the illustrations more regularly and displaying them under the pseudonym ' In Stead- man '.... always drawing a great deal of attention and discussion , they make a great accessory to every exhibition I do these days … and have indeed become a sought after and collectible element of my varied portfolio
The First regular publication ever produced ( Tales From : A quant Cornish Art Gallery ) was a series of anecdotal short stories reflecting on the few years that I spent ' relaxing ' and painting by the seaside in Cornwall in the South West of the U.K, a time of Family Feuds, Credit Crunches', Recessions, Street Fights, Political Corruption and Corporate Takeovers … and of course a few paintings and the birth of the ' Art by Valerio ' trading name and ' The Arts Hole - Art Gallery and Design Studio - Pop Up Initiative '
the ' Arts Hole - Tales From :' publications are now part of a collectors edition set including
Tales From : A Quant Cornish Art Gallery
Tales From : The Gulf - ( of Mexico )
Tales From : Amsterdam - Land
COMING SOON : TALES FROM: THE TIP - ( of Africa )
TALES FROM :THE HIGH SEAS
in the foreground of the above photo you can see a copy of the very first draft of the series of illustrations to be published, premiering the collective name as '' 101 Reasons to Choose a Vocation In the Creative Industries '' or '' 101 Reasons .. '' for short , the first edition was released prematurely due to time constarints and did not include a full consignment of the 101 illustrations , and so was only available for a very limited time
'A BOOTLEG AUTOBIOGRAPHY '
during a few months of necessary personal reflection , I began accumulating some thoughts on a friends computer , some of it was broad ' unreferenced ' references to some of the previous writings, elements of it were just unrelated and unedited insertions … mainly excerpts from the blog and the few sketchbooks I had at my disposal at the time !
now I don't begrudge it at all , but this little mid life crisis in print ended up being published in its raw unedited and un illustrated format … its more a collection of notes that I believe is now out of circulation, but there are still copies of this weird little collectors edition out there … and I think that they make a great little additional to any of those out there that are actually following and / or collecting from this little series !
The Very Latest Instalment !
to Commemorate a momentous 20 years since the initial penning of those first three illustrations … and the enormously popular body of work that has subsequently ensued , the very latest limited edition release of the full compendium of '' 101 reasons to Choose a vocation in the creative industries '' fully illustrated and annotated and absolutely not to be missed !
'a very personal look into the creative processes of a very private Artist and Individual- absolutely incredible body of work , depicting the rendering of an altogether separate incredible body of work ''
The Magnum Opus
although no compendium will ever be totally complete the whole time that I continue to work on this ever ongoing series !! this complete box set of 100% original - hand drawn cartoons - ALL 101 from the original series in A3 Format rendered onto a Heavy GSM Cartridge paper
and has been put out at a suggested RRP of a whopping £ 35,000 ( a higher rrp was originally quoted to no raised eyebrows at all !! and I thought to myself …. jeeez you guys have never tried buying or selling paintings in Cornwall that's for sure x )
so aptly a working title of ' The bourgeois Billionaires collectors Box Set ' was coined :)
'Pricing Structures'
The Three original cartoons that I produced in situ during that little trip to Amsterdam all those years ago have certainly evolved a great deal over the years !
The original Sketchbook was a standard A4 ( at this stage an original illustration would retail for around £40 each ) and I stuck with that format for the original release of the cartoons in 2006, but I was also becoming much more insistent about carrying a lager sketchpad with me during my travels so towards the end of 2007 I standardized the exhibition ready illustrations to A3 ( for a Christmas exhibition at that time I was selling the new A3 format Illustrations for £80 -£100 each
By 2010 the natural evolution of the scale of work and the value of my time meant that I was forced to increase the standard catalogue price of an original illustration to around £275 per item with sale incentives during festive trading periods and ' collectors set ' multi purchase offers i.e The Festival set / The Amsterdam Land set / The Occupy Everything set / The Rebel set etc etc
Now here we are in the early throes of 2019 … and everyone is still in a state of confusion about this whole looming Brexit nonsense ….after a decade of recession ! I always begrudge putting my prices up at the best of times … and despite outside insistences that I should throw myself into a state of complete artistic abandon and put my prices up to the point that I only appeal to ' the prudently invested yet morally questionable ' individuals of this world … I have managed to keep my retail originals at a fairly standard price ( affordable with just enough fiscal merit to be considered a commodity worthy of investment )
so when it was suggested that the base price for the collection of 101 original illustrations … backed up with the artistic providence of over two decades international, albeit slightly grassroots orientated proliferation in so many disciplines , a politically engaged artist / designer / writer that has literally self defined such a creative entity as ' the Arts Hole ' should be worthy of a price of £500 each ?? ( although I have seen for myself that some of my earlier illustrations are indeed reaching that in the second hand market ) that would inherently make an entire collection of 101 original illustrations worth over £50,000 - ...this just seems crazy to me ! I mean £35,000 seems crazy enough ( but at least its maintaining a commercial integrity with each cartoon levelling out at just £350 each )but when you break it down as 101 unique and separate , original artworks … when I look at what some of my contemporaries are trying to hawk .. I think about what manner of creative practices I might find time to engage in.... if only a full collection ever does sell ! :)
