By day, Christopher Burns works as a lead news reporter for the Wilton Bulletin. But what makes his heart beat faster is the pursuit of his artistic career.
The struggle to find professional success as an artist is something that Burns and young artists like him find to be enormously challenging, for many reasons. For one, he believes you have to be very self-promotional, especially in a market that is difficult to break into.
“You have to be extremely proactive and sell-yourself at all times. My generation is very good at sharing their work, but I don’t think there’s much of an acumen as actually getting out there and shoving it at people, in order to create a name for yourself. There are very few ways to work your way up.”
Even if a young artist does get the chance to be carried in a gallery, they often have to pay as much as 60 percent commission on every piece that’s sold.
To counter the challenge of an out-of-reach market, Burns created his own, staging a show in a Wilton venue for himself and his peers to exhibit their work. All of the artists whose works are being showcased are no older than 24 years old. It’s a way to bring their art directly to the public and also get them exposure.
“A huge population of the country just doesn’t buy art, so the intent of this is to let people know you still can buy art. In the galleries in New York City, everything is priced for collectors and investors. We’re providing something that might be investment art,” he says. “This is also a completely unpretentious place. Most people when they hear ‘art gallery,’ they associate it with ‘museum.’ We’re hoping to appeal to a wider audience, and make it the opposite of a traditional gallery.”
Opening on Friday, Dec. 12 in Historic Cannondale Village in Wilton, and running until Sunday, Dec. 21, the show they’ve named “Art as Gift” will bring contemporary and (what the artists are calling) ‘liftable’ local art to Fairfield County this season, allowing residents to give the present of art to family, friends, or their own wall.
Burns conceived of the show, and put it together in less than a week. “This is different–especially because it’s so instantaneous. And we’re only going to be open for two weeks.” He also hopes that with nine artists, the variety of works will be something people find appealing.
“It’s really a different way of looking at a gallery,” he says.
Financially it will be different for the participating artists too. The show will take only 20-percent commissions from any sales, which helps the artist keep the bulk of a piece’s value.
The artists are as different as they come–oil painters, sculptors who work in wood, still life photographers, even one–Mallory Matula–who creates dioramas combines different materials, including creating clay figures that she situates in the scenes, and then photographs them. The detailed work is incredible.
Matula is currently working as a graphic designer in a marketing research firm based in Wilton. She hopes to someday work in children’s books and illustrations.
The gallery includes works for all price levels, as well as art that focuses on Fairfield County as a backdrop. Mediums explored in the holiday gallery include: photography, sculpture, painting, mixed media design, and illustration, among other media.
The artists currently represented in the exhibit are: Mallory Matula, Marissa Stanton, Kim Bischoff, Ali Herrera, Nic Casey, Christopher Burns, Kyoko Thompson, Julianne Norton, and Ashley Frato.
All of the artists are former UCONN students.