I have been a commercial and fine artist for 45 years. Over that time I have lived many places, mostly in California and Maui. During that time I have done over 100 paintings, murals and artsy signs that I have lost track of and have no photo of them either.
I have decided to write a book about my art career and the difficulties an artist faces when they don't come from a wealthy family and have an unlimited budget. While everyone seems to think I should be wealthy because of my artistic abilities they always fail to realize the high cost of doing art. As an example, to do an art show all the art needs to be matted and/or framed. The more prestigious the gallery the more expensive the matting and frames need to be. On Maui I could do enough paintings for a show at a cost of a few hundred dollars. But to display those painting in a gallery in Lahaina would require a $1500 frame and matting job for each painting to be on par with the rest of the art in the gallery. This is $18k out of pocket for a show of 12 paintings effectively pricing me out of the market although my art was comparable to the other artists. the same applies in all the major cities of the world. Basically if an artist doesn't have money to start with they don't get too far regardless of their talent. I am finding this true for writing too. Without a substantial budget to promote your work, you don't get to far.
So over the last 45 years I have painted some very nice art on commission, the only avenue open to me.
Most of these painting were done for private parties but some, most notably my murals and signage were for businesses.
What I am trying to do now, since I lost my portfolios of most of my work over the years, is to use the internet to call for previous clients and businesses who have photos of my work to contact me so I can assemble a master portfolio to include in my new book.
I expect this project to take a few years to complete although I have recently managed to track a few pieces using google, there are still dozens that I need to find, if possible.
So this is a call for those people who I have sold are to in the past 40 or so years to help me create a compilation of my work for posterity. If you live in California or Maui and have any paintings, mural or signage signed either Beauchamp or Richter, two professional names I've used as an artist please contact me.
Here's a photo of a mural in a house on Maui I stumbled upon while looking at homes for sale:
I painted two portraits for Emil White at the Henry Miller Museum One of Henry and one of Emil. They seem to have disappeared from the museum. If anyone has any pictures of them I would love to hear from you.
I have decided to write a book about my art career and the difficulties an artist faces when they don't come from a wealthy family and have an unlimited budget. While everyone seems to think I should be wealthy because of my artistic abilities they always fail to realize the high cost of doing art. As an example, to do an art show all the art needs to be matted and/or framed. The more prestigious the gallery the more expensive the matting and frames need to be. On Maui I could do enough paintings for a show at a cost of a few hundred dollars. But to display those painting in a gallery in Lahaina would require a $1500 frame and matting job for each painting to be on par with the rest of the art in the gallery. This is $18k out of pocket for a show of 12 paintings effectively pricing me out of the market although my art was comparable to the other artists. the same applies in all the major cities of the world. Basically if an artist doesn't have money to start with they don't get too far regardless of their talent. I am finding this true for writing too. Without a substantial budget to promote your work, you don't get to far.
So over the last 45 years I have painted some very nice art on commission, the only avenue open to me.
Most of these painting were done for private parties but some, most notably my murals and signage were for businesses.
What I am trying to do now, since I lost my portfolios of most of my work over the years, is to use the internet to call for previous clients and businesses who have photos of my work to contact me so I can assemble a master portfolio to include in my new book.
I expect this project to take a few years to complete although I have recently managed to track a few pieces using google, there are still dozens that I need to find, if possible.
So this is a call for those people who I have sold are to in the past 40 or so years to help me create a compilation of my work for posterity. If you live in California or Maui and have any paintings, mural or signage signed either Beauchamp or Richter, two professional names I've used as an artist please contact me.
Here's a photo of a mural in a house on Maui I stumbled upon while looking at homes for sale:
I painted two portraits for Emil White at the Henry Miller Museum One of Henry and one of Emil. They seem to have disappeared from the museum. If anyone has any pictures of them I would love to hear from you.
I also painted a huge mural in Eureka Ca. That I have no photo of. It was painted in 1989 and has since been altered. I am trying to find anyone who has a photo of the mural of Venice I painted in Sergio's Italian Restaurant that used to be on 2nd st.
Hopefully I will get some response and be able to gather photos of my life's work.
