"So, You Want to Put Art Into Your Restaurant"
 First in a Three Part
Series on Exhibiting Art in Your Restaurant.
by Greg Lejnieks

You're sitting around the restaurant late at night with your co-owner(s), managers, wife, husband, or just yourself, sipping some wine, looking around, wondering how to increase sales. Or if not sales perhaps just an upgrade of the feel and look of things. A better atmosphere, maybe. A statement. A draw. Something cool that says "this is the restaurant you want to be seen at." Someone says, "hey, why don't we hang art or better yet, let's rotate shows. Every month we can do something new. It'll be great." And thus begins your descent/ascent into the art world.

I've been selling and exhibiting art for 15 years now. And during that decade and a half I've seen many restaurants who do it right, however, I'm sorry to say, I've seen a lot of restaurants who have done it wrong.  Theirs is a descent rather then an ascent. The primary thing to remember is that art is an organic, living, vibrate expression of someone's life process. Unfortunately, art has become something just to look at. A commodity. A picture on the wall. "Something my eight year old could do." Inherent in it's devaluation is our own notion of how to live with it, enjoy it, or hey, hang it in our restaurant. So, for all you restaurateurs out there reading this article, the very best thing you can do for your restaurant art project is to get into the spirit of the process. Bringing the creative process to your diners is the experience that, if done well, will bring them back for more. Or at the very least they will say to themselves, "wow, that was an experience" and your restaurant will stand out from the competition.

Your first inclination might be to go out and get an art dealer or consultant to help you. Not a bad thought. If you are serious about your intent there are some very good dealers or consultants in your area that would love to help for a piece of the action or a fee. I'm one of those dealers (small commercial plug). Terms are always negotiable and are to some degree dependent on your commitment to the project. Most dealer/artist arrangements are on a 50/50 split. Since you should only bring in consigned artwork to keep your upfront costs down you, of course, become a third party in this arrangement. Personally, I think a three-way split after costs is reasonable. Particularly when you are dealing with emerging artists. More seasoned artists may demand more. If that is the case then you just need to decide how badly you want to exhibit the work to give up additional profit sharing. The artist may contend that you are making money from selling steaks not art so you should not need so much ... all the while forgetting that you will need additional insurance, security, electricity, etc. However, if you are bringing in mid career or well-known artists with a dealer/consultants help the artist will most likely receive 50% of the sales price with the remainder being split between you and the dealer/consultant.

A dealer/consultant can help you set the tone of the shows, find artists, hang the art, supply bio information for table tents, help with invitations for the opening, and generally be a resource and sounding board during the exhibition process.

You may decide you really want to get into by curating everything yourself. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Just be ready for more work. You'll need to ask yourself if taking the time away from your primary business to curate shows is worth it. If you answer is "yes' to the above I suggest you pull your shows from local colleges and universities. Go visit the department chair, outline your ideas, and ask them to introduce you to the most talented graduate students. You may even get some teachers involved. This arrangement could also lead to some press releases on your collaboration with local art schools.  Perhaps you could set up a 501c3 non-profit and donate some money earned from the exhibits back to the school. Just an idea.

A word of warning. Framing can be very expensive. So as you decide on your themes you may want to make sure that if you want to show only watercolors, photos, and/or works on paper the dealer or artist is picking up the tab on the framing. Of course, you may find art that is so wonderful you just have to have it in the restaurant. In this case you may end up paying for the frames. Just be careful. Many bottom lines have been lost due to framing over expenditures.

After you've decided who is going to help you or if you are going to go it alone and you have decided on a curatorial direction suitable for either your tastes, the restaurants tastes, and/or your customers tastes take a few minutes to examine your restaurant and how best it can exhibit artwork. You may decide you want to show Pop art, go out and find huge Warhols, only to find, when you bring them back to the restaurant you don't have space. Your space can be part of the process and will enhance the artist's work. You might even get to the point where you are turning your restaurant over to certain artists you grow to trust and they make the art right in the restaurant using the space as their canvas. Think of the marketing possibilities there. Just remember to "work with the space."

I know, I know it seems you've done an awful lot of work already without any return. But believe me, taking these prudent steps will not only help you become a better marketer of your restaurant with this process you will always have substantially better return on your investment by executing a well thought out plan.

One last preparatory necessity. Lighting. Make sure you spend some money for good lighting. This step goes hand in hand with examining your restaurant space as gallery. You may find at the beginning that your budget limits your ability to put in good lighting. In this case I suggest you start small. A four piece exhibit in a well lit area of your restaurant can be just as mind blowing as a twenty piece exhibit flowing graciously throughout you space. It's the loving care you give the exhibition process and how you present it to your customers that will elicit excitement and keep them coming back for more.

The artists represented by Lejnieks Fine Art can be seen at LFineArt.com.

Part Two of this series
"How to Pick The Art"

Part Three of this series
"Marketing Fine Art Exhibitions in Your Restaurant"

Art For Your Restaurant
Hand-picked by Dinersoft