Ipad & the artist

I recently returned from St. James and I'd like to share something that the 1300 S. St. section is doing. They have hired a gentleman to go into each booth in that section on the last day of the show and with his Ipad he takes pictures of the artist in their booth, their booth and their art and starts a file on them. This database will be used for verification of submitted jury images, and at checkin artist  verification. I thought this was a brillant idea and I'd like to see more shows adopt this use of available technology.
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  • Wow, Larry you are so right. I just finished a show that allowed several artist reps to remain the whole show for at least four different artist. This is so wrong because there are artists such as myself that have to hire sitters to come in for our kids while we are at the show. we all sign the same paper work and it feels like a slap in the face when neighboring artists are not at the show but you have to be. Also, one artist actually shut down his/her booth for a few days ( the slowest day) to go take care of business. I think it's so unfair to show favoritism to any artist. We know what we are signing... We agree to the contract when we sign that dotted line. It's up to the promoter to follow through and respect all the artists equally.
  • This has been discussed before. There's only one way to handle it and we applaud shows that have done it. If it's discovered while the show is going on, close the booth down immediately and have the offender pack after the show closes for the day.

    If it's discovered at the end of the show, don't take an application from that person the following year.

    But don't ever tell the artists that the offender can stay but won't get back in next year. That's a bulls**t non-confrontational answer to pacify the artists who complain.

    Larry Berman
    http://BermanGraphics.com
    412-401-8100
  • What should happen if show discover a rep manning the booth the entire show?  Just throwing this out for discussion.

    Jacki B

  • I too know of artists that do multiple shows a weekend but if the staff periodically checked over the course of a weekend that would put a stop to that.  And by doing it on their ipads it would be more nonconfrontational than asking for an id.

  • Actually Westaf (ZAPP parent company) used to have a database of images from western states artists on their web site, not that I'm advocating that they should be the one to do it.

    Larry Berman
    http://BermanGraphics.com
    412-401-8100
  • The show validated jury slides on Friday on their ipads.  As a prior employer of hundreds of people I can tell you that your staff constantly changes so the chances of the same reps every year isn't guaranteed. I don't think the purpose is to prove or disprove buy sell but to be able to put the same face to the art every year.

    And lets take this a step farther, why not create a national artist registry available to show directors. At checkin the staff can pull up the database and match it to the person checking in. I can't think of why any legitamate artist wouldn't voluntarily sign up on the registry.I think that would go a long way in getting rid of product reps.  Just a thought...discuss

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  • There's no point in using an iPad taken photo to rip off an artists images. Resolution of the iPad camera is very low, only 720x960. They already have the full size ZAPP images which are much larger and in most cases, taken using a tripod so much higher quality. So that's the last thing artists need to worry about.

    But the picture of an artist in their booth is a problem. Years ago, Uptown took pictures of all artists at check in and issued name badges with the pictures. In some cases, they neglected to check ID's before hand and probably issued picture ID's to some reps.

    Larry Berman
    http://BermanGraphics.com
    412-401-8100
  • Indeed they could be validating reps - at many shows, even top ones, I have personally been aware that the artist is not in attendance. One particular artist is known to have the staff and availability of equipment and inventory to be able to do 5 or 6 shows on the same weekend.  If mandatory ID is needed at check in he does that and then flies or drives to another location.  Also, the shots of the artist in the booth could be edited and used to rip off copyright protected images.
  • Actually there are two things wrong with this scenario. The first is that by taking pictures of the artists in their booths, they are inadvertantly possibly validating reps. The other is that the jury images should have been loaded on the iPad prior to the show and then used to check the booths against the submitted images. I wrote about this in depth a few months ago and have had a number of show directors contact me thanking me for explaining it in detail how it can be done.
    http://www.bermangraphics.com/artshows/ipad-standards-review.htm

    Larry Berman
    http://BermanGraphics.com
    412-401-8100
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