Benicia, California Figurative Sculptor and Painter Marques Vickers is testing a personal supposition as to whether a solitary artist armed with ambition, a customized website and marketing expertise can flourish commercially without the patronage of the established gallery community as his principal means of distribution. With the launching of his Web Site www.marquesv.com in late November 1999, Vickers, 42 is attempting a course of self-promotion that has yet to produce any significant success stories in the annals of emerging E-commerce.

"Every gallery, art broker and even artist that I've spoken with," maintains Vickers, "insists that no one in the art industry is making money on the internet.....yet. If E-Commerce is a speeding locomotive in most business sectors, the art world remains fixed in the caboose position. Yet even a caboose moves forward."

Vickers promotional strategy for his site is focused on traditional art buying sectors such as corporate facility managers, hotel management design companies, landscape architects, interior directors and identified major art collectors. "The average web surfer has not yet proven themself a consistent fine art buyer. Instead their most likely purchase is a reprinted poster or serilitho, priced under $100. That of course, is likely to change and certainly is a secondary market worth cultivating."

To build visitor traffic, Vickers' objective has been to develop a strong presence on the major search engines using a variety of meta tag placement strategies. Equally important, he is developing an extensive reciprocal linkage network composed of international art galleries, organizations, design firms, publications, vendors and well placed artist sites. These efforts within the first three weeks of operation have resulted in an encouraging response of 2000 weekly hits.

"Aside from promoting my own work, the site has to become relevant for return visits," noted Vickers. "Most artist sites generate only a few hundred hits over the course of an entire year, even amongst those well-placed in key subject categories on a search engine like Yahoo. Their chief liability is that they are dull, static and not terribly informative about the artist. A Website should be a personal expression by that artist and frankly an example of their artistic creativity. Most sites that I've visited fall far short in eliciting interest."

Vickers has not entirely abandoned the traditional art gallery system, but he is wary of overdependence. "The traditional interview process artists must endure to be exhibited or even considered by an art gallery is tedious, condescending and oftentimes, expensive for the artist due to postage and a minimum number of mounted slides each Gallery Directors insist on (many of which are never returned). Any legitimate alternative to this process will be welcomed by artists, particularly if it allows them the ability to empower themself. I'm currently affiliated with the Vorpal Gallery in San Francisco and have recently began working with two on-line art brokerage services, LeonArto.Com based in Newport Beach, California and IncredibleArt.Com based in Culver City, California.

"The gallery system is not vanishing anytime soon because buyers still prefer a certain hand holding when they invest in artwork. Also, established galleries still function as an artist's hierarchal recognition barometer. Ultimately, I foresee more galleries trolling the internet for prospective new artists, so an immediate presence is important.".

Various National Publications (December)

Benicia, California artist Marques Vickers has launched a new informational data base service for individual artists, art organizations and galleries targeting Snail and E-mail buyer listings of Corporate Facility Managers and Landscape Architects based on the West Coast and other strong regional art buying sectors of the United States. The service, unique to the art world due to its focused marketing perspective, has ambitious expansion plans regarding the scope of available buyer categories and geographical regions to be offered.

Facility Managers are traditionally the on-site vendor contact for all furnishing aspects of a private corporation's and municipal government's real estate holdings. They are directly responsible for coordinating the space management of the interior facilities including the acquisition of art work, paintings and three-dimensional sculpture when corporations expand their facilities, decorate or add office space, conference rooms and lobby areas. These premium buyers are exceptionally elusive to identify, yet responsible for a significant amount of artwork purchases.

Landscape architects are advisors and often direct buyers of exterior artwork for: 1) Community Public Art projects 2) Corporate construction, expansion and modification developments and 3) High end residential exterior renovations. Contract artists typically work in conjunction with Landscape Architects on construction projects to make the work consistent with the building design theme and on a more practical level, to insure the engineering soundness of the art project. Landscape Architects have tremendous influence with their clients regarding purchasing decisions and cultivate favored artists for future projects.

The informational lists which can be printed out on mailing labels, printed report formats and/or electronic files are available for a one-time fee, but can be reused by the buyer without additional compensation to Marquis Enterprises.

"Perhaps the greatest curse for any artist or gallery is anonymity to the corporate buying public," explains Vickers, a figurative sculptor and painter himself. "The traditional problem for artists has been that we can't identify these buyers and they typically don't know of our existence. The more specific information we have access to enabling an introduction, whether electronically or by the traditional direct mail route, the better are our own chances to sell our work."

Along with the corporate buyer and landscape architect snail and e-mail lists, Vickers' enterprise also offers extensive listings of international art galleries.

"To my knowledge, no effective clearing houses of art buyer information are available to either artists or galleries. Regardless of ones personal ambivalence towards art sales and e-commerce via the Internet, it is here to stay." maintains Vickers, "Our commercial future as artists is going to be heavily influenced by our effective use of the Internet both in securing direct sales and exhibitions with distribution sources such as galleries. Within five years, a web site and e-mail directory of sales leads will be essential marketing tools for all thriving or even surviving art service businesses. After all, there's nothing worse than being marooned in cyberspace."

"Enough electronic art sales startup companies are being established, advertised and sufficiently funded to ultimately hyper-accelerate the acceptance of art being bought through e-commerce, despite the currently mediocre sales reports from established electronic vendors. The traditional system of selling through galleries does not work sufficiently for most artists, thus the allure of selling direct through self-generated Web sites will maintain its attraction. Internet websites coupled with direct e-mail solicitations to potential buyers are becoming a relatively inexpensive sales outlet which most artists will pursue because they have a direct say both in negotiating price and who ultimately will own their work. The demand for retail galleries will continue to exist, but it is inevitable that their mentoring role will change and they will be forced to retool their sales efforts as well."

Various National Publications (October)

Benicia sculptor and painter Mark Vickers will be one of the featured artists in an upcoming "Visions 2000" exhibition, September 2-October 2, 1999 at the renowned Vorpal Gallery in San Francisco. Three of his Iconic Totem assemblages, "Modern Amazon", "Angel of Ill-Repute" and "The Viagra Resurrection" will be included in the show focusing on nine additional San Francisco Bay Area artists of distinction. Vickers is also currently exhibiting at the Mark West Winery in Healdsburg and in a designer showcase of recyclized art in South San Francisco.

As a sculptor and painter, Vickers, 41, specializes in steel and mixed media sculpture with a smirk of humor, incorporating found finished objects and multicolored patina and painted surfaces. As a painter, his work is concentrated on figurative and abstract expressionism with textured surface backgrounds. The focus of his work remains barbed humor laced with subtle irony and vulnerability, reminiscent of two other Benicia sculptural influences, Robert Arneson and Manuel Neri.

The Vorpal Gallery, now in its 37th year, represents artists from over 30 countries in a series of rotating exhibitions. Internationally acclaimed for its collection of contemporary and modern Masters such as Dutch graphic master M.C. Escher, the Gallery is located at 393 Grove Street in San Francisco's Civic Center area with a second location in the SoHo area in New York City. With over 20,000 square feet of exhibition space, the gallery is open Tuesday-Saturday from 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM.

Various San Francisco Bay Area Publications (August)

Sculptor and Painter Mark Vickers has inaugurated a new sculptural line of Iconic Totem sculptures for gallery, trade and private collections. Each uniquely designed Douglas Fir and steel sculpture stands between six and ten feet in height and is sealed with a DuPont IMRON resin, permitting display in both interior and exterior environments.

The assemblages are conceptually influenced by the totemic imagery of the Pacific Northwest tribes of North America and recognized Occidental sculptors of the 20th century including Constantin Brancusi, Alberto Giacometti, Jean Arp and Henry Moore. Exterior coloration, shaping both mood and emotional tenor are influenced by the blended and layered color sensibilities of New York Expressionist painter Mark Rothko.

As a sculptor and painter, Vickers, 41, specializes in steel and mixed media sculpture incorporating found finished objects and multicolored patina and painted surfaces. His work ranges from interior freestanding and tabletop items to larger outdoor contracted and public art installations. As a painter, his work is concentrated on figurative and abstract expressionism with textured surface backgrounds.

Various National Publications (July)

Question: What do you get when you cross a travel agent with a welder? Answer: a sculptor with a great package--like Benicia artist Mark Vickers.

Vickers, a Vallejo native and St. Patrick-St. Vincent High School grad, lived in France, traveled the world and started his own travel agency. He was executive director of the Burbank Chamber of Commerce before eventually returning to his North Bay roots to become--a welder.

The circuitous route to welding came from three years ago, after Vickers saw two large public art objects on display in Sweden.

"I was traveling in Russia and Scandinavia," Vickers explained. "I was very piqued by the public art in Stockholm. It became one of those things I felt I could do and would do."

But Vickers, with a history in business, did not know how to make sculptures so he signed up for a welding class at Solano College. Soon, the sparks were flying.

"Basically it was all trial and error," he said. "Most people are spectators when it comes to acting out their dreams but I am more pragmatic than that. I didn't even finish the welding class but I learned the basic mechanics of welding."

That was all he needed to locate a welding unit and start building "assemblages." Vickers, who uses sheer will to achieve his goals, likes to explode common myths about art and artists.

"One myth is that you are born as an artist," he said. "Not so. You have to work out your styles and make a thousand mistakes before something works anesthetically."

Although his father was, indeed, an artist, Vickers claims to have inherited none of his dad's artistic talent.

"Frankly, I don't think any of it genetically transferred," Vickers said. "It was not my particular gift. If you look at our work, you'd hardly know we were from the same genes." Thanks to a pragmatic business sense, Vickers said he already had money to bankroll himself as a sculptor "instead playing the role of a starving artist."

"Even so, you don't sell work right away," he said. "It's not a guaranteed source of income. Something like one percent of artists live off their work."

Vickers has been busy in those three years since Stockholm. He's taken up painting, too. He said his paintings are influenced by artists like Mark Rothko and abstract impressionists of the 1950's.

During the day, he creates his assemblages at a Benicia Industrial Park studio with a view of the mothball fleet. Later, he dons his marketing cap and begins making those essential calls to hawk his wares.

"Another myth about art, and why a lot of artists stay undiscovered, is that it's a business and you have to invest your time into selling," Vickers explained. "Most artists are not clued into that. I make 20 to 30 calls a day-to interior decorators, galleries and wineries."

Tenacity does seem to pay off. Vickers recently landed a one-man show of his "Iconic Totems" at the Mark West Winery in Forestville.

"If you build a better mousetrap, you've got to make them aware of it," he said. "This show was part of extensive follow-up and finally securing the venue."

Another Vickerism on art is that gallery owners actually sell artists' work. Don't count on it. "Artists rely on galleries to market their work but gallery owners are just retailers," Vickers said. "There are good and mediocre ones. Most gallery owners are mediocre. They aren't making those 20 to 30 phone calls a day and the artists can't understand why they don't sell. You must stimulate demand."

It all boils down to obsession, he said. Real artists have it and are driven to do it --whatever it is.

Vickers works on several pieces at once, creating assemblages out of discarded car parts, wood and paint -- whatever tickles his fancy. He then seals the entire piece in a DuPont clear coat resin, making the sculpture available for outdoor or indoor use.

Still new to the art scene, Vickers is nonetheless in it for the long haul, building his artist resume from art exhibits throughout the country. He still runs a tour company and operates a screen-printing business to help bankroll his art.

Yet, even with his savvy business sense, there's still an element that will forever stay out of his control.

"The thing about fortune and success in a creative enterprise is that it often comes as a fluke," he said. "It's timing, really, and you can chase the idea of making it via those shows, but more often than not when people do see your work, it's when you least expect it."

Vickers' Iconic totems will be on display throughout the summer and fall season. Mark West Winery is located at 7010 Trenton-Healdsburg Rd. in Forestville.

Benicia Herald by Richard Toronto (July)

Native Vallejoan Mark Vickers, 41, didn't start out being an artist.

Yet in the two short years during since he turned his attention to art, he has made some remarkable strides.

His sculpture was acknowledged in the September issue of the nationally distributed interior design trade publication, Interiors and Sources Magazine, and two of his pieces-one sculpture and one painting-are part of the Arts Benicia Exhibit in the Arsenal Building beginning this weekend and running for about a month.

Having come from more of a business than "a traditional art background, per se," Vickers, who runs two other companies and teaches business, finance, marketing and law in addition to his artistic endeavors, was visiting Stockholm, St. Petersburg and Helsinki two years ago, when he discovered that he "was drawn to the steel construction and sculpture." Upon his return, he decided to try his hand at it, and enjoyed it.

"What I was doing well received," Vickers said. "I began to refine my technique and devote more and more time to it. It has become a great passion."

Opening his own studio in Benicia in June of this year, Vickers specializes "primarily in abstract, figurative sculpture made of steel and mixed media, incorporating found finished objects and multicolored patina surfaces, covering various themes."

He works with decorators to "create a certain look" for commercial or residential interiors or contracts to create larger, outdoor pieces for gardens or public places.

While more artists specialize in one medium or another, for example, "most painters don't cross over into sculpting and vice versa," Vickers does both. "I find both equally valuable mediums," he said.

Vickers' ultimate objective is to have his work exhibited in galleries all over the world.

"I would like to be one of the art icons of the new millennium," he said half jokingly, "But there is a long line there. But if you have something to say, and I do, then why not."

In the mean while, Vickers is searching for his own "signature style," and believes that the new series he's working on; a mixed media assemblage sculpture using steel and wood, may wind up being just the thing.

As with most artists, Vickers said his work is "always evolving", and it's progress is available for review by members of the design trade industry, set designers and collectors by appointment, in his studio in the California Industrial Complex, 3840 Industrial Way, Suite B in Benicia.

"The work often speaks more eloquently than anything I can say, "Vickers said.

Vallejo Times Herald by Rachel Raskin-Zrihen (May)

Left Coast Art Magazine: "Hayes Street Galleries Profile" (October Issue)
Art Business News Magazine: "Sculpting A Renaissance" (September Issue)