- Above this antique hardware store
is an art gallery called The Loft at Liz's.
We're gonna go talk to the owner, Liz
and find out what goes into a successful gallery.
So Liz, what's the history of this place?
How did you found this company?
- Liz's Antique Hardware is actually the base company.
The Loft At Liz's is a product of that,
that started many, many years after I opened
Liz's Antique Hardware, which originated in Chicago,
a little over 40 years ago.
I literally started by picking through the alleys
and going to to the local flea markets
and ultimately, within a very short period of time,
I ended up buying out what is called a picker,
somebody who collects things throughout the day.
- That was in Chicago, right?
- That was in Chicago.
- Okay.
- And whatever he doesn't sell that day
ends up in a warehouse and I ended up meeting him
and I went go visit him in his warehouse and I said,
what are you doing with all this junk?
And he said, I'm looking to get out of the business.
So I said, how much?
He gave me a price and I bought it.
And then, ended up having an opportunity
to move to Los Angeles, and at that point,
packed everything up, moved and found this location
and I've been here ever since.
- Where does that come from?
So you're picking, you're finding all of these
interesting things on the street in Chicago,
what made you want to take the next step?
How did you figure out that you needed to partner
with somebody else or buy their business?
Where did that whole insight come from?
- It just really felt right to me.
When I walked in there, I just went,
this is just an amazing array of things.
There was all this hardware strewn all over the floor
and in barrels and I just found in fascinating
and I thought if I could make that hardware
and all of that, really accessible,
there were people out there that were gonna need it.
- It's interesting how you went from looking at
antiques to having a business basically,
very quickly it sounds like.
So when you think of a topic, like nature
or gun control, anything like that,
how do you go about finding the artists to fill those spots?
- Initially, I didn't know any artists, really
and so what I did was I actually put an ad in the paper.
And I started to meet a couple of artists that way.
I had a couple of nature artists and assemblage
artists who actually responded to the ad.
- What did that ad look like?
- Oh it was just a little blurb
and I don't remember.
- Looking for artists?
- At the time, I don't even think it was Craig's list.
It might have been the Reader or something.
- When you're coming in, let's say you're trying to
price a new artists, maybe someone who hasn't had a show
or anything like that.
Are there any rules of thumb for pricing art?
- Well, I let them think about it first
because they're the ones who are doing their work.
They know how many hours, some artists can create
work very quickly, others take you know,
maybe a year to create a piece.
There is a certain amount of,
you're an emerging artist and then from emerging
you go to being a bit more established
and then as you're in it longer and longer,
you're mid-career and then eventually, you're blue chip.
You hope, if you can stay in it long enough.
It's difficult to make a living in art.
- So when it comes to telling that story
for a specific artist, how do you build that case?
Basically, let's say a buyer comes in,
they want to buy art, how are you selling to them?
What kind of story are you telling them?
- There is, perhaps, an education behind
what they are doing.
It could be that they're self taught
but their trajectory is that they are in growth,
that they're going,
they've either had a career behind them
or they're building a career.
Some of them have had small museum shows.
They may have had solo shows,
they may be in other group shows,
so with an artist, comes their CV and their resume
and the thoughts behind their work,
and of course, their technical abilities and so on.
- During the actual buying process,
how much of that is the buyer talking directly
to the artists versus you introducing the buyer,
what is that actual process look like?
- I think that the actual process is somebody comes in
and they see a piece of artwork that resonates with them.
We're talking to them.
We, as the gallerists and director of the gallery
are talking to them and there may come a point
when they're meeting the artist.
If they're here for the opening and the artist is here,
then of course then we would introduce them.
- That's interesting.
So there is though, a time where it could,
someone could buy a painting without ever
meeting the artist, right?
- Of course.
- Okay.
- And in many cases, that is what happens.
- It seems like there are different types of art salesmen.
I'm sure your, I would love for you to describe
your selling process but I've been into galleries
where somebody's just like, oh you like that painting?
And then they won't give a price on it
or they won't even really talk about it or try to sell it.
Or they'll be like, yeah this is all just
paintings by one artist and then there's other galleries
where they tell the story and they really weave it
and there's a difference in those two types of salespeople.
What is your process?
- We may send them images of the work,
along with their CV, their resume,
their mission statements, and then we see
whether they're interested in purchasing the piece.
I think when it comes to buying art,
they want to have a piece that not only
aesthetically works in their place.
And there are different people buying different art.
Some people are decorating,
some people are actually collecting,
it's a very different person.
It's a very different ideology behind the purchasing of art.
There's a lot going on here, it's great.
It's a very, very, very dynamic, creative
atmosphere, the whole city, it's really wonderful.
- Awesome, thanks for having us, this is great.
- Thank you so much, thank you for the interview.
- Thanks for watching the video.
Be sure to subscribe for more videos like this
and if you want the actual questions we used
on call number one, to land more clients,
go to experiment27.com/discovery, that's free.
If you want to check out Lofts at Liz's,
that info is down in the description below.
I'm Alex Berman.