By Dan White – Special to the Sydenham Current
Joni and I recently had a very cool experience with our friend, Troy Brooks. As I have noted on previous occasions in this space, Troy is a world-renowned visual artist recognized for his photorealism paintings. His works are displayed in multiple galleries in North America and Europe. The galleries at Troy’s level will be a topic a little further on in this column; but first, the experience.
Troy has been asking Joni for a few years now if she would mind modeling for him. If you know Joni at all, you can guess her response. Something along the lines of, “Why me? I’m not a ‘Woman of Troy caliber.’ Surely you have other models.” Troy persevered and assured Joni that he wanted to take pictures of her for his reference material, in this case, specifically for a competition he is entering where the subject must be Canadian.
Troy paints mostly models from the 20s–40s as he likes that nostalgic look. If you have never seen his works visit his website, https://www.troybrooks.com/.
Troy had a vision of what he wanted to do for the photo shoot, but first he needed wardrobe. I reached out to friends at Theatre Sarnia and they were more than happy to host us to search through the wardrobe. So, off to Sarnia the three of us went. Lynn, the head of the wardrobe department for TS, was a wonderful aid as she worked with Troy to realize his vision. Joni tried on a multitude of costumes and in the end about a dozen were selected for the shoot. I made myself useful taking pictures and videos of the event.
A few days after that, Joni and I meandered down the street to Troy’s studio where local artist and hair magician Sarah Steele spent two hours coaxing Joni’s hair into a 1940s style that Troy had selected. Next up was the photo shoot. Troy’s place is well suited to the shoot as it has many intriguing nooks that can be used to create a scene for the photographs. Troy placed Joni at various sites, moved his lighting rigs about to enhance or create an effect, and used a simple black foam board to manipulate shadows across Joni’s face.
That shoot lasted about 90 minutes and then we returned a few days later to take a few additional pics in different costumes and with a simpler hairstyle. Joni and Troy had a great time working together and together they created some very stunning pictures. I may be a tad biased, but Troy was working with a stunning model to begin with. Again, my role was to take pictures and video clips for Troy to use in his marketing and promotion for the paintings.
And that brings me back to professional galleries. I listened to Troy many times speaking about the process of working with a gallery. The number of hats that he wears to get his painting to the gallery is significant.
Initially, Troy is often contacted by galleries requesting anywhere from one to a solo show with 10 or more paintings. The gallery may suggest a theme for Troy to work within, or they may simply want one of his works.
If there is a fundamental agreement to move forward, a contract is struck between the two parties. Here’s where it can get very involved. Troy needs to carefully read the contract and see what the gallery is expecting. That part may seem logical, but the contracts are anything but simple and straightforward.
In most cases, the museum charges Troy 50% of the value of his sold paintings. When we first met Troy, the standard artist’s contract required the museum to pay the artist their portion within 30 days of the close of the show. Now, it is becoming common to wait 60 days.
Troy pays to frame his art and then box and ship it to the gallery. This can and has run into a few thousand dollars. The artist is also now expected to market and promote the show. Troy does time-lapse photography when he paints and often does very detailed videos about his work. This all takes a significant amount of time. If Troy is posting images of his work online, he retouches the colours to get the digital version as close to the original work as possible. Again, this is labour intensive.
Remember that at this point Troy has no guarantee of income. It is a risk for him. The gallery only loses if the curator is not skilled enough to put together a show that brings potential patrons in. If they sell nothing, they get nothing, but the artist is the one out of pocket.
I asked Troy why he would bother with galleries in light of the uneven playing field. He stated that a lot of people that are investing in art at his caliber (and price point) want to see the art before buying it. So, galleries are, in many ways, a necessary evil. Because of that reality, Troy is currently working on works not just for the competition, but also galleries in New York, Spain, L.A., Charlestown, and Australia.
To try to continue to have some income, Troy makes prints of his paintings. You can find and order them on his website. He makes minor adjustments to each of them so they are unique, writes a detailed outline about the painting and the process, and boxes them up in a very cool box featuring some of his paintings. The prints are a fraction of the cost of the original, but still outstanding art.
I just spoke to Troy to confirm details and he informed me that his painting of Joni is looking amazing. We can’t wait to pop over and view the work in progress.
