The New Blyths

It's all a bit hectic at the moment, hence the sparcity of blog posts. I bought a little art shop in Manchester a couple of months ago called Blyths and my feet haven't touched the floor since. I have put my finger in another pie and it feels a little hot for now at least. According to Phillipa I have reached Ian Beale like status which I took as a slight. How could anyone aspire to be a small time, middle aged cafe owner in a tawdry soap opera I ask.

From art gallery to art shop, from art buyer to artist buyer it has been like crossing over the divide within an industry that seemed so familiar beforehand. I thought I knew about the creation of art but boy was I wrong. Mooch is all about the end result and the emotional appeal of a piece of artwork. Blyths has meant I have to get all technical with the products. Customers pour over the colour and gram of paper and the concentration of pigment in the paint.

A couple of weeks ago we had someone who bought a large amount of art materials in one go. A couple of hours later a psychiatric hospital rang the shop apologising and asking to return the goods. I heard what had happened when they rang again, Tim came and delicately told me the "The woman is on the phone about the mental guy". Tim and Lyndsey recognised in hindsight that buying art stuff for his friend Van Gogh is not the norm.

Phillipa has the same issue with a particular guy who walks into the gallery every day, yes every day, and asks her if she is okay? A brief and daily one sentence conversation that left her feeling she was being stalked until realising he did this to lots of other shops too. A ginger man with 50s style quiff, leather jacket and tight jeans, he reminds me of a northern version of Disneys Chipmunks. He is equally as irritating although harmless enough.

All in all Blyths is a brilliant company to run with amazing potential. For mooch it means we can cast a wider net and find more talented artists. Mooch has the summer show on and the gallery is looking better than it even has. We are still changing and updating the website and looking at new artists so you will be able to see new work every 2 weeks even if there isn't a show on.

Oh and if you fancy taking up art or need some art materials, check out H.Blyth&Co in Stevenson Square. Its really rather good.

A popular do..

Christian from Barefoot wines raised his eyebrows in surprise after making his third trip downstairs to bring more bottles up, hustling through the crowds. We expected quite a few people to turn up but even I was left a little bewildered by the shear number of people that came and the shear amount of wine that was drunk.
120 bottles and over 220 cups later the official launch of Mooch art and revolve gallery was deemed a success. A big gallery means more art, more food, more wine, more everything. Scale it all up in a great location and suddenly I can see the artists getting giddy with excitement. With all that space and all those people I just didn't get round to speaking to everyone and maybe there were people who wanted to buy but just didn't know where I was so vowed to come back another time.
One of my 1st previews I spent with a red ring around my lips and grey teeth. I looked in the mirror that night and cursed the red wine and the fact that no one pointed out the fact I looked like a right numpty. Smooth Mike, very smooth.
I went for an eclectic mix of art, which is difficult to pull off and can often translate into being jack of all trades, master of none. This isn’t the case with the artwork hung in the new gallery In the Triangle though.
The best, most accomplished artists covering abstract, figurative, photography and landscapes were hung with a clear aim to have appeal to a broad range of tastes.
The event is now over and we have had some good coverage in the press but I guess its now onto the day to day gallery business. Until the next event that is.

Opening a new gallery - looking back

The picture here is a map of manchester from 1650.
The Electrician looked at our simple faces and said "You've got your work cut out for you".
I normally hate painting with a passion but the new gallery is making me change my mind. Creating big solid blocks of white with immaculate edges is curiously satisfying.
If art is any substance, arranged to make a statement then mine is "Clean white walls are gallery nirvana". Ugly brick walls are transformed into glorious white textured surfaces. It's clean and fresh and like a little piece of heaven, only you don't have to be good to get there.
I need to be involved in painting the new gallery for me to feel a part of it. I need my shoulders to ache and my scruff jeans to be encrusted with paint. I even put up with curious white bogeys and paint getting caught in my ring (wedding). I need to do this because as with many parts of this gallery I want to stand back and say with confidence that we did that.
I appreciate that there aren't too many people who have opened a gallery before but let me say.. Wow it's hard work. I mean, really it is. At opening events, gallery owners will smile and play down the shear effort that has gone into showing other peoples artwork. But trust me when I say that every one will need a holiday afterwards.
In June Last year Mooch art, Oldham street, opened to a receptive crowd. Perhaps people would have been more impressed had I have put the before pictures of the gallery up on the wall. There was a monumental effort involved by workmen and myself in getting it ready in time. Pure graft and passion went into that gallery.
Mooch is expanding sooner than expected and this effort is being repeated in the Triangle. We are in Unit 17, and we have already figured there is a great community in the triangle as there is in the northern quarter.
I had a chat with the guy who runs the Titchy coffee company and its fascinating to find out the history of the building. The triangle used to be the corn exchange "For many year's, (up to the time of the bombing), the building acted as a covered market hall, a Mecca for students and specialising in "alternative" produce - vegetarian foods, numerous "New Age" and Occult shops, palmists, tarot readers, books, aromatherapy prerequisites, music and clothing. Well worth a browse, even if nothing takes your fancy." But now the triangle is one of the most underrated retails spaces in Manchester. Glorious Victorian architecture houses a modern light spacious interior. Go through the fairly well hidden opening into a triangular courtyard. Calling the triangle a "shopping centre" is like calling Charlize theron a "tasty bird". It's just not classy enough. The gallery's doors will open inside to the interior but also onto Cathedral street. A beautiful cobbled street runs between the Triangle and Manchester cathedral that should be the biggest drawcard of the "Shopping Centre". Many shops for security reasons haven't utilised the best looking street in Manchester. I'm serious, it's picture postcard stuff and having lived in Manchester for 8 years kept wondering why I didn't know about it.
I have yet another spell of 12-13 hour days to get it ready and looking pristine, white, and as good as possible. The satisfaction is immense, the artwork will speak for itself. Great quality original art always does. Mooch art is passionate expression concentrated onto a canvas and I love it. If you want to come to the soft launch of the new gallery e-mail info@mooch-art.co.uk with the names of who wants to come. We are pinning in tuesday the 14th April but this may change. It will be fairly low key until the proper launch will be sorted out.

Probably the best new gallery in the world.

Mooch is opening a new gallery in the triangle shopping centre in Manchester city centre. I opened the Oldham street gallery in June last year so this is an exciting time. Mooch is growing fast and the additional gallery offers a huge amount of wall space to exhibit.
I have always know that people need to see the artwork to appreciate just how good it is. More choice from online galleries mean that the quality is patchy at best. The key to a great gallery is representing fewer, higher quality artists. The bottom line is that with fewer artists, a gallery can focus and boost their career more effectively which means the artwork is much more likely to rise in value.
Mooch has relatively few artists but even with the 20 artists, it is impossible to show all their work. The Oldham street gallery is a light and airy space that is in the creative heart of the city. However it's a bit of a walk for those shopping in the arndale or Deansgate so the Triangle will be a great location for more customers.
The gallery in the triangle will be open in 3-4 weeks so we have plenty of work to do in order to get it up to standard. Think of the amount of work you think is required and then triple it. Many galleries need a monumental effort for every opening and change of artwork. It's time to pull out the stops and make the new mooch gallery the best in Manchester, dare I say, the best in the country.

Multimedia art gallery

Post preview thoughts - Advice for artists

So we've had the preview on thursday showing Adam Hayleys work amongst others. The level of quality is really high especially for Adam and Victoria Ashworth who are still young (24). Artists normally mature into creating great work. Most people who paint will be at a fairly average level for years and only get into the groove later on in their life.
Artists in general have a bit of a reputation for flakiness and unreliability. If a poll were conducted to find the flakiness percentage in the total population I wonder whether artists would have a higher percentage than other demographic groups.
I receive around 10 artists a week wanting me to showcase their work. One girl came in a couple of months ago and ran around the gallery looking at the work, looking at me slightly out of breath, "Yes, I am and artsit" "Errrrr" "How do you show work? Can you show my work, what do I do?"
I asked whether she had a website, "no", I asked does she have a portfolio she can show me? "eer no", Does she have a card she can give me. Of course she doesn't because she has the foresight of a goldfish and couldn't be relied on to tie her own shoelaces.
She asked me for a piece of paper and a pen, scribbled her number down and told ME to call HER. For any artist reading this, pay close attention to a few mistakes she made resulting in her not creating the best impression in the world. I sat there with raised eyebrows (if i could've raise one I would've) and Imagined her waiting by her phone, then after a couple of weeks saying "well i gave it my best shot".
For artists reading this who want to approach a gallery there are a few things to think of to create a good impression and one basic that sounds so simple but still quite a few don't do.
The one basic is that you have to show your work, whether its on an email, a portfolio or the actual pieces themselves. Not doing this straight away is like saying to someone "My best effort is still a bit rubbish and I can only be bothered to walk through the door and offer my artwork in a vague hope that someone might see the creative genius in me and proclaim me the next Damien Hirst. Don't take it out on me because I never not done nothing to no-one" Or something like that.
Reliability is key, consistently producing good quality artwork sorts out the people who have careers and those who sell the odd piece. It is highly likely the girl who gave me a scrap of paper with her mobile number on it isn't reliable.
Its a good job there are some great artists out there who do their stuff without drama and these are all showing with mooch.

Crunchy credit and luxury goods

One thing I have realised in the past 6 months. Credit is crunchy. Its brittle and fragile; its no longer cheap or perhaps no longer there. The mounting bad debt meant the banks tightened their purse strings in line with their sphincters. Cue stock market crash, rising unemployment and a global recession. What a great time to open an art gallery. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't.
What I know from buying and selling stocks is that you should never run with the crowd. You're already looking at the ground rushing towards you with the other lemmings if you do that. By the time you have sold, the losses have been realised and you are likely to have lost on the rebound. The art industry at all levels has not been immune to the crash in the FTSE and DOW.
On November 6th Christies had a load of lovely paintings by Picasso, Monet, Renoir and Braques up for sale. The whole lot was expected to sell over £10 million. Of the 10 pieces auctioned, 6 were returned to their owners and the ones that sold brought in less than £1 million. Okay so this is at the top end and features buyers whose jewellery alone could feed Africa for a year. If the past masters are struggling to sell, what hope is there for other contemporary artists?
Well there is good news and more good news. Firstly companies (even art galleries) can change what they sell and how they sell it. Tesco has changed its product mix to include more of their basic range. Supermarkets have also started to inform customers of how their products go together. Genius, feed your family for a fiver. Like Tesco, mooch has changed its offering. Introducing the "Collectibles" means people can buy original art from £30 which is less than a print from a high street store. We still focus on original artwork but see it as an introduction to buying into the artist. I see it as a trip to the cinema to see whether it takes your fancy rather than blowing a fortune on a posh meal or a holiday. The second bit of good news is that the economy will recover, as will peoples bank balances. It is always darkest just before the dawn. Maybe what people need is something to brighten up their day and inject some life into their homes.

Affordable art show

Mooch art is putting some really affordable work on its wall. Its all going off on the 15th November. A saturday when we should all be thinking about getting prezzies for our friends and family. I go from last minute christmas frenzied shopping one year to a mass blitz in one session a month before the next. Without a highly specific list I just wander aimlessly drifting in and out of shops that make me feel like I don't belong. It ends in a strop, frustrated snap at my partner and a mature stomp off to the car.
The pressure is to buy something thoughtful, memorable and make someone smile. Even now I receive lists that specify the item, the size, the colour which leaves nothing to chance. Why not go onto amazon, order the lot and do a bank transfer from relative to relative at the end of it all. Where's the surprise, where's the thing that makes people smile because its just something they would never have even considered, but love it all the same.
Art is thoughtful, actually art can be anything you want it to be. For presents though we don't want to blow the bank. So here cometh the affordable art show from Mooch origin. When we say really affordable its from £30 to £300. We are selling mini canvasses still lovingly painted by our artists and set upon a tiny easel that makes a great original desktop work of art. We are also selling wall art that you can buy for others with the assurance that you can return it if it isn't quite right after a 6 week period.
So come along to Mooch on Saturday the 15th you just might find a present to treasure.

Mooch Art
88 Oldham Street
Manchester
M4 1LF

Mooch art - running a new art gallery in manchester

If anyone is curious what it is like to be in the art industry, work in a gallery and meet up with artists then this is your lucky day.
Whether you think art and the industry is pointless, poncey, frivolous or flawed I want to just tell it how it is. Clearly from a gallery point of view, art is the what drives creativity in this country. Without it we would be stuck a rubbish environment, Orwellian and bleak with little colour or style.
Mooch art is a gallery in Manchester (England) and we opened on the 26th June 2008. Things are still pretty new and we are still building a name for ourselves. As soon as the gallery opened its doors, a flood of artists came by to show their appreciation for the gallery and to try and get me to sell their stuff. Hopefully some artists should read this because some of their approaches would've made Gareth Gates sound smooth.
I have had some brilliant characters through the doors. I will be talking about some of these weird and wonderful people that seem to gravitate towards the art scene. I want to tell people about these characters partly because after they have left I am left thinking it could be me who has gone mad. If nothing else It may change the way other artists approach to galleries if only by learning what not to do.
The sorry thing is that similar to acting and publishing, the art industry is very unfair in rewarding the top artists with most of the money. This means that for every artist who makes a good living, there are 100 hopefuls. Art though is appreciated in the doing as well as the viewing. Artists often do it as a hobby so I don't mean to paint a bleak picture.
Saying that there are loads of great talented artists who haven't yet made a name for themselves and are just starting out. Thats where we come in.

Halleluja