the Answers to some questions - as I see them at this moment in time -

I have been asked recently - in order to benefit myself - to answer some generalized questions as an artist attempting to conduct business here on the Internet and elsewhere - 

1Q. The first question asks about my customer's problems and how I offer a solution or fill the need - 

1A. I have to admit that this question had me thinking for a minute since I do work photographic assignments and although I would like my answers to apply to my fine art - they really don't as I see it since things are set up with my galleries so that I do not (unless a client tells me of a purchase that they have made) have access to any information whatsoever as to who is purchasing what whether prints or canvases from my art galleries - 

I do, however, have an acute sense of what individuals and groups of people who come to me from their businesses who come to my studio or who hire me for photographic assignments on locations think that they want and if they are on the mark or not I am in those situations able to work extremely closely with them on both achieving what it is that they want and also guiding them as well in their careers and business ventures while I am doing so - 

The imagined client who is at least viewing my art but who may or may not make any purchases at all or may or may not do so in a rather soon period of time or perhaps after many years of contemplation is another matter altogether and for these individuals I imagine any number of situations - styles - subjects as well as tastes in colors - shapes - combinations of any of the above as well as means of stimulating the imaginations of this individual as the images that I create do exactly this for myself - and I create these as they come to mind - 


2Q. After my clients purchase my product what do they feel - what do they experience, say and do - 

2A. Again, for the fine art clients aside from a handful of individuals who have contacted me personally or who I have reason to know because they have also done other business dealings with me over time - there is no way of knowing at least not at this point in time with any certainty for sure what the individual feels  - experiences - says or does - on any consistent basis - 

I can however, offer one single testimony from one of my business associates who has both made a purchase of a print of one of my images and ordered as a framed piece and has also taken it upon herself without my asking - to write about here experience and her feelings about the print of the image that she has so far purchased - 

"Art by Walter Paul Bebirian" by Jane Mark - President of Sokule Inc. and an avid art collector - 

3Q. What are the benefits and features of my work?

3A. The Bebirian Art Collection Is an extensive body of work which at this point in time consists of over 175,000 diverse images comprised of both photographs and digital images of a very diverse and wide variety of styles - colors and genres - with an emphasis on abstracts that are intentionally made in sets of series offering the viewer a choice of each main image in the series in different shades and hues  of the same image offering the viewer an immensely unique ability to narrow what he or she chooses to focus on and both view and purchase highly specific to his or her taste and environmental needs - 

In addition there is a growing part of this collection which intends to combine some of the various styles - colors and genres in unique and highly intricate  digital collages - as well as other combinations of styles in addition to the digital collages - 

Also, beyond what is already in the collection and placed in the galleries online, there is approximately 200,000 additional images of various styles - colors - and genres presently stored on my systems waiting to be uploaded as time permits - so that the returning viewer is never without something new and fresh to add to what he or she will be viewing and enjoying - 


4Q. What are my goals and an artist and how does that align with my customer's experience -

4A. My goals as an individual as well as an artist are to continue - as long as I am on this planet and working on this plane of being -  to continue to explore - question - create and anticipate various aspects of life as it presently exists as well as how it may also develop into the future - and I do spend as much time as possible on this exacting journey - 

This may - for various different individuals - provide them with an extremely wide variety of both images to view as well as various stimulating ideas and feelings and environmental experiences as they view the art in my collection - if they so choose to do so - 

5Q. How does my work change my clients lives - 

5A. I am wise enough to know and understand that I may never know exactly how - why or in what way my work may effect anyone's life whether they do attempt to express these elements to me or not - since very often any type of expression with words - greatly falls short of really being able to express the value - feelings and any other emotions that an individual feels by viewing art that they relate to - which is what I do hope happens with at least some of the viewers of some of my images - if not with all of the viewers of all of my images - 

Please keep in mind the thinking of the late Steve Jobs as well as his partner Steve Wozniak in the start - up venture which eventually was called Apple - the customer cannot know what they want until we show them  - these two adventurers started out creating tools and items that they wanted for their own use and made a success of showing and selling these same items to the world - creating one of the largest companies in that world because people who saw what Jobs and Wozniak wanted also wanted the same for themselves which was beyond anything else anyone else had presented to them before - it is with spirit that I look to share my images with the world - as they are all images which I myself are inspired by - gain energy and knowledge from and are all images which propel me into the future - 

I hope you have enjoyed the brief adventure I have gone through in answering these questions which were put to me in order to help me better understand myself and the energies that I am constantly placing towards creating the images in my collection and which I will continue to do as time goes on - 

I also invite you to join me on this continuous journey of fascination with creating these images and feel free to return at any time to take up this journey for as long as or as short as a period of time that suites your own personal needs and temperament and may your life be enriched by doing so - !

where are the buyers?

buyers exist everywhere- as do sellers - and many of my clients - after I work with them - then connect with me on Facebook and linkedIn - my clients come to me via word of mouth as well as from my "Doubling Project" but there have been people who have come to me after finding my business card that has been dropped in the street by someone else - and students have told me that their teachers have used my work as an example in their classrooms - I exist in a world that is very different-that has no boundaries - no restrictions and business - buyers - purchasers come to me from anywhere and everywhere -

today - the exterminator came to the studio - after his job was complete - he asked me to sign the sheet that he had come to my location - I did - and realized that he was using my promotional pen with the website address for my art collection - I laughed and he mentioned that yes he had gone online to see my work and wants to purchase some prints soon -

there is no way to tell who will buy or what they will buy - not in this world and with the number of opportunities that we have and that keep growing each and every day - during each and every moment that we are alive - never give up hope - always think that no matter who you come in contact with that they may be benefit by seeing something of your work - that they may wish to make a purchase or that they may know someone else who may be interested in seeing and perhaps purchasing some of your work -there is no harm in thinking this way and nothing to lose - while not thinking this way will rob you of the possibilities that exist that you do not take advantage of .

should the artist hold a mirror up to the world

well - this is certainly an interesting question -

first of all - is there anything that the artist should and shouldn't do -

but from another perspective -

I believe that that type of question needs to be answered by each individual artist by him or herself -

after they each ask themselves the question -

does holding up a mirror to the world help me accomplish anything in the way of what I would like to accomplish with my art if indeed there is anything that the particular artist asking the question of themselves actually wants to accomplish -

(and this of course will vary from artist to artist depending on their own individual perspective) -

and then in what way or manner of doing things will I be able to accomplish such a task - such a requirement or should or shouldn't need not be placed on any artist's psyche -

while living in this world may in some cases automatically induce the artist in some way to do just what the question poses -

to hold up a mirror to the world -

in which case -

with each individual artist and each individual work of art -

I would have to question --

just which part of the world and in which direction is that mirror - or perhaps group of mirrors pointing -

because -

remember

each individual subject that a mirror may be used to point something at has an infinite number of directions that these mirrors may be pointing towards -

so the question not only asks for an answer of course

but then in a sense leaves many other questions thereafter to be answered -

on learning social media

well what ever happened to delegation?

why is everything that is written -written in a way that implies that an individual needs to learn everything when it is quite obvious that the business world in general is not doing very well – and perhaps for the exact reason that people are trying to do much - much much more than their area of competency will allow them to do well at –

has everyone forgotten that there was no social media before the Internet and computers – and now there is so much waste of time money and thought power – take for example the continuous amount of viruses – on computers – e-mails – the necessity for reseting passwords and the major hacking of credit card data – identity theft and whatever other type of fraud that continues to distract individuals from focusing on working –

perhaps this is the way that many people like to live – with excitement and drama and all the rest of the dare I say malarky that we are living with in the name of progress?

and who exactly is benefitting from this progress – I do not see that either the client or the business benefits from all of the extra learning and comparing and whatever - to – either save a few pennies here or thereby price shopping for many things that don’t lend themselves to getting a better results by the price shopping or by distracting every person on the planet from simply working and doing their jobs instead of all of a sudden needing to write blogs – work on a website – make comments about everything supposedly pertinent to their field in discussions with a lot of people who are so opinionated that the discussion so many times eventually turns into battles of the egos and all for what – to proclaim that one person or the other is an expert and now each one has to prove that that is what they are when they actually are probably not that –

even the comments above show a questioning of this expert over that expert and then you are talking about the right social media certificate – over another one –

and where in the world does this concept of negatively impacting a client come from – if a person comes to me for what I can do and what they need – there you have a good business fit –

but if I can’t write blogs and post on this or that social media site and keep up with someone else – well then they should go to someone who can make themselves more attractive? more knowledgeable or more capable – even though they may not be ? how superficial this is all becoming – and then who knows how all of this knowledge that one is spending time learning is going to be altered in a few weeks or months or whatever not because the social media sites have changed their rules or need to earn money now that they have become publicly traded companies and have to show an income to the shareholders in order not to lose them or fall behind in their duty to grow shareholder value but because some new kid on the block has come up with a totally new tool that now he or she is claiming does what others have been doing even better that how they were doing it before – whether this is true or not is irrelevant and unless you spend your money working with this or that tool and then maybe perhaps find out if this new tool in fact does do better – well watch your back because sure enough the next new tool is coming soon or is already here –

and lets not forget that this article in this blog is endorsing – touting – encouraging education and well there is always the fact that no knowledge whatsoever supersedes or replaces or does anything for anyone more than experience – and failing – learning from those failings and then making your new found knowledge work for you – unless of course a person wishes to be a life time or life long or professional student -

arbitrary rules that others try to place on you for no real reason whatsoever -

since each and every person is different and each person can create their own art and is free to do just that -and to create their own world -to create their own business with art or with anything else that they wish to do business with - there is enough room for each and every mix of whatever each and every person wants to do -

I remember reading how Henry Clay Frick who was in the coal business and supplied coal to the steel mills of Andrew Carnegie was criticized by a banker who came to his establishment to evaluate his business for a loan or some such thing and criticized him because he spent too much time drawing - mmmm:

http://www.frick.org

this is what Frick left behind for society to enjoy and learn from - I wonder what that banker left behind if anything at all -

arbitrary rules - which some people may pose on themselves are not necessary to impose on others - nor should they be -

If you are thirsty and have a glass of water sitting right next to you - you still have to be aware of the glass of water and drink what is in it in order to quench your thirst - 

trying too hard to sell art -

I think that perhaps people may have difficulty both creating and selling art because they want to - too much or they try too hard rather than relaxing into either one of both of these two processes - there envoking the law of paradoxical intention - which means when you want something to happen too much and are working too hard at making something happen you instead push what it is that you want to happen or to have away - this is all part of the logo therapy written about by Viktor Frankel -

it would seem - from a certain perspective - that this phenomenon is actually occurring in the (or with the) efforts of artists in all levels and types of work - and as soon as a person relaxes into the aura or ambiance of what they are doing and allows things to flow both with creating their works as well as with their sales - marketing and every other business type of effort then they will have phenomenal success throughout -

imagine yourself trying with great effort to add a column of numbers in order to make sure you get it exactly right - with no errors - well this is pretty much how someone starting out adding numbers for the very first time at a job as a bookkeeper or accountant might put in the effort when they first start out at their job - but given a few days and the acceptance and becoming more comfortable with their environment - suddenly at one mysterious point along the way the accountant/bookeeper will find him or herself become relaxed into the process of what they are doing because they have become confident that they know what they are doing and thus no or at least less mistakes will be made from this point on - there is no reason for stress or effort to be put into their adding of these numbers that are constantly coming in front of them - in fact it becomes somewhat of a joy to add up the numbers and to see the numbers come out right when they do a check so that they are actually getting pleasure out of the results and the process and are doing their work as an art form - the same goes for a painter or a dancer - a musician or anyone conducting business - always in the beginning (unless somehow a person feels as comfortable in the beginning of a task as they might be once they are conducting that task for many years - (perhaps how a prodigy acts)) they put great effort into whatever it is that is the task at hand - and then eventually they become more confident or for some reason they drop all of the effort and let the work that they are doing - whatever it is - flow from their being -

I saw this myself when I watched videos of Jackson Pollock create his drip paintings - for there is a flow from his being - where he calls himself nature- that allows him to relax while he is creating his work and so everything is simply flowing - the same goes for Picasso or anyone else who has achieved success in their work -

no struggle necessary whatsoever and all will simply fall into place -