Singular success for art dealer
Working from home has its pros and cons for small business operators. For fine art dealer Amelia Johnson, the combination of exhibition co-ordination - for shows she stages in public spaces - and by-appointment viewing of works of the artists she represents is a winning formula which allows her mother-and-son time too, a personal priority.
Amelia Johnson Contemporary (AJC), a one-person operation, was established at the beginning of 2004, and Ms Johnson already has some of the territory's - and one of Macau's - better-known artists on her books including photographer Tim Hall, ceramic artist Caroline Cheng and painter Konstantin Bessmertny.
Such connections were established long before this relatively new venture though for Ms Johnson was one of six partners in, and the manager of, Galerie Martini, Central's pioneering contemporary fine art space. The gallery was launched in 1997, but she closed it in January 2004 when her family planned to relocate to Singapore. Plans changed, however, and they stayed in Hong Kong.
At around this time Ms Johnson's son was born, hence the home-based consultancy idea. 'I had great working relationships with the artists Galerie Martini represented which took years to build,' says Ms Johnson. 'I would have found it difficult to hand over the management of the gallery to someone else; I simply didn't have anyone I could trust to do that when I thought I was leaving.'
Most of the artists asked Ms Johnson if she could continue to represent them, so her consultancy was an obvious step.
Her goal now is to hold three exhibitions in Hong Kong per year and one abroad. Ms Johnson has worked with a gallery in London to show Mr Bessmertny's work twice - once with Galerie Martini; the last time was as AJC in May 2004. 'The response was excellent; his works showed in St James and Chelsea and almost all 21 pieces were sold,' she says.
Ms Johnson shrugs off such complex tasks as shipping paintings and arranging publicity, pointing out that she is an old hand in this game.
'At Galerie Martini, I worked 18 months ahead of exhibition dates,' she explains.
'That meant constant involvement with around six exhibitions at one time. While arranging the printing of invitations for one exhibition, I might be arranging the freighting back of artworks from another one that had finished and making final agreements with an artist on the dispatch of paintings for a forthcoming show.
'I've been writing press releases and handling media relations for years. For that London show, the gallery there contacted the UK press and I let publications here who carry international diaries know.'
Precision exhibition organisation goes back a lot further than Ms Johnson's Martini days. While studying art history at the University of Glasgow, she wasselected for a coveted three-month internship at the paintings department of The Louvre Museum in Paris, where she was given a thorough grounding in the mechanics of exhibiting. As a result, she found part-time gallery work in Scotland while still a student which included curating her first exhibition at the Huntarian Art Gallery.
Then Ms Johnson landed a gallery assistant job at the Bernard Jacobson Gallery in Cork Street, one of London's best-known commercial gallery areas, where she worked until arriving in Hong Kong in 1997. 'I learned even more there than at The Louvre,' she says. 'As part of a team of 13, it was all hands-on experience, from exhibition budgeting to art insurance.'
Ms Johnson has held exhibitions at The Rotunda in Exchange Square and more recently The Kee Club. Budgets, including framing, venue, printing of invitation cards and brochures average around $80,000, she says. But the most expensive to date cost $120,000, and netted $400,000 in sales. Her commission is up to 50 per cent of an artwork's price tag.
Besides running her home office space, Ms Johnson's chief outlay is her website which was launched last spring at a cost of $30,000. 'There are also regular maintenance costs with this site,' she adds. Operating costs are kept reasonably low because Ms Johnson maintains her own database, sending direct promotional material herself by e-mail and post.
She has also become adept with the Freehand 10 layout programme, meaning that she can design promos herself, therefore eliminating a costly part of this process.
Ms Johnson says she still hopes to be at the helm of a designated gallery space again.
'I miss having a gallery,' she says. 'I'd like to open one in time for ArtWalk [an annual event in March] next year; but I want it to be a by-appointment one, where I'll have three exhibitions a year, store work by represented artists and use it as an office space.'
