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Many movie, television and
commercial productions rent—or even buy—pieces of art, be they original paintings, high-quality prints or sculptures, for use in decorating their sets. Art rental companies—like
Los Angeles' Film Art LA (www. fi lmartla.com) or the New York-based Art for Film (www. artforfi lmnyc.com)—assist set decorators in their hunts for high-quality art by assembling a curated selection of work culled from artist submissions. Most such companies allow artists to submit images for consideration through their Websites. If ac- cepted, the artwork is added to the company's database of avail- able art. (Some companies will even off er to create high-quality prints for production companies to purchase.) Any rental fees— which vary based upon the length of rental as well as the piece's size and purchase price—are then split between the company and the artist. Many companies streamline
the rental process by picking up and dropping off the art featured in their databases directly from the artist. T is helps the company cut down on the need for storage space and eliminates the need for the artist to travel to some distant warehouse to retrieve a piece, should a client wish to purchase it. T ough the fi lm and TV in-
dustries are in large part based around the dual production hubs of New York and Los Angeles, art- ists who live outside of those two cities aren't out of luck. In recent years, tax incentives provided by state governments have lured an increasingly large number of fi lm
productions outside of New York and California. As more produc- tions migrate to the other 48 states and abroad, the infrastructure needed to support them—includ- ing art rental companies—has grown, too. Boston's Lanoue Film Arts (www.lanouefi lmarts.com) is one example; the company has rented art to T e Town, Surrogates and a number of other movies fi lmed in and around Beantown. In addition, many museums
and galleries rent out pieces to the fi lm and TV industries. Vancouver Art Gallery's Art Rental and Sales program (www.artrentalandsales. com), which aims to promote local artists, holds an open call for sub- missions once a year. "We look for work that re-
fl ects Vancouver's—and British Columbia's—contemporary art community and, in doing so, rep-
resents emerging, mid-career and established local artists," says art rental and sales manager Donna Partridge. As a nonprofi t business, the Art Rental and Sales program returns the majority of the rental fees it receives back to the artists, with the remaining funds going to the Vancouver Art Gallery. Individual artists who would
rather cut out the middleman can get their art onto fi lm and TV sets themselves, provided they're will- ing to put in the time and energy and are in possession of a healthy business acumen. It's even possible to turn your art's guest appear- ance into a recurring role, as was the case for Boston-based artist
"CREATING A
MARKET FOR YOUR WORK REQUIRES TIME AND
PERSEVERANCE, TO MAKE AND NURTURE
CONNECTIONS." © Anne Silber, 2003.
Anne Silber with her serigraph, In Nice: Street Scene, which appeared in Martin Scorsese's Oscar-winning fi lm, The Departed (2006)
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