What’s really happening behind the scenes in the high-stakes art world?
Steven Maier shares his hair-raising and often hilarious stories from his 40+ years as an art dealer to the stars and to the not-so-starry. From Janet Jackson to Anthony Quinn, from Dali to Picasso, he’s seen it all and shares his true-life encounters and rollicking adventures in a no-holds-barred expose.
“Like One Thousand and One Nights, Maier’s 100 stories of the art world are part audacious expose, part memoir, and part history of four crazy decades filled with Hollywood stars, scoundrels, artistic geniuses, and hustlers. For a thrilling, sometimes sad, and always entertaining inside look at the art world, read Gallery Confidential.” –Charles Levin, Amazon Bestselling Author of the NOT SO DEAD Trilogy
How does a creative young man go from being a decorative house painter to becoming a successful art dealer traveling the world and then finding a third career as the artist Sonny Pops, Hawaii’s Ambassador of Nu’u Pop?
As Maier says, Gallery Confidential is a dog-eared survival manual. A must-read for anyone that buys, sells, or looks at art or just wants to hop on an irreverent roller coaster ride of a new age story.
What does it mean to be an artist and sell your work? What do you do when you face adversity, like opening your dream art gallery a week before 9/11, and fail? How do you pick yourself back up? How do you carry $200,000 in cash on an airplane? The answer to these questions and more resonate in the lively anecdotes that make up the life of a man well-lived.
Pick up your copy of Gallery Confidential today. Pour yourself a drink, sit back, and explore the art world most of us have never seen.
Steven Maier was born after Mickey Mouse became America's cultural mascot, under the morning shadow of the Hollywood sign. The Spring of 1947.Inspired by a comment his University English professor made: "You could be the next Bret Harte..." writing has been an aspiration since childhood, (along with being the second baseman for the Giants; an Olympic diver and an overnight success). Life and reality led in other directions.A career spent mostly in the art business is the fodder for this book. From Selling "Freddy the Freeloader" clown reproductions by Red Skelton, with Red, for a few hundred dollars, to an original Matisse oil on canvas for millions of dollars, my half-century in the art business has been full of surprises and delicious stories.From being asked to be an advisor on a segment for the original Antiques Road Show in London to writing the definitive story: "Hawaii's First Real Painter: Jules Tavernier" for Honolulu Magazine. As well as "Strokes of Genius" for Island Home Magazine, Maier has shape-shift: Changing directions and roles to stay relevant in this feast and famine art business.The biggest role change was becoming Sonny Pops, Hawaii's Ambassador of Pop Art. The nom de brush encapsulates the idea of being the son of pop art and the father of Nu'u Hawaiian pop. An attempt to figure out how pop art would look re-contextualized. If Warhol was born in Waikiki Sonny thinks that pop art would look sunnier.
