LOCAL artisans are calling on Jamaicans to support their craft.

Over 75 talented artisans in a range of disciplines were on show at the Liguanea Art Festival in Liguanea Plaza on Old Hope Road, St Andrew, on Sunday, their neatly and creatively decorated booths replete with their artworks as they sought to get sales and recognition. But patrons treated the event more as an art gallery showing than one for artists to make money.

“Art is a part of our culture. We have to promote art and push art, and our local artists need to be recognised and get their stamp in the market,” said Raymond Hue, an acrylic on canvas and realistic painter at the event.

He only got one sale by the time the Jamaica Observer met up with him after 1 pm — after being there from the start of the event at 10 am.

Artists on location shared with the Business Observer that while they would not describe the art industry as a dying one, as Jamaicans do love art and can recognise when an art piece is done well, they note Jamaicans don’t appreciate art enough to take a further step and make purchases.

Hue notes that sales for artisans fluctuate, and that’s mainly because art is an impulse thing. Artists, however, have made themselves available at pop-up shows and other art festivals to allow people the opportunity to purchase a limited edition art piece, but patrons still just observe for the most part.

“This is a lot of people’s bread and butter. On the coast, if they don’t sell a piece of art they don’t eat because they don’t know anything else,” he said.

To survive in this industry Hue has to export his artwork. Fifteen per cent of his artwork are exported to the United States, but he admits setting up an exhibition overseas is not easier than doing so locally because it comes with a hefty bill.

“You have to provide finger food, drinks, an area for air conditioning. You have to pay for all those amenities, and there’s no guarantee you’re going to sell a piece. If you end up selling two or three pieces of art, it still doesn’t cover what you spent for the ambience that you created,” shared Hue.

A similar concern was echoed by another artist at the event who said Jamaicans don’t fully understand all that goes into acquiring the supplies for one art piece, which is why Jamaicans are unwilling to pay full price.

Greg Owen, a full-time abstract painter, explained to the Business Observer that he has to import materials because the cost to acquire them locally is exorbitant. But high duty fees are another slap in the face for artists, and they are already struggling to strike a balance between the final price of a piece and the cost to acquire raw materials.

“The prices here, you can probably get five tubes of paint [if you import it] for [the cost of] one tube of paint [bought] in Jamaica. I just find it crazy. Then you have to pay really high duties [when importing], and then when you turn around and make an art piece the customers are still bawling down the price so artists are not really making any money,” lamented Owens.

He continued, “I don’t think Jamaican people value art enough, the hard work that goes on behind the scenes to actually produce a painting. They are not done overnight, they are not rushed, so when you see an artist in a gallery or in an exhibition, I think people need to honour the prices.”

According to Owens, having patrons attend art shows with artists getting no sale is a struggle for full-time artists, and it’s one of the reasons he markets overseas as well. At least 75 per cent of Owens’ sales over the last two years have come through orders made from the United States. He admits that hurdles in becoming and remaining an artist locally can be discouraging.

“For someone who is just starting up as an artist and want to sell their piece, they are going to make a loss because, factor in art materials and canvas and get it to stretch and frame, you’re practically looking at least $12,000. As someone who is an artist you’re going to underprice yourself, which I did. I think I lost a lot of money because I undersold because I thought, ‘People are not going to pay this for my art,’ ” he bemoaned.

The challenge of lack of support is interpreted differently among photographers, who are feeling the pinch as the world charges towards digital. An industry that was once predominantly film science-based has shifted to digital media, changing the course and income of local photographers as well.

“The progress, I think, in this realm has not benefited the photographers,” Franz Marzouca, a photographer, shared with the Business Observer.

This new age of photography has also reshaped how customers view photography and has altered their preferences in the sense that they are now seeking to get more for less.

“The willingness of the clients to pay the premium price for what you’re actually giving them in quality and service, they don’t want it anymore because a lot of the work ends up on social media. It’s there for a week or two and it’s gone, and they want something else,” said Marzouca.

He now sees a 35 per cent reduction in what a client is willing to pay for the same photograph he would have done 20 years before.

He explained further that the photography landscape is now saturated, and “photographers coming into it now can hardly earn a living. Cameras are very cheap, lighting is cheap. Those allow everybody to come into the marketplace”.

With over 40 years under his belt in photography, Marzouca has felt the economic ripples since the introduction of digital photos. He explained that artificial intelligence (AI) has now created a whole new category for photography.

“Somebody who knows nothing about photography can jump on a computer and create a magnificent photograph. How does a photographer compete with that?”

While art in different forms gets a lot of support from Jamaicans, artists are calling on Jamaicans to also look towards local artisans as well.

“If we have a third of the people that are interested in Reggae Sumfest or Sunsplash, a little bit of those people saying, ‘Look, we are going to support the Jamaican artist and the arts and the crafts, the jewellery maker, the man who makes the coconut thing from the coconut shell, the man who paints on glass.’ It’s all sort of art — we are so creative, we just need the general public to support art,” Hue appealed. “We just need Jamaicans to appreciate art more. People sell clothes and shoes, people sell houses and cars — people sell everything. People have hundreds of stores with food, what about art?” he asked.