New City breaks Artshare story

ArtsFusion June 1, 1999 Alex Wright

Each day, especially here in the heart of California, the news is buzzing with the latest corporate merger or initial public offering (IPO.) It seems that everyone in California has bought a computer, established their very own technology company and is now looking to sell, looking for venture capital investors or looking to go public.

At the same time the National Endowment for the Arts remains under constant attack and funding for artists and art programs is becoming increasingly scarce. Artists are being forced to either commercialize their work for mass appeal and financial gain, take "day-jobs" that keep them out of the studio or seek other more "creative" options to support themselves.

But then along comes an individual who works within the gray area between the arts and the business world. Along comes an artist who asks the unthinkable;

What if I sold shares in me, in my artwork?

The Traded Art Securities Commission, a creation of artist Ben MacNeill's MacNeill Art Projects is doing just that. The project as a whole is called Artshare and it works like this:

MacNeill printed 800 shares which he sold for $5 beginning with the IPO on April 12, 1999. Within less than a month the shares were sold out. The shares were each hand signed and numbered. What, you may ask, makes this different than an artist selling signed limited edition copies of their work?

First, the shares represent a legally binding agreement to which MacNeill can be held, as the offering falls within Rule 504 of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933.

Secondly, the binding agreement just mentioned states that MacNeill will buy back the shares in 2004 for a guaranteed amount of $10. That represents an assured 100% return on the initial investment over 4 years, something that many IPO's would not dare offer.

Finally, MacNeill will soon open a "trading floor" on his site, allowing people to trade, buy and sell shares, which may have the result of raising the individual share value above $10.

It's all very legal and what's more, it's an attractive piece of artwork. Ben MacNeill is a print maker who will soon graduate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with his Masters of Fine Art degree. The shares are beautiful 3 color prints on acid free stock, each hand signed and numbered. In fact, MacNeill concedes that many people may choose to frame and display the shares rather than returning them to him in 2004 in exchange for their $10.

But what exactly does the investor own and does this offer mean that they own a share of ALL of Ben MacNeill's artwork created over the next four years? According to the "frequently asked questions" section of MacNeill's site, ownership is limited to the actual physical share and the promise of the return on investment in four years. Although all of his artwork is connected as he is the one creating it, this project is an isolated entity and there is no ownership in MacNeill's other works.

MacNeill says he came up with the idea out of his interest in commerce, the world of business and, oh yes, art. He insists it is not conceptual art because it is very direct and straightforward. He further insists that he is not making fun of the trading, investment and stock scene. It is, however, a commentary on micro bureaucracies and the endless legalese and paperwork that surround companies like Microsoft. In buying shares in the project one must complete an endless and complicated form. Because the form is being offered by an individual, MacNeill hopes people will pay attention to it more than they do the corporate paperwork we have all learned to take for granted from mega-corporations.

The project is not going unnoticed. BusinessWeek magazine featured Artshare on page 8 of a recent edition and even spoke with a member of the Securities Exchange Commission to verify that MacNeill's project is legal and does represent a security, which they said it does.

This project may be one of most simple and yet most significant pieces of artwork I've seen in quite some time. While this project is somewhat limited in its scope, it opens a world of opportunities. Instead of investing in corporations, what if we could invest in individuals, with the payoff not being reflective of corporate performance but rather personal growth and earning potential? The idea being that you could invest in a person early in their career and instead of a loan which pays a strict percentage in addition to original investment, owning a share would entitle you to a percentage of their salary. The final payout could be more than your original investment if the individual is successful or it might be minimal. The initial investment would get them on their feet with a good start and the return on your investment could prove substantial.

The same idea could be used for getting the homeless and unemployed back on their feet, as well as for assisting a number of members of the arts community including writers, poets, filmmakers and others for whom there is not always an immediate payoff.

In his attempt to probe the world of corporate culture and invite us to ask questions, Ben MacNeill may have actually just provided us with solutions.

 

-- Alex Wright Copyright 1998 & 1999 ArtsFusion Online