Paula Ely

I’m going to @fellowshiptrust’s upcoming Space. Will you join too? twitter.com/i/spaces/1gqGv…

Book opportunity for emerging photographers! site.picter.com/ipf-book-grant…

Coming up! LACP Awards October 19. Come celebrate the amazing awardees and hang with the photo community in support of the essential @lacenterofphoto . Lacphoto.org/events/award-c… for tickets. 🥂

Next Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. EST, we will have a discussion on "Collecting Photography: From Silver Gelatin to NFTs" with @PaulaAEly and @halecar2. 📅 08/07, 11:00 EST 🔗 twitter.com/i/spaces/1yoKM…

@fellowshiptrust @halecar2 🙌🏼

Yes, we're back to discussing the importance of collecting photography ☕️ Join us! with photo collector @PaulaAEly and our co-founder @halecar2. 📅 ⎯ Tomorrow July 12, at 13:00 EST 🔗 ⎯ twitter.com/i/spaces/1BRJj…

I interviewed the incredible awardees for the #lasfotosproject Self-Expression Award. Check them out! lenscratch.com/2023/10/173016/

Proud to be part of the host committee for the #fotoawards at #lasfotosproject. Join us October 21! eventbrite.com/e/the-foto-awa…

@zhoupengstudio @fellowshiptrust @Fellowship @halecar2 I think whatever medium expresses your idea the best is the one you should use, and combining photo and painting can be great!

@fellowshiptrust Thanks for @fellowship host an amazing talking. And thanks to @halecar2 @PaulaAEly. what do you think if I say I seem photography and painting as one media, and create artworks. What kind of visual image jump out of your mind in the first time. Thank you!

Join us online Friday for “A Picture a Minute” at 5pm PST. eventbrite.com/e/a-picture-a-…

@halecar2 So true. If you want to build a meaningful collection, buy meaningful art from thoughtful artists with something to say and a skilled command of their craft. You should take chances on those you believe in, and your modest support can help them grow.

Collectors. We need you. You close the circle of a sustainable art market. But please be responsible. Giving thousands, hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars to artists is your choice. You’ve built something that surely cost you time, effort and dedication, so you should be free to do whatever you want with your hard earned money. But. Here in the NFT space (the art world) your actions affect us all. Buying art from an artist is different from buying a car, or a house or trips. The effects of those acquisitions don’t trickle out the same way like buying art. The car maker, the architect (or housing market) and the service providers have proven their value so that’s why you pay what you pay. But the nuances of buying art are much deeper and the effects far more reaching than buying a new car. Let me try to explain. When you buy art, especially in public, the artist, the galleries, the platforms, other collectors and especially other artists are affected. They are affected if the way you decide to support the artist is out of balance. It can be out of balance in the relationship between: -artistic vision and price -artistic career and price (we can generally argue that emerging artists, mid career artists or established artists have proven their value differently based on their time dedicated to their art and their results) -aesthetic proficiency and price -experimental value and price -historical value and price -conceptual value and price -materiality and price -artistic commitment and price -willingness to experiment and price -market sentiment and price (And many more) Each of these extra levels make your acquisitions have a lot of thought and attention, because if any of those parameters are out of balance, it will create a shock wave across our art world (as I write this I kinda now better understand the need for curators, art consultants, museums, researchers etc). Let´s keep expanding: Pay too much for something that is aesthetically lazy and weak, and you hurt the artists that are committed to experimentation and perfection of a craft. Pay too much for something that cannot sustain its value against the history of art (a flawed history I know, but still important) and how It comments on our current moment, and you will hurt all the other artists that are committed to advance and question the history of art we’ve all learned from. Pay too much for art that is lacking in any sort of conceptual or aesthetic skills, and you hurt all the artists risking their artistic vision by exploring ideas that are not easy and pleasing to the eye. Pay too much to an emerging artist that hasn’t proven their art practice, and you hurt them and all the emerging artists that will never reach that level of economic support because it’s out of balance. Pay too much for art that is not moving in any direction artistically and is just a regurgitation of the same ideas over and over, and you send a signal to other artists to stop risking their practice and that they should conform with one idea and one style because that sells. Pay too much in the expectation that price will supersede cultural value, and you hurt all of use doing art as an expression of our culture. Pay too much or only to just a select group of artists, and you risk perverting them into complacency and risk the abandonment of other artists trying to catch a break to continue their artistic path. Pay too much for art that lacks layers of meaning and lacks the power to address aesthetic and conceptual ideas, and you risk building a market based on eye candy that will never be written about, criticized, shown in schools, collected in Museums because the art starts and ends too fast and lacks the opportunity for the public to engage with it in a meaningful way. Now, I’m sure you can argue that art is subjective. And that is true. But the ripple effects of un-balanced art collecting affects us all. This is a fact. As a working artist, I’ve seen these un-balanced acquisitions end art careers, for the benefited artists and for those who witnessed the un-defendable acquisitions. The purpose of this post is not to say that art collecting shouldn’t be visceral and passionate. No. It should be! You deserve it to be that way. But, as in buying a new car, you do your research and know you wouldn’t pay the same for a Nissan or a Lamborghini, because they both have different value metrics and so you pay accordingly. Ideally, you should consider where and how much money you are putting into the art you buy, because not all art is the same, not all artists have proven their value the same, and we hope you would try to pay for the art accordingly to the value it stands for. Yes this is more work for you. But it is in the long run, a way to protect your “bags” and to protect the art ecosystem you are buying into. Again. I understand you will do what you want to do and that is the way it is. But by balancing your acquisitions, you help us understand what is really valuable for you, and that, hopefully, is in synchronicity with what the community of artists at large also feels is valuable in art.

Make sure to set yourself a reminder for our upcoming spaces: 🎙 Join us this Wednesday for a space on "Collecting Photography, From Silver Gelatin to NFTs" with collector @PaulaAEly and our co-founder @halecar2 📅 May 10th, 11:00 EST 🔗 twitter.com/i/spaces/1BdGY…

Online Conversations: Artist Talk with Alia Malley & Douglas Marshall • ... youtu.be/J8MyaRS3aeg via @YouTube

@halecar2 National freaking Gallery of Art. 💐💕

My work has been acquired by the National Gallery of Art in DC. You work and work with dedication and commitment. This is the only way to make it in art (and life). I’m honored to have 12 artworks added to a museum collection dedicated to preserving art for the future. **pieces exhibited in Paris Photo that will now be part of the collection.

🎙 Join us today for a space on "Collecting Photography, From Silver Gelatin to NFTs" with collector @PaulaAEly and our co-founder @halecar2 📅 Mar 29th , 11:00 EST 🔗 twitter.com/i/spaces/1OyJA…

🎙 Join us today for a space on "Collecting Photography, From Silver Gelatin to NFTs" with collector @PaulaAEly and our co-founder @halecar2 📅 Mar 8th , 11:00 EST 🔗twitter.com/i/spaces/1eaKb…

Make sure you set a reminder for our upcoming spaces: 🎙Join us this Wednesday for a space on "Collecting Photography, From Silver Gelatin to NFT's" with collector @PaulaAEly and our co-founder @halecar2 📅 Feb 22th, 11:00 EST 🔗 twitter.com/i/spaces/1OwGW…

Photo Forward, a new photography fair, comes to Los Angeles Feb 18 and 19, 2023. all-about-photo.com/photo-articles…

Collector @PaulaAEly and our co-founder @halecar2 took a tour of photography's history and the second half they talked about the recent additions to Paula's collection. A talk with a lot of names to reach out to and learn about 💡 twitter.com/i/spaces/1LyxB…

@halecar2 💕

Family. Mexican-American thanksgiving 💙

🎙 Join us in our space; we will be talking about how our experience was on our first time at @ParisPhotoFair featuring collectors @NiftyMetaGirl, @PaulaAEly, and our co-founder @halecar2 💎✨ 📅 Nov 23rd, 21:00 EST 🔗 twitter.com/i/spaces/1djGX…