Today we’d like to introduce you to Karen and Michael Bivins.
Karen and Michael, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
The art business is a second career for both Karen and myself. Karen was an attorney, and I was in corporate finance and investment banking. About 30 years ago, we started collecting art, and other things such as rare documents and 19th century European porcelain. In 1989, we moved to San Francisco and started meeting a lot of significant artists around the Bay Area. At that time, friends of ours began asking about our personal collection that we had been assembling in the prior years, and asked us to help them procure art. We started out doing private curatorial work for individuals, and then started making acquisitions on behalf of corporations, and eventually it manifested itself into a full art company. We grew our business and roster of artists traveling all over the world, from Los Angeles to Madrid, and finally we landed in Karen’s hometown of Dallas, where we opened Bivins Gallery.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The art business is something we love, but there have been a lot of ups and downs. Selling art is a tough business, you have to find the right art, and at the same time find the right people who want to acquire it. Art is the single most subjective thing anyone makes a decision on. However, the way we see it, if you love what you’re doing it’s not really a job. Our philosophy is that art is important for the soul and is something Karen and I are very passionate about, so the financial aspects are secondary.
So, let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Bivins Gallery story. Tell us more about the business.
Bivins Gallery is a full-service art firm with three divisions. In our first division, the primary market, we represent the careers of a variety of carefully selected artists. What this means is that we represent these artists exclusively in geographic areas and in some cases, worldwide. In our secondary market division, we source art throughout the world for specific client requests. For example, if someone wants to buy or sell a Picasso or Monet, we would assist them on either side of this transaction. We could help them acquire one, or in the event that they own one, we could help them divest of it. Our third division is representing young, emerging artists. About 15% of our roster of artists are a part of this particular Avant-Garde division, and we are very active about keeping our finger on the pulse of the market for new artists that we feel fit within our personal aesthetic. What differentiates us is that we run our company like a business, because in the end, while it’s a beautiful thing, buying and selling art is a business. It requires the skills Karen and I acquired in our previous careers to keep it profitable. What sets us apart is our impressive and diversified roster of artists, which is what we really pride ourselves on. We represent artists from all parts of the world and in various genres.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Karen and I feel extremely lucky to have been too able to take advantage of our visions. Our dreams have manifested themselves into reality through many years of hard work. In this respect, we feel very lucky. Everybody needs some good luck along the way.
Contact Info:
- Address: 300 Crescent Court
Suite 100, Dallas, TX 75201 - Website: http://www.bivinsgallery.com/
- Phone: 214-272-2795
- Email: art@bivinsgallery.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bivinsgallery/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bivinsgallery/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/bivins-gallery-dallas
Image Credit:
Bivins Gallery
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