GreyDavid

We introduced William Paquet @PaqWilly in the gallery’s first week. His sculpture "UNTIL DEATH" is a piece that warrants a second, and closer, look. Bronze sculpture operates on a timeline that is unique to itself, and the tempo of creation is a magnetic force influencing the artist's ultimate vision. The sculptor works in clay for weeks, sometimes months, modeling the form at varying scales and correcting proportions from every angle. When the clay is finished and a full scale model has been completed, a mold is taken (sometimes by the artist, sometimes by the foundry). A wax positive is pulled from that mold — hollow, thin-walled, holding the exact shape of everything the sculptor built by hand. The wax is refined, invested in a ceramic shell, and fired in a kiln until the wax melts out. "Lost Wax Process" is the particular term for this method. Finally, molten bronze, running above 2,000°F, is poured into the void the wax left behind. The pour lasts seconds, but the cooling takes hours to ensure the bronze does not crack or deform. The shell is broken away to reveal the raw casting, which then requires weeks of chasing (filing, grinding, welding seams) before the patina is applied. Start to finish, a common timeline is three to six months for a single piece. Each stage is viscerally physical. Each stage is irreversible. Paquet is self-trained in this tradition, experimenting and learning with the natural intuition that comes from producing piece after piece after piece. "UNTIL DEATH" is a product of that commitment — decades of learning culminating in months of studio and foundry work. The process cannot be separated from the finished sculpture; every surface is a conscious decision. Taking the time to look and appreciate every detail honors the artist, and feeds your soul.

People are not intimidated by art. They are intimidated by the art world. The white walls, the unlabeled prices, the staff trained to assess your net worth from your shoes before deciding whether to greet you — all of it is a barrier to entry. But every serious collector had to buy a first piece, and often they did it for less than the price of a ticket to a live concert. The system that discourages that first purchase is the same system that wonders why emerging artists cannot make a living. MÆCENAT seeks to change that by allowing artists to price their work without adding the gallery's 50% commission. Original art, straight from the artist, no commission. That's our promise, and your opportunity to buy that first piece of original art.

Three things make a patron: taste, conviction, and means. Taste must be cultivated over a lifetime. Conviction speaks to a wider understanding of the individual's duty to the civilizational project. And means are proportional to the art and artist being patronized. You do not need to fund a cathedral. You can fund a drawing. The full argument is in the first issue of The MÆCENAT Folio.

This Sunday, MÆCENAT is proud to announce a new publication: The MÆCENAT Folio. Twice a month on Sunday, we will release a new Folio directly to your inbox. Each issue is divided into four roles: -The Connoisseur points you toward what is worth seeing. -The Provocateur takes a position on what is happening now. -The Long Thinker reaches into history to make sense of the present. -The Artist brings you into the studio of one maker whose work you can see — and acquire — at MÆCENAT. This first issue will focus on topics near and dear to MÆCENAT: the barriers to accessing original art, and how nearly everyone can take concrete steps to become a patron in their own right, at a price that is feasible. If you believe that original art should be accessible, that artists deserve better than the standard gallery deal, and that the conversation about art should be bent toward Beauty rather than transgression, this folio is for you. Read our inaugural issue at the link below, and sign up to receive each new Folio directly to your inbox!