Today we’d like to introduce you to Randall J. Slavin.
Hi Randall, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I started Winn Slavin Fine Art after being on the wholesale/artist agency side of the business for more than two decades. During that time, I represented artists, built their reputations, and sold their artwork to retail galleries. The company, Masterpiece Publishing Inc., was quite successful. It sold artwork to more than a hundred galleries over those two decades. But, as the saying goes, change is the only constant.
The Great Recession, social media, and inexpensive reproduction techniques so significantly altered the art business that I had to reinvent the business in response. In 2017, Winn Slavin Fine Art opened its first retail gallery in Beverly Hills. 2018 and 2019 brought locations in Shanghai, China and near Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. In early 2021, on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic, our current location on Rodeo Drive opened.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Reinventing the business was a challenge. Masterpiece was unique as a wholesale-only entity in a business where art publishers and agencies were also retailers, effectively competing with their own customers.
However, the art industry changed fundamentally and my company had to change as well.
Today, most of the artists we represent are offered exclusively by Winn Slavin Fine Art, which allows us to carefully curate their careers and protect their reputations and markets. Previously, as a wholesaler, we often had to deal with the negative impact on our artists caused by galleries that would sell at steep discounts just to pay the rent. Now we have complete control and can avoid such issues.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Winn Slavin Fine Art?
Winn Slavin Fine Art specializes in artwork by Contemporary Master Painters and Sculptors — living artists that have a unique place in the market and produce artwork of outstanding quality and integrity. Artists such as Sir Daniel Winn, Ira Reines, Jamie Pettis, Dinh Ngoc Thang and others. We select our artists with great care as we can only represent a small number of artists if we’re doing it right.
Our artists are also unique in that they don’t do what is trendy or hip. Rather they produce artwork of exceptional quality that speaks their message in their voice. Artwork that will still be relevant in 20, 30 or 100 years when the current fads have gone out of style. It’s the kind of artwork that can be passed down through generations with each successive generation finding meaning.
The odds are quite slim that you’ll walk into Winn Slavin Fine Art and say, “Oh, my daughter could do that” — unless, of course, your daughter is an exceptionally trained and talented artist!
We don’t believe in propagating the elitist pretense that is so common in the art world. Everyone knows what they like, what speaks to them, what has meaning to them. That’s the true function of art – to stir the emotions, bring joy, and bring enlightenment.
We also believe in creating experiences. Most of the artists we represent are living and actively working. They interact with our collectors at exhibitions and other special events. We’ve created a community of people from a variety of backgrounds that are united by a love and appreciation of fine art.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
Everyone is welcome to visit the gallery and appreciate the exceptional work that we exhibit. Whether you’re an art enthusiast, collector, connoisseur, or just aspire to be one of those, you’re welcome at Winn Slavin Fine Art!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.winnslavin.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/winnslavin/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WinnSlavin/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9C_qzlNCj4z8GtX39jIIPw
Image Credits
Ray Kachatorian
