BY JIM KNIPPENBERG
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Don Malton
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Whoa, talk about the end of an era! After 24 years in the art gallery business, after a zillion shows and slightly more sales, Don Malton is hanging it up as of Wednesday.
His Malton Gallery in Hyde Park is being taken over by his friend and longtime client Sylvia Rombis, but the name will remain the same, as will the focus on cutting edge, quality art. Malton will even hang around the rest of the year as a consultant.
But mostly, he's going to "pursue other pastimes that have been too long neglected," including his Storybook Portraits. Storybook is a semi-new venture: It's a portrait of someone -- children mostly, but adults do it, too -- plunked into a scene from a favorite nursery rhyme. Malton is marketing the $1,500 water colors; framer Keith Tucker is painting them.
So anyway, before he gets away, we have a few questions about his 24 artsy years, OK?
"Sure. Anything."
The strangest show I ever had at the gallery . . .
Oh, it was one back in the early '80s. A Houston artist who did really bizarre images. We decided to have the opening in costume. I wore orange chaps, had orange hair and a banana in my pocket instead of a gun. It fit the artist's images, but people are still talking about it.
The one piece of art I sold but really didn't want to . . .
That's easy. We had three shows of an anonymous Amish girl -- we still don't know who she was, but we know she was a teen-ager and very shy. I loved the art and decided to buy something, but I thought, there's plenty of time. I'll wait. All three shows sold out immediately -- the only 100 percent sellouts we've ever had. To this day I still want one.
What would surprise people about my personal collection . . .
I guess I'd say that anyone who knows me wouldn't be surprised in the slightest. I like casual, fun stuff that brings a smile to your face. When I moved from the advertising business to the gallery, I set out to open a fun place. My own art is a reflection of that.
If art hadn't been my life for the last 24 years, I'd be . . .
Something in the creative arts. I always wanted to be an architect, maybe that. But mostly, you know, I've done what I wanted.
What the art world needs most right now . . .
Is more art appreciation in schools at an early age. Schools need to expose kids to art so they develop that sense of adventure and curiosity.
What it needs least . . .
Is any more snobbishness. Or maybe I should say attitude. I've been in galleries in other cities where they don't even look up from their desks when you walk in to shop and obviously need help.
The other pastimes I've neglected lately but won't anymore . . .
Tennis. I've already begun getting back to that. And sailing. I start that soon. We bought a place on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay, so we're going to be spending some time there. And I want to play with my sports cars. I have two ('59 Austin Healy and a '59 Jag), but never drive them because I'm always in a van delivering art. They're both restored and they need to be driven.
As an art dealer I always try . . .
To be honest with my client and the artist. Any business is a triangle -- the creator, retailer and the client -- where all three points need to be happy. For the client, I try to be a facilitator, to find what's wanted. That's looking at each sale as a long-term thing.
The reason I don't sell Elvis portraits on black velvet . . .
My sister-in-law bought them all.
I guess I would sell them if . . .
No, I wouldn't. I couldn't bring myself to do it. I've turned down things, middle of the road things, that I knew would sell but I chose not to because the quality wasn't there. Silly, isn't it?
Psst! appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Have an item to report? Call Jim Knippenberg at 768-8513; fax: 768-8330.
Psst! appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Have an item to report? Call Jim Knippenberg at 768-8513; fax: 768-8330.
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