Case study: Mermaid and Monster

 Richard Higlett and Gordon Dalton are directors of Mermaid and Monster, a contemporary art agency based in Cardiff, Wales.

Career path

Why did you decide to start Mermaid and Monster?

It sounds rather cold, but it was a business decision. At the time art fairs and their smaller satellites were popping up everywhere, with the opportunity for smaller organisations to sell work.

Also, while regional cities across the UK had one, if not two or three organisations showing artists at these events, Wales as a country didn't have one contemporary art agency going to international events. We decided to see that as a positive and dove feet first to fill that gap.

What were both of your career paths?

Coincidentally, we were both ex-engineers who met at art school, and moved around as artists do, then both worked at Cardiff Council as arts officers. We had various low paid jobs like other artists, alongside curating project management posts.

All of these things, as well as our ongoing practice have been very useful in terms of experience and keeping up to date.

Job profile

What does Mermaid and Monster do?

Put simply, we are an agency who attend art fairs and curate shows. If only it was that simple. Being web-based means we can be very flexible and adapt quickly. We can see something via a studio visit or an exhibition on the Saturday and it can be on the website by the Sunday if we want to. We receive a lot of submissions from artists via the website who all receive some advice and, if we want to know more, a studio visit.

Given that we are both practising artists, this flexibility allows us to manage our careers and the ones of others.

How do you promote your artists?

Image courtesy the artist and Mermaid and Monster The website is the front for Mermaid and Monster, but mainly through attending art fairs and curating shows. We showed the full Mermaid and Monster team at our first art fair at Year 07 (in London 2007).

For our first curated show, Loners' Island at g39, we showed just Lloyd Durling and Miranda Whall alongside four other artists we'd just come across that year. For the CAS ( Contemporary Art Society in London) show Rotate we mixed some of our team alongside specific artists such as David Cushway, Gaia Persico and Neal Rock, who we'd wanted to work with for a while. It just depends on the context and who we think will work well best in terms of a good looking show or what may sell.

What skills do you need to run an art agency?

A complete belief in what you're doing and the artists you support. An MA in Business from Harvard would be helpful but that isn't going to happen to us any time soon. Learning from your mistakes is the main thing really. The learning curve on attending our first art fair was huge.

I guess you could say we are quite light handed in our management. The website is normally updated weekly. We have a cyclical way of working, where it can be quiet for 3 months and then all hands on deck for the next three depending on activity.

Is collaboration an important part of what you do?

Image courtesy the artist and Mermaid and Monster As we don't have a gallery, it's always interesting to work in someone else's space, be that a gallery or any other given space. It was important after debuting in London to have a show in Wales as soon as possible. We'd worked closely with g39 in Cardiff in setting up Mermaid and Monster and they invited us to be part of their curator's season, giving us their gallery to curate. It's nice exploring a new space, but just the general knowledge of g39 and of how their space works best was invaluable.

Also, we worked very closely with The Dot Foundry in producing Helen Sear's Limited Edition print. That was a very close working relationship between what they could do as fine art printers, what Helen wanted as a piece of work, and what Mermaid and Monster wanted as a promotional tool that was for sale and available to members of the Contemporary Arts Society.

What are some of the highlights of the things that you have done with Mermaid and Monster?

It can be the simple things such as opening up an envelope from an artist you'd not come across. Or unwrapping work at a show. The first art fair was special, and doing Rotate at the Contemporary Art Society was professionally satisfying.

Professional development

Who did you learn from, is there any training required to get into this field?

We learn from each other, friends, other organisations. Although it can be a bit hairy, I don't think I'd like to lose that adrenalin surge from sometimes, only sometimes not quite knowing what you are doing and learning from mistakes.

How important is it to have a support network?

It helps massively. Although it's very competitive, the advice that has been offered to us is invaluable. That again is important in Wales or overseas.

The industry

Has the visual arts industry changed over the past few years and how has this affected the way you run Mermaid and Monster?

We probably caught the coattails of the boom and it's a lot harder now. As an agency we can be quite flexible as we don't have a gallery.

How important is it to promote your artists out with Wales and how do you do this?

We are based in Wales, some of our artists are from Wales but it would be silly to be confined by that. The art world doesn't have borders. We make the most of the opportunities here as we do in LA, London or Timbuktu.

Advice to others

What advice would you give to artists starting out?

I don't think there is any hard and fast rules except work hard. Be focused and be professional. I guess many artists overlook the business and marketing side of a professional practice.

And to those wanting to get into what you do?

Have a set strategy. I think it's almost more interesting for someone to say - OK, this will last one year -  what can we achieve? Obviously, some investment as well, financial, physical and emotional.