THE FIRST QUESTION EVERYTHING BEGINS WITH: HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?

The prices in the street art market are "floating" and depends on many factors: size, materials, picture complexity, wall height, and even the status of the author. Having asked five different artists, you will hear five different prices – starting from 500 rubles per square meter and reaching up to 3000. The final price is also influenced not least by the behavior of the customer itself. A clear and exact task excuses the communication process from a "guessing game" — when the artist has to guess what the client needs by indirect signs, hints, and uncertain examples. Thus, the negotiation process is often already part of the price. It is important to remember about it at the very beginning of a conversation.

Express the task clearly. Do not burden the artist with your personal taste preferences which are not relevant to the task. Those somewhere seen and often non-working ideas can only make it even more difficult. It is better to explain what exactly, what effect your company is ready to pay for.

Another option to save is to give the artist a free hand. The possibility of implementing an author's idea saves plenty of time and makes the artist more compliant in terms of prices. But two aspects are highly important here. First, the artist must be an accomplished author with a strong series of recognizable works in their portfolio. Then, the style and content of those works should coincide with your vision or concept, which will allow you to formulate the TOR in just one phrase: "Do it as you always do". This option can be suitable if you do not know what exactly you want, but you definitely like what this very artist does.

It is strictly not recommended to take a picture from the Internet and ask local graffiti artists to draw it on the wall: you will definitely save on execution, but lose greatly on legal costs for violation of copyright and property rights.

SIZE MATTERS

Usually, people do it in a simple way: multiply the width by the height and get the area. So painting an end wall of a 16-storey building can cost up to one million rubles. Such sacrifices are not always affordable and even justified.
Often there is no need to cover the entire wall with a picture. This can be compared to a tattoo or an arm decoration: one small but elegant thing, a well-thought-out story will be more efficient than a full-sized picture.

WHERE TO FIND AN ARTIST

There are not so many street art activity centers in Russia: these are Yekaterinburg, Perm, Novosibirsk, St. Petersburg and, of course, Moscow, but the latter is mostly represented by specialists moved here from other cities. You can try to search using the #streetart hashtag and choose the artist you like.
If the task is complex, it makes sense to call an agency, which will also assume the warranty obligations and coordination functions, and their commission usually does not exceed 15-20%.

WHAT TO PAINT

If there is no clear understanding of the picture you want and confidence in the professionalism of the artist, it is worth ordering a conceptual search (a series of rough sketches). It is a relatively cheap service (5-15 thousand rubles) allowing to evaluate the technique, understanding of the topic, and quality level. You can certainly try to ask it for free (for the promise of the future order), but let's say right away: professional artists do not take that bait.

WORKING FOR PAINTS

There is a common stereotype: they say an artist only needs paints. This happens, but only an inexperienced beginner artist will agree to such conditions in order to experiment and practice at someone else's expense. If the task is to just decorate a spot on the fence without trying to "convey the company's mission to the audience" and without any warranty obligations, this option can be suitable.

Street artists really often do great work without being paid. This is usually true for festivals with a budget of 500-700 thousand rubles and more. But this can be enough to organize an event for a dozen of sensible artists to come and cover half the town with drawings.

For free :)

WARRANTY. HOW LONG WILL THE PICTURE SERVE?

Don't paint if the wall is crumbling. The developer will hand the building over and leave, and the curses for the crumbling wall will pursue you for long. The artist is primarily responsible for the quality of the picture but not for the condition of the wall. No professional author will paint on a crumbling wall.

By the way, Karcher deals well with old plaster.

The ideal surface with the highest adhesion is bare concrete.

DECOLORATION

Caparol, a manufacturer of one of the most expensive facade paints, guarantees decoloration resistance for no more than 10 years. Spray paints are more resistant, but they are 4 times more expensive than acrylic ones. But do not try to save on materials. If it is the artist who is responsible for the warranty, it is up to them to decide which paints to use, and you only need the final result. By the way, the ratio of expenses for materials to the cost of work is about 1:6.

AGREEMENT NUANCES

Sometimes you are dealing with a facility not on yours, but on the adjacent territory, and negotiations with its owner "do not go well". Construction is almost always a capital-intensive project, and the owner of a smaller business than yours is well aware of it. Such an entrepreneur fairly sees a "money bag" in front of them and asks for an exorbitant price.

It makes sense to send the artist to the negotiations. Our experience shows: when the requester is lower in status and scale and besides is a creative person, there is a chance to agree on using a wall for a mural for free.

Thus, we have not yet received a single refusal to paint, even when we acted in the direct interests of a developer.

ART AS VALUE ADDED

One of the main goals pursued by the owner of the building is to increase the attractiveness of the facility or territory. It is an effective tool, and there are remarkable examples when the expenses of half a million to a million rubles turned into an increase in the housing prices in the whole district by 20-30%.

Vevey, Switzerland. Upon completion of the project, local real estate agents recorded an increase of more than 1.5 times in the housing prices not only in these very buildings but also in the entire district

However, failures also occur.

WHY DOESN'T THE PICTURE WORK?

A good, author's project attracts the media. When journalists and TV reporters like the picture they come to the site of the artists themselves. On the contrary, the project having nothing than marketing in it quadruples the price for covering the event. If one million rubles were spent on the facade, but it did not lead to the expected excitement, it is likely that they've put too much marketing in the dish.

• For example, when representatives of the customer company begin to "play creative." It is great if an employee really has some basic knowledge in the field of design, visual arts. But it is worse if the whole department is gathering and trying to cram the picture with something which doesn't fit it at all: "You're an artist, think out how". The worst nightmare, in our opinion, is the request to "reflect the company's mission and values in corporate colors."

• Copy-paste. Without bothering about the original sketch, they've just put a painting of someone genius on the facade without any reference to the place, architecture, or context. The yard functions by itself, the abstract picture – by itself. There has been no contact with the residents, no search for cultural codes of the place has been conducted. As a result, the mural costs one million rubles but looks like a sticker on Zhiguli, without adding any value to the site.

Involve end users in the dialogue, give future and current residents the opportunity to speak out – a branch of the Center for Applied Urban Studies (city activists involved in urban studies) is presented today in almost every city, they will not charge high. The developer will get real feedback and heated audience (such attention is always pleasant), the artist will get valuable references to work with.

• The sketch was prepared by a designer/artist who is not familiar with the specifics of mural painting. It would be more reliable if the author has at least once worked with a big wall.

INSTEAD OF CONCLUSION

The most pleasant, as in any business, is to find "your" artist/contractor who will understand you without words, and get really involved in the process. I swear such people exist, I've seen them.

Have good sales and bright projects!

About the author:

Dmitry Zelenin, 

Curator of Tochka Sborki, a creative urban planning festival;

Head of Tsvet Goroda Design Bureau (Tyumen)