Dear Fellow Art Collectors, Artists and people who love art as I do,

Hope you are well.

I am a private art collector for decades and new to selling art. When my husband suggested I get into the art business, I hesitated.

First, I am semi retired and writing a book about my journey being previously married to a famous musician in the seventies and didn’t think I wanted to start a new business.

Second, I love my collection and really don’t want to sell any of it, especially don’t want the boring job of packaging and shipping packages and the headaches that go with it.

On my husbands insistence, I did some research and checked out the top galleries I used to go to and I noticed most of them had closed. I know from personal experience that operating a retail store is not easy.

Retail space is expensive and after investing all that money you run the risk that the landlord doesn’t care about you and your business and may sell the property to a developer who wants to tear it down.

After COVID, only a few adapted to an online gallery. The rest are gone. Poof!

Then the AI Revolution started and I immediately protested. After all, I have always collected Oils, Acrylics, Pencil sketches, chalk, water colors on canvas or paper. Being somewhat stubborn and not the type to give up easily, I researched and studied the AI art. I studied the differences and could see a distinct difference between high quality AI art, and bad. I researched how artists learn their craft. I researched how AI learns the craft.

I discovered that the learning process is similar. In fact, many of the very best AI art I experienced was created by experienced artists. Experienced artists know how to communicate in vivid terms how to get a rough draft and curate and develop the design just like using different colors, different size brushes, light, perspective and angles until its just right. It was then I realized the potential of AI to be a game changer.

I learned this relatively new, unexplored art medium, should not be seen as a threat to artists. Rather, it should inspire an evolving mindset about embracing modern technology in all aspects of life, especially design. After all, whether we like it or not, advancements in technology are nothing new in the modern world and by adopting a mindset of adaptation, we also can better survive and thrive in a challenging, constantly changing, dangerous, yet exciting world.

To the purists. I used to think like you, I used to be just like you. I ask you to go into this with the open mindset. This is new to many of us. However we have embraced technology before. Just as when the camera was invented and photos were invented, it took a while to catch on. Now, just imagine being that person who looked into that lens or the photographer who took that photo 100 years ago?

Today, we each have a high quality camera built into our phone that we take with us everywhere we go. Imagine this, today, we have cameras exploring the cosmos and sending back stunning, history book changing images. Think about that. So it’s okay. Because of modern technology, my husbands life has been saved more than once.

I am grateful to experience being able to safely fly just about anywhere in the world I want to go in a matter of hours! I am grateful to my wonderful parents for giving me life, especially at the time they did to experience modern music like the Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, Deep Purple, Queen and Led Zeppelin.

I am grateful to be able to enjoy the modern cinematic experiences with movies such as “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “You Can’t Take It With You” or “Midnight in Paris” (a hilarious movie about a writer who goes back in time to meet and hang out with the legendary writers and artists such as Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali who we love today) which can teach valuable life lessons as well as entertain.

I learned that I could create great works of art and offer high quality works printed using high quality inks on high quality canvas, stretched onto a high quality wooden frame, then my customer may choose a frame of their choice, place order and shipped within days directly to my customer. This erases my main concerns about starting an art business. I can eventually create images of my original art (and prints of original art from other artists) and offer them as prints as well as curate high quality AI art.

By the way, I love animals, all animals and I especially love cats and have had many lovely four-legged, furry family members so you will notice their influence in the art. When glancing at the ancient art carvings in stone left behind around the world and especially ancient Egypt and Turkey, where cats are treasured and highly cared for, it’s obvious that cats are magical, god-like beings here to enrich our lives. I agree.

I consider what joy a work will bring to a room and my home as well as your room, home and life. Yes, I have to cover the expenses of running a business and make enough profit to pay the overhead and hopefully grow my business. But that’s not the answer.

After I realized I have unique perspective and experience and that I could share that through art, I decided to go all in. My husband and I are both artists. WE both LOVE art! WE both love creators of art and people who appreciate the value art brings to our life and our home. As a collector, I have purchased art at the local thrift store for $20 and at Galleries and directly from artists investing tens of thousands and each work provides it’s own experience and personal value.

I would love for you to give me the pleasure of providing a consistent great experience from start to finish by trusting me to help you add to your collection or starting your art collection at Arte Di Caponi.

Starting with exceptional designs, quality craftsmanship, to receiving your work delivered with hanging hardware pre-installed, and ready to hang!

I know you’ll love your art we offer as much as we do!

The pleasure is mine.

Peace

Marlene Di Capone

Finally, I’m immensely inspired by My Husband, Best Friend and Travel Companion for 35 years, Michael, whose vision, encouragement and support made this possible.