Preemptive Graffiti

It's okay if you don't know it. I coined the term preemptive graffiti seven years ago, and may still be its only user. It refers to decorating (urban) walls, security gates, and building entrances with commissioned graffiti-like art to forestall defacement by free-lance graffiti. Amazingly, this works. Free-lancers apparently respect their brethren's artwork.

Then.  Seven years ago the photo at right was one of several I used to illustrate the practice of premptive graffiti on a page posted to this Journal. The image shows the artwork adorning the wall on Dyckman Street, between the Subway entrance (left -- notice the M), and an unseen liquor store (right) located on the corner with Broadway. The ad promotes Chivas Regal, and was paid for by the Inwood Liquor store, probably using co-op advertising funds usually spent on newspaper ads.

Now.  The liquor store subsequently "lost its lease," generally a New York euphemism for going out of business, and was supplanted by a trendy men's fashions store. Of course, the Chivas Regal artwork wasn't appropriate any longer, but preemptive graffiti still was. Last year, michelle took the photo at right of the same wall and posted it to her blog, The Underwear Drawer Photo Project. It's not clear who commissioned this bit of preemptive graffiti, but it's no longer commercial in theme, and "artier" than the earlier effort. It depicts Inwood neighborhood denizens in typical activities.

Commissioned Preemptors?  Either way -- Chivas Regal then or community theme now -- the graffiti-like artwork succeeds. It pleases the senses while defensively decorating a prime target surface. Preemptive graffiti works. Now if only we could figure out how to make the free-lancers into a corps of commissioned preemptors.

Appraising Machinery & Equipment

Machinery and equipment appraisers are some of the loneliest folks in town. They don't evaluate real estate, they don't do Antiques Roadshows, and they don't establish the value of entire businesses. What they do is appraisals of heavy equipment. Stuff like construction equipment, the machinery used to make automotive products, chemical processing equipment, waste water treatment facilities, wire and cable machines, printing presses, office equipment, mainframe computers, agricultural equipment -- you get the picture.

Change Makes the Phone Ring  The machinery and equipment appraiser's phone usually doesn't ring until change is in the wind. After all, when you buy a barnfull of new tractors, you know what they're worth. You just paid the bill. So you won't be looking for an appraisal until you're ready to auction your old tractors to raise cash for the new ones. Or you're dissolving your partnership -- or your marriage -- and need to establish fair market value for the split. Or maybe your company's gone bankrupt and the judge orders an appraisal to determine liquidation value for the creditors. Or the IRS takes you to court for back taxes and insists on a USPAP appraisal of your assets. Or you're trying to get business insurance and the insurer needs to know the insurance value or replacement cost of the equipment.

Inhouse Experts Upstage Independents.  While there are many reasons why a company might need a machinery and equipment appraisal, the need doesn't arise often, and when it does, it is sometimes satisfied by experts employed by banks, insurance companies, auction houses, and accounting firms. So the independent machinery and equipment appraiser can be a mighty lonely dude.

Professional Organizations Help Independents.  Of course, there are successful independent machinery and equipment appraisers. Two of them are Bernie Sencer of Sencer Appraisal Associates and Jim Tonkinson of Tonkinson Appraisals. Bernie and Jim, both past Presidents of the American Society of Appraisers' Long Island Chapter, say the key to success is active membership in professional organizations. Bernie is also active in the Appraisers Association of America; Jim in the Association of Machinery & Equipment Appraisers. When I asked each what was so great about professional organizations, Bernie said "Accreditation" and Jim said "Networking."

Accreditation.  Bernie explained that anybody -- literally anybody -- can hang out a shingle and claim to be a machinery and equipment appraiser. That's because there are no Federal or State licensing boards for this appraisal discipline, as there are for real estate appraisers. If you're looking for a machinery and equipment appraiser, your only assurance of competence, training, ethical compliance, and professional standards is to look for an appraiser accredited by a professional organization, such as the ASA. To earn the coveted Accredited Senior Appraiser designation, Bernie and Jim had to agree to the ASA's code of ethics, undergo training and pass tests in their specialty, work with a master appraiser, obtain USPAP credentials, and be an ASA member for five years. Oh yes, and get recertified every five years. Big difference from "hanging out a shingle!"

Networking.  Of course, Jim agrees with Bernie about accreditation, but he adds that the opportunities for business networking with professionals is important too. Although machinery and equipment appraisers appear to have nothing in common with personal property appraisers, the fact is that clients who order an appraisal of residential contents (personal property appraisal) to settle an estate are often the same professionals who order an appraisal of production machinery owned by the decedent. Clearly, this logic applies to insurance brokers, bankers, the IRS, probate judges, etc. as common clients. Jim says sharing contacts and client information with other professionals in an organization helps keep the phone ringing. He says, "It also helps to learn the basic of making and sharing contacts, so books like Andrea R. Nierenberg's Nonstop Networking: How to Improve Your Life, Luck, and Career can be very useful." Even more helpful are successful business networking groups, such as Biz@Net in Northern New Jersey.

Appraisal Websites.   Bernie and Jim remind me to remind you that having a website that works is also necessary if you plan to make a living as a machinery and equipment appraiser. They suggest I toot my own horn. Toot. Visit my Webshop to learn more about successful websites for appraisers. And visit our ValTalk Appraisal Forum to continue the discussion on appraising machinery and equipment.

Matisse at the Katonah Museum of Art

The Katonah Museum of Art hasn't had a good exhibit in a long time. And Once Removed: Paintings by Sophie Matisse doesn't break the dry spell. Fortunately, it's just dessert for the main course, Henri Matisse: A Celebration of French Poets and Poetry, which is terrific.

Painful Pretext.  Sophie Matisse is Henri's great-granddaughter and technically quite proficient. Her skill is apparent in her faultless recreations of famous paintings sans people and animals. Think of Rembrandt's Dutch Masters without the masters, Cezanne's Card Players with no players, or Jamie Wyeth's Portrait of a Pig without the porker -- none of which Sophie has done, yet. Hopefully, she'll find her soul one day and drop the painful pretext. Meanwhile, we suggest you skip dessert.

Two Extroadinary Books.  When you think of Matisse, you don't think of line drawings, at least I don't. In fact, Matisse illustrated a dozen books, two for Swiss publisher Albert Skira. The first, done in the early 1930s, was the poems of Stéphane Mallarmé, with the Museum showing 16 of the resulting 29 etchings. Called the Poesies, the line drawings illustrating Mallarmé's symbolist poetry include Plate 25, La Chevelure (The Hair) at right. The second, done in the 1940s, was the love poems of 16th-century French Renaissance poet Pierre de Ronsard -- which Matisse translated into modern French, selected and arranged himself -- with the museum exhibiting 47 of the original 126 lithographs. Both reflect Matisse' mature style and outlook.

Decisively Rounded.  Matisse' line drawings are powerfully evocative, concentrating on his main interests -- portraits, the female form, and flowers. With a spare, rounded style reminiscent of Picasso's sketches, and an eye for personality as clear and witty as Hirschfeld's, Matisse creates forms and shapes that harmonize with the poetic themes but generally don't illustrate them directly. The drawings -- some with fewer than a dozen lines -- express an irrepressible joie de vivre bursting with richly sculptured sensuality. Sheer wizardry. No wonder Etta and Clarabelle Cone were so generous in their support of this mischievous master.

Worth a Second Look.  We didn't leave enough time to take in the drawings, read the poetic passages, and absorb the relationships. So we'll be back at the Museum before the Matisse exhibit closes on September 18, 2005. Perhaps we'll see you there? And if you don't enjoy the exhibit as much as we did, the great scenery on the Post Rd around Katonah will make the trip worth taking anyway.