Real Creative Magazine /Spring 2021

ANDREW CONINGSBY

Written by Lon Levin

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in south Croydon (which is in south London). From the age of 8-18 I went to boarding schools in Kent.

When did you first think about what you wanted to do as an adult?

In my mid-teens I wanted to be a news and current affairs journalist. In my late teens I wanted to try to become a pro tennis player!

Were you encouraged or discouraged by family, friends, teachers, mentors?

My parents were practicing Christians and as a family we attended Church every Sunday. At boarding school there was a short service every morning. Both schools were in rural Kent countryside and I enjoyed this setting and the culture and way-of-life prevalent in the area at that time. The teaching staff at both schools were very important influences. At age 18 I went to Salford University just outside Manchester. This is a very different and highly urban part of the country relative to rural Kent. Politically very different from the south. There was much poverty around and lots of disadvantaged people. I lived for 2 years in what I was told was the largest high-rise estate in Europe. It was an eye-opener and different in very many ways to my privileged upbringing in the south of England.

I was encouraged to become a journalist but nobody in my family had any involvement in journalism and so they had no network in the field to introduce me to. I arrived home one day and was informed that my father had booked me in to attend university to study social sciences! I dutifully attended!

CONINGSBY GALLERY

Courtesy of Andrew Coningsby

What kind of kid were you?

I think I was extrovert, gregarious, enthusiastic and hard-working academically (although sadly only with regard to subjects I enjoyed), energetic and a gifted athlete. I read widely and enjoyed visual art. I particularly enjoyed creative writing, including poetry.

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Andrew Coningsby

Tell us how your background played a part in your choice to be involved in the arts?

I realized in my teens that I wasn’t drawn to follow many of my family’s paths into law or medicine and that I was drawn more to the field of current affairs and communication. As a teenager I took extensive cuttings from magazines, always looking for striking and singular imagery of any kind. I guess like many teenagers I then posted these cuttings to my walls to create a kind of gallery.

Was there a pivotal moment that inspired you or was it a slow realization.

A slow realization. In my early twenties (1981) I met Tamsin who is now my wife and with whom I have been since 1981 – her family has a long history of visual artists in the family and I think my exposure to ‘active artist’ family members and visits to a wide variety of exhibitions led me to believe that it was a field I would like to work in.

You started out in advertising as a media planner. Has that background had an effect on what you chose to do after that?

Yes. Very much so. As a media planner at Ogilvy from 1982-1985 I was trained to develop an in-depth knowledge of the media marketplace. As a media planner I was also part of account teams that established parameters for the types and nature of creative work for deployment in the media marketplace. I was primarily accountable for media selection and purchase of media space and time. I often felt that the creative work that was deployed was lackluster and that no amount of media planning and great media buying could make up for a weak creative execution. This led me to feel that I would rather work on the creative side. I was accountable to the nth degree for media expenditure but sometimes felt that the exposure level secured was not as

effective as it could have been had the creative messaging been more stimulating. If so…how? Had I not been a media planner I would not have acquired a high degree of knowledge of the media market-place. This knowledge was very valuable when I came to market artist’s work on their behalfs – It meant I had insight as to the kinds of artists particular newspapers, magazines and brands might find particularly appropriate to commission.

How and when did you come to the decision to start Debut Art?

I decided to set up Debut Art in 1985 (very shortly after I left Ogilvy) The original concept for Debut Art was that it would represent artists to commissioners of illustration but also promote the fine art careers of the same artists. How did that evolve? From around the middle of 1986 it became apparent that the representation of artists to commissioners of illustration was developing very strongly and for the next 8 or so years (until I set up The Coningsby Gallery) this was the sole focus of Debut Art.

“In my late teens I wanted to try to become a pro tennis player!”

How has the evolution of technology affected your business? Has the effect been positive or negative?

Technology has affected the business a great deal. Both for the better and negatively in my view. The advent of the worldwide web and broadband has opened up the whole world for marketing of artists and the ability to send work-in-progress and finished high resolution files has made the whole business much easier and faster paced. However the same technologies have I think led to a convergence in the kind of work that is commissioned and used for commercial purposes. The greatly increased speed of the production process for artist’s who work digitally has led to more control and exploitation for commissioners in terms of how commissions progress creatively and in business terms. Technology has also been exploited I think by commissioning sector clients so they have more control over negotiation and billing processes / terms of business.

How do you determine which artist you’ll represent?

That is a good question! It’s a subjective thing! I think the most important requirements are that an illustrator’s work contains good ideas, a finely executed style in technical terms and a style which works harmoniously with good ideas in such a way that 2+2 = 5!

Is that governed at all by where the artist lives?

No, so long as the artist has broadband

Is that your choice or are there other voices that are influential?

Ultimately yes, but there are others on the team at Debut Art whose voices I respect in terms of which illustrators to represent.

How has the business of Illustration changed from when you first started out?

Its faster and global. Less personal, real face-to-face meetings of client commissioning teams and illustrator and representative are now rare. Portfolios are now on display and downloadable from web sites – less schlepping!

What advice do you give to young artists who want to pursue a career in illustration?

You’ll need good fortune and prolific work to create great art and for that art to also be deemed appropriate for a great many different kinds of illustration project. There are lots of talented artists out there but only a low % are fortunate to have styles and problem solving abilities for their work to be appropriate for many different types of

How has your family been affected by your career?

My family has benefitted from the stability that my founding and running a successful agency has afforded them and I think they all support the work I do to help contemporary artists and bring their work to a global clientele. I think they also have no worries about the business in terms of its climate impact and they support the diversity which is I think intrinsic in the illustration business.

Can you explain how the gallery operates?

I founded the gallery in 1994. Debut Art needed an office in central London at that time (it used to have 60+ real portfolios out with clients per week at that time). It was a natural decision when acquiring an office to go for something bigger (a gallery). This meant that we could offer artists a space in which to develop and show their work, open up a fine art market for them and offset some of the cost of the central London office. Today we usually stage 4-5 exhibitions each year for artists represented by Debut Art as well as staging exhibitions for a wide range of other artists working in the field of communication art. We also exhibit fine art work for other galleries and for a range of fine artists for solo shows.

Is it an independent business or is it tied in some way to Debut??

The Coningsby Gallery is a trading division of Debut Art Ltd but the gallery offers a more neutral space for illustrators in particular to exhibit.

“You’ll need good fortune and prolific work to create great art and for that art to also be deemed appropriate for a great many different kinds of illustration project.”