BUSINESS - The Vancouver Sun, Monday June 28, 1999

She runs a 'Gallery on the Go'

What Doris Anderson likes least is clients phoning to say I want four pieces of such-and-such a size, make sure there's no orange or red. Just what are we dealing with here? Bell peppers? Actually, she deals in art. Her Vancouver-based business, D'or Art Consultants -"Gallery on the Go" - is a supplier of art to corporate boardrooms and the corridors of power.

She represents 12 Canadian artists directly, including Toni Onley, Rachel Gourley, Kent Crawford, Ronald David Thompson, Richard Tetrault, Carol Lopez and Robert Genn, among others. She also has strong connections to the Northwest Indian and Inuit communities.

"I think there is a realization that art will bring humanity into the workplace," she says. "So much of our day is spent in the office, we need to have an environment that is pleasing and attractive. There are also companies that look for artwork to be stimulating, to add to their creativity." She points out that buying Canadian art has been a corporate tax deduction since the Pierre Trudeau era. It can be written off in one year, or 20 per-cent a year for five years. Whether you buy, lease, lease-to-own, rent-by-the-day, or forever-and-a-day, Anderson will find what you like, commission it, frame it and hang it on your office wall. Her slogan: "If you see a bare wall, give me a call." Her portfolio - her art gallery - which she carries around with her, is about the size of a helicopter landing pad. She also has 40 images from her inventory on disk for clients who would rather browse the small screen than the big picture.

"We believe art should be attractive and it should also be affordable," she says. "We have extensive collections of originals and limited editions priced between $200 and $500 framed." And if you want a particular piece, she will scour the local art world until she finds it.

"We go on a seek and find mission to find something specific for a client, or I'll direct them to a gallery which might have it," she says.

"I did a search recently for a Vancouver law firm which wanted a particular kind of vase sculpture for its boardroom table," she says. "I had to bring back photographs of pieces I thought would appeal and we went through the whole elimination process. It actually took a couple of weeks back and forth."

Best of all, she comes to where you work, not the other way around. "Ninety percent of my clients have never seen my showroom," she tells you. "Their lives are so busy. People don't have the time and yet to me, time is the greatest commodity; so much more priceless than money.

"What my clients find is that my greatest asset is to make it hassle-free. It's brought to their office, framed to their specifications and installed. I supply a complete art service package."

Although there are some clients who chose colors that won't clash with the carpets, she says most take a keen interest in the art and the artist. "I really enjoy the education process," she tells you. "I'm a story teller."

When Vancouver-based Teekay Shipping, the world's largest operator of small and mid-sized tankers, celebrated its 25th anniversary last year, it turned to Anderson to supply six paintings for its downtown office, featuring Teekay ships, in various port settings around the world, including Vancouver harbor. "We wanted a very special type of artist who did industrial work and could work from photos," Louise Ranger, Teekay manager of corporate services, explains.

"I had in my mind exactly the style of painting, colorful, light, yet would have that industrial edge."

Anderson commissioned Vancouver artist Richard Tetrault - and Teekay got its paintings. "It was either pure luck, or pure genius, but we were thrilled with the results," Ranger says. "He was affordable, local, all those things that were really great. He was an incredible find." Subsequently, the job expanded. One of Tetrault's images was adopted as an anniversary theme for brochures, invitations, place settings and so on. And Anderson convinced Teekay to make 700 prints of one of the paintings to give to its employees around the world.

Paddy Gibson, assistant vice-president administration for Commonwealth Insurance Co., of Vancouver, says she bought two sculptures and two paintings from Anderson for Commonwealth's Bentall Tower offices. "She is very good at teaching you about the artists and their work and the emotions that affect their style," Gibson recalls. "I basically knew what I wanted. I work for a very conservative company and I understand the tastes of the senior executives. "But she opened my eyes to a lot of alternatives and showed me that my choices weren't as restricted as I thought."

Born in the Philippines, daughter of Canadian diplomat Ray Anderson, Doris lived in Australia, Switzerland and Italy before settling in Vancouver. She has a bachelor of arts degree in International Relations from the University of British Columbia. "I had a passion for art. I studied art history and art appreciation when I was living in Italy and Switzerland and I took art courses at UBC. The question was: "How to create a business around art, or the performing arts, that would be viable."

After university, and just back from Sydney, Australia, where she had helped her sister launch a muffin retail franchise, she went through a government-sponsored youth enterprise program at the YMCA, where she got expert help with her concept and business plan. Her original plan was to lease art from her father's private collection and from that of her mentor, Victoria gallery owner and family friend, Alistair MacDuff. She says leasing art (at between 3 and 3.4 percent per month of the value over three years) makes it affordable, but most corporations opt to buy. "Instead of paying $200 for a framed poster print, spend $250 on original art which has inherent value, not only because it's created by an artist, but from an esthetic point of view," she says.

When she parades her gallery in front of a new client she tries to find out about corporate strategy and what the client wants to accomplish. "One executive chose eight pieces in 20 minutes. Art wasn't a priority, he just wanted something on the wall. "Most people don't know where to start, it's too much for them, so I try to do an overview of what I have got that can be of benefit to them long term, not just a short term fix."

Now aged 33, in the 10 years she has been in the business, Anderson has formed strategic alliances with furniture stores to display her inventory. Most is at Heritage Office Furnishings at 1280 Homer Street. She says the corporate art imperative has been a boon to the local art community.

One of those she represents, Ronald David Thompson, studies interior design colors and creates paintings using that palette exclusively. "He has a sense of creativity," she says. "He still creates what he wants to and doesn't compromise, but he is able to incorporate the colors and composition that are much desired in the marketplace. "He is very popular. People love his art because it's bright, colorful and happy and that's what they're looking for."

Source: BUSINESS - The Vancouver Sun, Monday June 28, 1999