Jason Borbay on Building an Incredible Art Market Outside the Traditional Path

Jason Borbay’s Unique Journey as a Self-Represented Artist

In the world of fine arts, where galleries and agents traditionally play pivotal roles, independent artist Jason Borbay has forged his own path, challenging the conventional norms. Based in Victor, Idaho, Jason has developed a unique business model outside the traditional art infrastructure, building his career as a self-represented artist and revolutionizing how artists connect with collectors.

From Long Island to Victor, Idaho

Born in Long Island, New York, Jason Borbay’s journey into the arts was anything but linear. After accepting a track scholarship to Boston University, where he captained the cross country and track teams, Jason earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts. However, his early career path saw him exploring various industries—from reality TV and stand-up comedy to working in corporate jobs like recruitment and business development.

It was during a trip to Maui in 2009, while painting on the beach with his wife Erin, that Jason realized his true passion lay in art. Following his own advice to pursue what he loved, Jason became a full-time artist. Moving to Victor, Idaho, in 2016, Borbay has since built a thriving art business, cementing his reputation as a creative visionary and entrepreneurial trailblazer.

Building an Art Market Outside the Traditional Path

Most artists follow the traditional route—getting representation by galleries, which often take 50% of sales in exchange for showcasing and selling the artist’s work. However, Jason Borbay took a different approach by creating his own independent art market. As a self-represented artist, Jason controls his pricing, marketing, and relationships with his collectors directly, cutting out the middleman and keeping all proceeds from his art.

“One of the biggest challenges for an artist working with galleries is that you don’t have control over your own destiny,” says Borbay. “You’re not connected to your collectors, and you give up half of your earnings. I wanted to build a business that’s about direct connections with collectors and maintaining control of my brand.”

Jason’s art market strategies emphasize business fundamentals: branding, consistency, and building relationships. Each year, he raises his prices by 5-15% across all original and commissioned works, a practice based on his performance. His Guggenheim series, which started at $2,400, now sells for as much as $24,000.

Payment Plans for Art: Making Fine Art Accessible

As his reputation grew and prices increased, Jason Borbay realized the importance of offering payment plans for art. “The art market can be unpredictable—one day, you sell two paintings and make $70,000, and then you might go months without a sale,” explains Borbay. Offering payment plans allows his collectors to lock in a price and pay over time, often as long as 30 months. For Borbay, this model ensures more reliable and predictable income, while collectors appreciate the flexibility.

This strategy, combined with Borbay’s approach to pricing and annual increases, has helped him build a loyal base of collectors who appreciate both his art and his business acumen.

Art Appraisal Letters: Strengthening Relationships with Collectors

Jason Borbay’s focus on art appraisal letters has also proven to be a vital part of his business. As prices rise, Borbay regularly sends updated appraisal letters to his collectors, ensuring that their records are up to date. This service helps collectors maintain the value of their investments and provides peace of mind when it comes to insuring their artwork.

“Your collectors are the most important people in your business,” Jason emphasizes. “Maintaining strong relationships with them is key. I make sure they know that their investments are secure and that I’m committed to my career for life.”

Mentorship and Inspiring the Next Generation of Artists

Jason Borbay is not only focused on his own career but also on helping others through art mentorship. One of his most influential mentors, Robert Orange, introduced him to a world of opportunities, including speaking to the Tiger 21 group in Montreal and Toronto—an experience Jason describes as life-changing. Now, he mentors young artists, advising them to focus on the business side of art.

“If I could tell aspiring artists one thing, it’s to get a business degree, not an art degree,” says Borbay. “You’ll always create on the side, but understanding the business of art is what will keep you thriving.”

Family Life and Artistic Inspiration

As a father of three, Jason Borbay’s role as a parent has profoundly influenced his work. “There’s something magical about seeing the world through your children’s eyes,” says Borbay. His children’s creativity and boundless imagination continually inspire him. Maintaining a balance between family and career, Jason adheres to a structured 9-to-5 schedule, which allows him to focus on both his art and fatherhood.

Connecting with Jason Borbay

“I learned the hard way that while social media is important, having a strong website is essential,” says Borbay. “That’s why Borbay.com is where you’ll find all the information about my work, commissions, and how to get in touch with me.”

Conclusion

Jason Borbay is a remarkable example of what can be achieved when creativity meets business acumen. As a self-represented artist, he has built a successful art market, forged strong relationships with collectors, and continued to evolve as an artist and mentor. His story is an inspiration to those looking to chart their own path, whether in the world of fine arts or any other industry.

For those interested in Jason Borbay’s work, visiting Borbay Studios and Gallery in Victor, Idaho, is a great way to experience his art in person. If you’d like more information about Jason, consider signing up for his newsletter or visit his website, Borbay.com. 

 

 

Video Transcript:

Alan Olsen

Welcome to American Dreams. I’m here today with Jason Borbay. Jason, welcome to today’s show.

 

Jason Borbay

Oh, thank you very much for having me. Alan. It’s an honor.

 

Alan Olsen

So Jason, I met you in Teton springs this summer. Teton springs, Idaho and and we had great conversation there. And I’m glad that we can connect here today to have you come on the show tell us about your life. You have an amazing, amazing story of how you got to where you are today. So for the listeners, let’s just start in with you know your story. How did you, how did you, what your path in life?

 

Jason Borbay

All right, thanks. Alan, absolutely. So take it all the way back to the top. I was, I was born on Long Island in 1980 I was all into sports. I ended up accepting a track scholarship to Boston University. Ran cross country, indoor and outdoor track. I was the captain there. Got a bachelor of fine arts, and then when I left college, I was going to move to LA, become an actor, but I randomly crashed a reality show audition in Boston.

Ended up getting on this low budget reality show. I spent six months there in East Boston, then I moved to New York City, tried my hand at standup comedy, did it for about a year. It was very challenging, but I really enjoyed it. It was cool, getting in front of an audience. Randomly got an interview at the Trump Organization, took a job there, spent two years working in Trump Tower. Then I went on to become a recruiter.

So I was placing creative talents in full time jobs, and from there, I kind of placed myself at a front end design development company. So I was at a company called fantasy interactive in Tribeca, and I started as a PR coordinator, slash recruiter. Got promoted to Business Director, split my time between there and downtown New York in Stockholm, Sweden, and eventually I was in Maui painting on the beach with my then girlfriend, now wife, Erin.

And I realized that I had given people advice my whole life to follow their passion, and I wasn’t listening to it myself. So July 2 of 2009 I became a full time artist, and that’s what I’m doing ever since moved out to Victor, Idaho in 2016 from New York City, as you mentioned, member at Bronze buffalo ranch. And I love living here. I love living my passion. And I’m just, I feel very blessed.

 

Alan Olsen

You know in your life, you have a very unique path, but what inspired you to take the independent route, and, you know, it would have been some of the biggest challenges and rewards representing yourself.

 

Jason Borbay

I mean, it’s a great question for those who aren’t intimately familiar with the journey of a traditional fine artist is typically the perfect journey would follow like this. You’d get a bachelor of fine arts. You’d hopefully get a Master of Fine Arts, ideally at Yale, which is one of the premier MFA programs. Then you move to New York City. You kind of work at a gallery, sitting at the front, making 10 $20 an hour greeting people, then you try to get into a group show.

And if you get into the group show, maybe a small gallery. CSU wants to represent you, take you on, then you get poached by a mid sized gallery, then hopefully a blue chip gallery. And that’s the traditional path to success, but with my various corporate experiences, I realized that it was something I wanted to take on for myself.

The beauty being self represented is that if you’re a represented artist by a gallery, galleries take 50% of everything, so that’s kind of a big pill to swallow, you’re also not in control of your own destiny. Artists don’t typically have direct connections with their collectors. So what I wanted to do was build a traditional business. Literally, I could be selling paper clips. I could be selling cars.

It’s the same structure. It’s about branding, marketing, consistency, building your market, establishing your price, honoring your prices, building, you know, just basically collecting, collectors. And so it was something I wanted. To do on my own, and 15 years later, I’m still doing it.

 

Alan Olsen

You know, let’s, let’s move into the business strategy and this art market you’ve created the unique business model outside the traditional art infrastructure. Could you elaborate on how you built and maintained your art market and why you chose this path over traditional representation

 

Jason Borbay

Absolutely, Well, first my late, great college coach, when I told him I was going to be a full time artist, he said, Okay, distance running, stand up, comedy and art, you like, all the hard things in life. So being an artist is nuts. When I first left my ad job, I was well into the six figures. I was on a partner path with, you know, at a company probably valued at ten million at that point, but I really wanted to do it on my own.

I went from that to $38,000 of sales my first year, which for an starting out artists. And I started out in 2009 when the economy was robust and fantastic as you I’m sure you remember, was very challenging, but what I realized I had to do was I had to develop a very strong relationship with my collectors. As far as building my market. First painting I sold was my first Guggenheim in a 20 year series.

I sold it to a family, basically off the street, who were visiting in New York from Milan. Threw in shipping for that or another painting. They bought like an idiot, and I realized it was far cheaper to fly and hand deliver them, so I did. So I’ve used this Guggenheim series as by standard. I asked a friend who worked in galleries what I should charge. He said, 2400 I did realize that price.

I’ve just recently sold another one in the series for 24,000 and with four years to go, my pie in the skies, I’d like to sell number 20 for a million, but I’m not holding my breath on that. Every January 1, my prices go up five to 15% across the board for both original, existing works and Commission works. And when you’re going from, say, $3,000 up 15% you’re not looking at a big shift.

But once your prices start hitting 2030, $40,000 that 15% marks something significant. So I do that the prices go up. The Guggenheim is kind of my pricing standard for my entire market. And one of the things that I do is that, over time, every couple of years or during a significant market event, I send out updated appraisal letters to my collectors, and that’s the way I’ve been able to substantiate my market outside of the traditional art structure.

 

Alan Olsen

You know, it’s interesting that the uniqueness of you know how you determine value. So let’s, let’s, let’s walk this through one more time. When you raise prices annually, you’re basing it on performance Correct. And how review again, how do you determine the percentage increase, and what response do you get, typically, from your collectors and say, Hey, I just raised my prices from 2500 to 25,000 Right? Right?

 

Jason Borbay

So one of the things that you know, collectors, a lot of artists, still have an event, right? Like so back in the day, like 2014 I had a painting that was valued at $8,000 and it went to auction for $14,000 now, if I had jumped from eight to 14 for that size of work, across the board, at that point, I would have lost my entire collector base, because collectors grow with the artists. So five to 15% is something that’s very palatable.

I’m very delighted to report that I’ve never had a down year since I started in 2009 I’ve had close to plateaus during significant world events. Typically, election years are a little bit a little bit rough election years with inflation are a little bit rougher. The pandemic had an initial negative impact, and that a very big positive impact, because everybody was buying all of these hopes, and they needed art core.

So there was kind of this great Renaissance for artists at art sales in 2021 and 2022 but when the prices go up, eventually you will price out collectors. I have collectors who have five pieces. They were able to afford my work until so maybe I hit 15,000 and then they kind of just tapped out, which is great, but they’re also very happy to see that the market is appreciating that.

I’m always dialoguing with them, and I say, Hey, listen, you know that piece that you bought in 2012 or 7000 is now appraised at 24,000 and I want to make sure that your records are up to date, because if there is ever, God forbid, a catastrophic fire or a flood or anything that’s going on, you want to make sure that that work is tactical.

 

Alan Olsen

I understand you. You do offer payment plans, and how has that impacted your business and the relations with collectors, especially as your prices have increased.

 

Jason Borbay

Yeah, that’s a great question. You know, one of the things that’s really challenging about being an independent artist is, or any artist for that matter, is that it’s feast or famine. You know, I could wake up one day and I could sell two paintings and, bam, there’s $70,000 in my bank. Out, and that’s fabulous. Then I could go three months without a sale, and that’s just kind of the art market.

It’s not it’s not a direct career path where you plan and say, okay, when the money comes in, but as my price is increased, I started offering payment plans, and I’ve done them for six months. I’ve done them up to 30 months. The benefit for the collector on a payment plan is that they lock in the price. So if it’s going to take you three years to pay it off, that’s fine. I don’t charge. There’s no surcharge or upcharge for that.

I’m happy to lock it in. For me, it’s fantastic, because if I have two or three people paying off the painting every month, then I can actually have reliable income, which for an artist is kind of the dream, because we very infrequently have consistent income. So I rely on that, and then I also rely on commissions. And commissions are fabulous, because when I sign a commission, they get 50% on signing, and then I get 50% Upon completion, prior to delivery.

So if you have commissions and people paying off a couple of paintings per month, then you can actually predict and forecast your income and then figure out how you want to use that money and invest it.

 

Alan Olsen

You know, I love the fact that you provide appraisal letters to your collectors and also offer updates based on market events. And what a great community building opportunity just staying in touch with them. Can you explain the importance of this practice and share how it’s affecting your relationship with your collectors

 

Jason Borbay

Absolutely. Well, you know, like I always tell artists when, when you’re an artist, you create art and collectors collect your art. Artists collect collectors. Your collectors are the most important people to your business in the world. The better your relationship, and the stronger your relationship with your collectors, the more likely they are to introduce you to other people.

And it’s kind of just like any any business development, you have your core, cornerstone, core collectors. They introduce you, they introduce you, they introduce you, and then that’s how you build an entire market and then, hopefully, eventually an empire. So I’m always very, very adamant about staying in touch. I did have a painting on loan at a friend’s house that wasn’t even under contract. The house burned down.

Turned out that I called my insurance agency and I said, Hey, listen, I had this painting. It’s a $24,000 painting. It was on loan, not on contract, off premise. This is the fire Report. Here are two magazine articles it was featured in. Here’s my price list. To give you an idea of my market context. Took them 48 hours. They reviewed it. I had $1,000 deductible.

They sent me a check for 23,000 I would still rather have the painting, but it’s also really nice peace of mind for my collectors to know that. You know, I’m giving you these appraisal letters.

They’re filed with all the major insurance agencies, and they’re honored and respected, which is really, really important to me, because these you know, when someone’s making an investment, if you’re buying a painting under 10,000 you can impulse buy that once you’re over 10,000 it’s an investment. And for me, it’s extremely important for all my collectors to know that I’m committed to my career from now until the day I die, and I’m very careful about how the market is perceived.

 

Alan Olsen

Let’s move into some of the personal insights now how, how has your role as a parent influenced your art?

 

Jason Borbay

I can’t even describe so first off, my wife is amazing. She is the one who encouraged me to quit my advertising career and become a full time artist. She was doing this just as she was getting at an acupuncture school. So it was not a great time for us to both be going out and trying our own hands and entrepreneurship. But she was amazing. She continues to be my best supporter, my consciary. We have three amazing kids, Coraline, Vega and Esther.

They’re seven, nine and 11. And you know, there’s, there’s a there’s this joy in this way that children see the world that is so inspiring. And I watch them drawing and painting and creating sculptures, and they’re there. They lose creativity with everything that they do, and just having them on this planet inspires me. And it’s also, it’s been beautiful.

Before I had kids and I went full time, I made a commitment to stick to a very regimented nine to five schedule, because a lot of my artist buddies, they like to get tuned up around 10pm with Four Loko and some other stuff, and then they’re painting till seven in the morning. And I realized that would be a very short lifespan for me. So it worked out that I had the infrastructure for fatherhood before I became a father, but having the kids is incredible, and it’s just they inspire me.

 

Alan Olsen

You know, Jason, one thing about the art world is a lot of people are artists, first, business people second. And I think you’re kind of bucking the trend that you have a good business acumen. So you’re now advising and aspiring artists looking to build a career outside the traditional art world. What? How would you advise that individual?

 

Jason Borbay

Well, I always tell people, if I start working with them and they’re young and it’s and before they go to school, I tell them, Listen, you don’t. Need to get an art degree. Get a business degree, because you’re always going to create on the side. I ended up getting my business degree by de facto, working in, you know, four different industries before I became a full time artist, I’m the beneficiary of an incredible mentor. His name is Robert orange.

He’s one of my first collectors. He introduced me to an entire world. He had me speak to his tiger 21 group in Montreal and Toronto, and that literally changed my entire life. So you know, being the beneficiary of such an amazing mentor, I take it very seriously when I have an opportunity to mentor someone who’s young. Mentorship is incredible, because you help people avoid mistakes, you give them your wisdom.

And the most satisfying thing for a mentor is to see their mentee taking the advice to heart, executing it. And that’s what inspires that relationship. You can’t just walk up and say, Hey, you want to be my mentor. It kind of develops organically. But for the kids and the young people, or even someone who’s 70 and retired and wants to get into art, I just say, Listen, take it all the way back. You got to create a brand.

You have to have a visual identity, you have to have a marketing strategy. You need a website. When I critique MFA classes, I don’t critique the art. I put their art on the wall and I say, Sell me this art. That’s what they need to do. They need to understand that it is a commodity. And a lot of artists have a hard time with that, because they feel like they created, and get given part of their soul to the work.

And it’s hard to put a price on that, but you have to objectively put a price on it, and you have to be comfortable with selling it. You have to be comfortable with someone saying, okay, $28,000 why? And you have to be able to answer that question.

 

Alan Olsen

Jason, I know you’re recording from your studio in Victor, Idaho, but how does a person outside of your area find out more information about your artwork?

 

Jason Borbay

Well, definitely, if you’re in the tea Valley, Jackson Hole area, it’s always great to have people here at Borbay Studios and Gallery, but borbay.com B, O, R, B, A, Y.com, is my cornerstone. I am on social but I gotta be honest, I just had a bit of a kerfuffle with Instagram. They disabled my account for absolutely no reason, and it was out for two weeks, and it made me realize how important it is to have the sexual location to be found online.

So for me, warbay.com is the place. Has all the information there. I have a contact page there. I’d love to talk about art, creativity, the industry, marketing, business, every aspect of it. So if anyone ever wants to reach me, they can just reach me at Jason at B, O, R, B, A, Y.com, directly, and I’m happy to talk show

 

Alan Olsen

Jason, thanks for being with us here on American Dreams today.

 

Jason Borbay

Alan, it was an honor. I thank you so much, and I cannot wait to have your book signed. So the next time you’re here, you’re coming to the gallery.