The global pandemic devastated our company and forced us to permanently close our physically galleries around the world. We’re trying to keep the dream alive by moving online. Many of our photographers and their families have gone more than 2 years without steady income. If you help us keep the dream alive, we can continue to deliver great art at fantastic prices!
Today, we're going to talk with our founder, William Robert Stanek, about art collecting. But first, some background. Did you know? From homeless at 17 to celebrated author and artist, it's been a long road for William. His English teacher in the 4th grade recognized his writing skills and encouraged him to write, as did his Uncle Wally, and both of whom told William to never stop.
At 17, in his senior year of high school, William found himself homeless and living in his car, but still managed to finish high school. After graduation, he joined the US Air Force. Military service brought William to fields of combat and special operations duties in foreign lands around the world. During deployments, there was never a day William didn’t look death in the face and find death looking back.
Because of that service, William says he will always know that when the darkest of hours arrives he will not hesitate. Yet it was also because of that service that William discovered his passion for art... Here's what William has to say about his early art experience with Robert Wyland and Wyland Galleries.
"In 1986, at the age of 19, passing through Hawaii on my way to my first duty station, I stopped in a gallery owned by a little known artist who introduced himself to me as Robert Wyland. I was fascinated by his original oil on canvas paintings and particularly smitten with one featuring whales. This was a very large original oil on canvas, about 6’ in length as I remember it, with a list price was somewhere above $4000, and I managed to talk Robert down to $3500. Being homeless at 17 taught me a lot about saving and value, I’d saved every penny of my military pay that I could during boot camp and twelve months of training school and I knew value when I saw it. I wanted the painting more than the car I was saving up for."
"There was another smaller piece featuring dolphins that we negotiated as well. I left the gallery with Wyland’s card and price quotes written on the back, determined to scrape together the money. The day before I left the islands, I went back to the gallery, but hadn’t put together the money, so I browsed limited prints and settled on a few I loved. An associate of Wyland’s put three prints aside for me, and I rushed out to get the cash from the bank, about $650, but I never made it back. My military flight got moved up and I had to rush to the base to head off to my duty station in Japan."
"Today, just thinking about it, I’m crushed. Not because each of those prints is worth more than the average home or because the original oils are worth many millions, but because of all the days and years of joy I missed... Buy art because you love it, enjoy it each day, and you’ll have no regrets. Prints, especially limited prints, can appreciate in value just like original work on canvas, so prints can be an investment too, but the joy of ownership is the best part, even if your art collection is only one piece."
"Fill your days with beauty and joy. Start with one print of something you truly love and work your way from there." - William Robert Stanek
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