Author's First Book Hits Back at Rejection

The following article appeared in The Kansas City Star
Thursday, September 30, 2004

Kansas City Star

After 17 years of 'No, thanks,' Paul Dorrell advises artists on perseverance

By JAMES A. FUSSELL
The Kansas City Star

Mad, frustrated and deeply in debt in the winter of 1998, Paul Dorrell finally lost it. With a savage punch he put a fist-sized hole in the wall of his Kansas City bedroom. Then he did it again.

Four more times.

It's tough to make it as a writer. As an author who received 177 rejection letters before getting published earlier this year, Dorrell can attest to that. And that's just what he does in the pages of his first book, Living the Artist's Life: A Guide to Growing, Persevering, and Succeeding in the Art World (Hillstead Publishing, $23.95)

Dorrell, who also owns the Leopold Gallery north of Brookside, seeks to teach, reassure, enrich and inspire artists of all stripes. His advice ranges from the practical (how do you get your first exhibit?) to the cautionary (stay away from booze and drugs). But mostly he urges artists to realize how important and relevant they are.

"Art is often discounted as unimportant," he said. "When in reality it's just as important, in my opinion, as the job of the legislator, the job of the farmer, the job of the teacher and the job of the mother. When artists are on top of their game, instead of stroking society and letting it know everything is OK, they cause that society to question itself. In a democracy this is essential."

Dorrell knows art. He has owned his gallery for a dozen years and helped many artists make a living at their craft.

No, the 47-year-old Kansas Citian says, living the artist's life is not easy. There will be setbacks, self-doubt and financial and emotional pressures. Personally he has faced bankruptcy, depression, suicidal thoughts and fire that destroyed his first gallery in the Savoy Hotel. His insurance had lapsed three weeks earlier.

But if you have talent and passion, realistic goals and the desire to work hard and persevere, you can be happy and succeed in the art world.

He offers himself as Exhibit A.

Dorrell left the University of Kansas in 1981 before his senior year to travel and write. He produced short stories and novels, took other jobs to pay the rent and waited for the day he would be published.

Seventeen years later he was still waiting. But in the winter of 1998, his agent told him there was a chance for a book contract. He got his hopes up, only to have them dashed again.

He didn't get the contract. What was he doing to his family? Why couldn't he succeed? How long could he simply ignore his crushing debt?

He unleashed his fury on his bedroom wall.

But with faith, perseverance and support from his wife, Annie, his fortunes eventually turned around. The next year he went to Washington, D.C., and secured a major contract for artists Jim Brothers and Matt Kirby to deliver eight monumental sculptures for the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Va. The seven-figure contract helped wipe out Dorrell's debt. It was the break he needed. His gallery began making money. And now he's been published, writing about what he knows best - artists and their struggles. He had outlasted his troubles. And as hard as it was, he said, it was all worth it.

Many readers have thanked him. The 174-page book has gained support from more than 50 universities around the country, including the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design.

The response has been gratifying, even overwhelming. He has been asked to speak at several universities.

"But what juices me the most is the e-mails I receive from throughout the country," Dorrell said.

Wrote one reader from Chicago:

"I so appreciated your openness and honesty. I came away inspired with a comfort that I wasn't alone. The struggle truly is the journey."

To reach James A. Fussell, features reporter, call (816) 234-4460 or send e-mail to jfussell@kcstar.com.

Advice and inspiration

Excerpts from Paul Dorrell's Living the Artist's Life: A Guide to Growing, Persevering, and Succeeding in the Art World:

  • On prices: "How do you go about establishing fair prices for the works you create? Easy. Get a dart board, tape a range of prices to it, toss six darts at the sucker and see where they land. The middle figure wins. You don't like that? Try this: Go to a series of galleries, find works by established artists that are in some way similar to yours, then set prices that you're comfortable with in comparison."
  • On art snobbery: "Even I get sick of it on occasion: the pretension at certain openings, insecurity masquerading as snobbery, sycophants drooling all over work that anyone can see is a joke, the same inane conversations over the same glasses of wine … That isn't the true art world; that's the façade. The true one is made up of hard-working artists who, in the end, are just people of the earth, and who hate pretension as much as you and I do."
  • On art fairs: "It means nothing for you to be accepted in a non-juried exhibit. What's more, in non-juried shows you don't know what other kinds of work will be exhibited or whether you'll be stuck next to some guy who does paint-by-number landscapes on saw blades."


Author Paul Dorrell

A Guide to Growing, Persevering, and Succeeding in the Art World