Rent-to-admire

Wheeling and dealing from his home in Narberth, Sande Maslow speaks on the phone with the voice of a true, loud salesman.

"I can get you a John Singer Sargent or a John W. McCoy or even a Humbert Howard," he blares in the thrall of epicurism.

What's he talking about, exactly? Maslow is renting and leasing fine art, sometimes even selling it to those who can afford to buy during this economic recession. In fact, business is booming for his brand-new company, the Maslow Art Group, which, like other art-rental companies, is turning a profit in its search to cater to high-end corporations. Sound like a gimmick? It's not.

The illusion of owning paintings for at least a little while - even contemporary ones worth as much as $10,000 to $20,000 - is an alluring option when the money isn't there for an actual purchase. In some cases, it allows for a test drive before buying, so you'll never regret that 8-by-10-foot oil painting hanging over the mantel.

In fact, at a time when many art galleries in New York have registered financial losses, the art of renting paintings to corporate, television, retail, and residential clients seems like the wave of the future.

"My company is the perfect answer for this economy. [Renting] allows corporations to fill their space without full payment," Maslow said. Yet much if not most of his rental artwork eventually gets purchased.

His clients have included the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, the law firm of Mitts Milavec, and the Sunoco Building at 18th and Market Streets. They describe his uncanny ability to hunt down just the right painting for their office.

While preparing for a fund-raiser for Common Pleas Court Judge C. Darnell Jones, Stan Milavec of Mitts Milavec was at a loss as to what to do about the office's bare appearance. "I didn't just want to go out and buy Ikea art or get something from the storage room," he said.

So Maslow came over with art-rental ideas that turned the office into a showcase for the artists, at the same time maintaining a truly functional space. "We get tons of compliments," Milavec said. Out of 14 rented paintings, including both landscapes and still lifes, seven ultimately were purchased.

The genesis for Maslow's art-rental company came from the well-known rental and sales affiliate of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, ArtWorks, where he once worked. When it closed, he took all of the clients with him to start the Maslow Art Group, which he began in February. "I work with most of the galleries in Philadelphia and make use of about 150 local artists," he said.

His company uses a simple system of exchange whereby the renter pays 5 percent to 10 percent of the market value of each painting for rental cycles lasting three to six months. This fee goes toward the final purchase price. If the renter decides not to purchase, the initial fee is forfeited and the artwork is returned. Artists receive payment, 60 percent of the final price, only if a sale is made. Maslow gets the other 40 percent.

Corporations can find art-rental companies across the country. Many will ship to any part of the continental United States; some will venture to foreign ports of call.

So what was once out of reach for many businesses can now be had from art-rental companies such as Art Rent & Lease, a company with offices in New York, Minneapolis, and Portland, Ore. Curator Carolyn Williams says the company has 60 artists supplying more than 1,000 paintings and sculptures.

Williams attributes the company's success - and its profit margin of 10 to 18 percent - to the quality of its young artists. Many are emerging talents, and being on a Web site that gets 15,000 hits a month is good advertising for them. Artists also get their cut of the month-to-month rental income.

"One of the things that's important to me is to have a national presence," says abstract painter Vincent Romaniello from his home and studio in Willow Grove. He is one of Art Rent & Lease's few painters living outside of New York, and he describes his work - on view in the company's virtual gallery - as "a cross between painting and sculpture because it's so highly textural, like a lava flow. Tranquil and meditative. Calm."

Artists have chosen to enter into the business fray themselves, lured by the money that television and movie production companies pay to rent paintings for commercial use. The environment can be hip, and there's no need for a middleman. Television and movie producers may keep an artist in their Rolodex, with one job leading to another.

"We just rented to the television show Ugly Betty and painted a bunch of stuff for the new show Cupid," both airing on ABC, says Lilia Teal, artist and owner of Prop Art New York (www.modernpaintingsforrent.com). Teal also has had work appear in Pottery Barn and Victoria's Secret catalogs, as well as in AT&T and Bank of America ads.

Rental fees for her paintings are $50 to $350 per week, depending on the piece. The most popular: anything tastefully unobtrusive. "Something like Mark Rothko or Mondrian," she says. "Both are so nonspecific, and I find that television commercials really do value that. Fields of color and softer pieces seem to be the most successful. And landscapes, too."

But not all rental companies give clients the illusion of ownership, and paintings often can feel as if they've arrived with a ball and chain. "We do a preliminary site survey," said Kenneth Gardner, president of Original Office Paintings, based in San Francisco and San Diego. "Once the contract is signed, the paintings are shipped freight anywhere in the country, and only our staff can do the hanging."

That last caveat is important, because paintings literally are locked to the wall. "They have to be installed according to our specs and hung our way," he said.

In all cases, the artwork is available to purchase - the idea being that once you've lived with it, it's harder to return. When renting, however, "everything is recycled," Teal said. "And it's kind of nice to get the paintings back home after they've been out of your hands for a while."

See ART RENTAL on E2