The exhibitions he produced and promoted as visual theses invariably gained national and international attention.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, December 08, 2023 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Theron L. Kabrich III has been included in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
"One never knows where they are going until they get there," says Mr. Kabrich who went from pursuing a career in psychology, to an adventure-seeking vagabond, to establishing a business and becoming a respected pioneering art entrepreneur. Over decades he championed the art and photography of popular culture as fine art, opposing the view held by conventional galleries and art institutions who judged the art form as being low-brow merchandizing by-product. His business invested millions of dollars into exhibiting and promoting the culturally beloved iconography created by some of the most significant image makers of the last half of the 20th century. "I never intended whatsoever to become a respected art influencer or even becoming successful in business."
Many historic "firsts" were established and built upon from the early years of his business which was founded in 1983, introducing to collectors for acquisition original signed photographs used on such Beatles album covers as Abbey Road, Meet the Beatles and Rubber Soul; original authentic artwork created for use on such Pink Floyd album covers as Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here and Umma Gumma and, for Led Zeppelin, Presence, Houses of the Holy and In Through the Out Door, the original paintings by famed World War II pin-up artist Alberto Vargas and the original paintings that were reproduced on posters for such films as My Fair Lady, The Sting, Pink Floyd's The Wall and many other rare and lauded iconic images.
Kabrich developed friendships with the artists and photographers who worked with major bands, record labels, and film producers to bring their extraordinary reputations to light - for the first time in most cases - as creators of some of the most revered iconic images of the past 80 years. To draw these brilliant creatives into the limelight he established collaborations with important publishers, agents, publicists and producers. Curating and producing over 100 exhibitions, he devoted all of his creative energy to critically define what actually made art and photography of popular culture fine art, citing parallels in art history.
The exhibitions he produced and promoted as visual theses invariably gained national and international attention. He further hosted live performances by Brian Wilson, founding member of The Beach Boys and Graham Nash of Crosby, Stills Nash and Young, as well as talks by civil rights leader Clarence Jones and Cabinet Secretary Jennifer Granholm. His gallery received thousands of visitors from around the world each year and has concluded nearly $100 million in sales.
As a young man, Kabrich planned to become a psychologist, initially gaining experience volunteering as a suicide prevention and crisis intervention counselor. Recommended by colleagues in the field, he was hired as an aid and member of treatment teams to work with patients in two locked psychiatric hospitals. The patients he worked with largely suffered from schizophrenia and related psychoses, involuntarily admitted as dangerous to themselves or others. He immediately embraced the work and, for nearly five years, grew toward a career in psychotherapy working first at a private facility, then for two years at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Menlo Park where Post Traumatic Stress Disorder became a more prevalent admissions diagnosis along with other pathologies.
Always stimulated by a spirit of adventure and great curiosity, he took a leave of absence from the VA to pursue his desire to travel around the world. Leaving with modest means he, nonetheless, accepted the prospect of being away for at least a year. More an exploration than planned trip, improvisation and adaptation were his friends. Curiosity being his compass, he followed his muse by air, motorcycle, bus, train, ship, and bicycle. From the Australian outback to the Sumatran jungle, from Himalayan foothills to island beaches; from Dharma Square in Kathmandu to Bugus Street in Singapore; sleeping in huts, at hostels and cheap hotels, on beaches and roadsides, on the deck of a freighter and at the homes of friends he made.
As months of travel ensued, he became fascinated by the diversity of art he encountered. He wondered whether he might explore work alternatives beyond psychology when he returned to the United States. "Career" was the furthest concept from his mind. Doing what he wanted to do when he wanted to do it had long been his MO in life. He didn't know exactly what being a "dealer in art" meant at the time. He simply trusted this affinity as natural to his personality and interests.
After returning to California a year later he sought employment with San Francisco galleries, regularly rejected as inexperienced. The artwork displayed at a small gallery that ultimately hired him ranged from European masters, contemporary artists and Southwestern art to 14th century Russian Icons. That random diversity exposed him to a broad range of art forms as well as a broad range of visitor interests, giving him insights into common denominators of art and unique motivations of collectors.
He was soon solicited by a large new gallery representing major international artists and became their first manager, a position that introduced him to the business of art, important international art contacts and marketing expertise. Kabrich held this position and the status it conferred on him for two years — then he fell in love with a woman from Spain who was vacationing in San Francisco. A few months later he amicably resigned from the gallery, leaving for Switzerland where she lived. For the year they lived together in Geneva he developed relationships with important dealers in Switzerland, France and Germany, brokering artwork to his clients in the United States.
A year later they moved to San Francisco and married. Kabrich then established San Francisco Art Exchange LLC (SFAE) with business partner, Jim Hartley, and opened a gallery in downtown San Francisco.
He has written essays about the fine art of popular culture, given interviews in all media, written defining press releases about exhibitions he curated, and has contributed expertise to film documentaries, biographies and magazine articles.
In addition to being its CEO, Kabrich has been SFAE's technology director, guiding the ongoing development of the company's ecommerce website at www.sfae.com, first launched in 1996. He oversaw the integration of SalesForce into the company's CRM processes, wrote an introductory essay about NFT's to edify his artist friends of possible opportunities, co-developed two successful NFT projects in 2021, is exploring other art related blockchain strategies and musing over the use of artificial intelligence as a communication tool.
Along with his SFAE mission, Kabrich has served on the board of trustees of the San Francisco Mexican Museum for almost a decade, curated exhibitions for the "Museum of the African Diaspora" and the "Haight Street Art Center". Among Kabrich's entrepreneurial awards are SFAE's inclusion among the INC 5000 list of the Fastest Growing Companies in America in three separate years.
He is a credited participant on several film projects: "Taken by Storm: The Art of Storm Thorgerson", associate producer; "The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years", photography consultant; "Show Me the Picture: The Story of Jim Marshall", co-executive producer; "ICON: Music Through the Lens", six-episode documentary on PBS, interviewee. He is currently consulting on a feature film about a photographer he worked with as well as a documentary film about the Peruvian painter, Alberto Vargas.
His illustrated allegory about innovation and problem solving, "The Elephant in the Hole", is now awaiting distribution and he is writing his second novel, "Amiel Crossing the Desert", a story about passing through crises.
Kabrich refers to his own personality type as "pragmatic idealist" — a term he sometimes applies to artists — and prefers the idea of "progress" over that of "success". He resists dwelling too much on risk in favor of following his intuition. He attributes the trust and support received from others as integral to everything he has done. "Since my early 20's," Kabrich says, "I proceeded in life with the belief that what I do is far less important than who I am. That belief has never changed."
Looking forward to the next decade, he will spend more time writing. As with everything he has done, he pursues dreams with Quixotic energy.
Photo credits: (left to right) Portrait photo, Victoria Smith; On a climb in Australia taken during one year sojourn; SFAE Gallery (occupied 1984-2022); with Nancy Pelosi backstage at Paul McCartney concert.
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