INTERNATIONAL TRADE : Fullerton Firm Signs Deal to Import Works by Soviet Artists

Internet, a Fullerton marketing and consulting firm, has signed an agreement with Princeton Fine Art Inc. in Los Angeles to find promising Soviet artists whose work may have some commercial value in North America.

Internet expects to import about $4 million worth of contemporary oil paintings, sculpture and icons by Soviet artists, and Princeton will select the promising fine art to promote for gallery display and sale.

“Our job is to identify top-level contemporary artists for exposure and promotion of their work in Canada and the United States,” said William H. Smith, Princeton’s president.

Princeton, a privately held company that plans to sell stock to the public this year, has assembled a jury of seven U.S. art experts and consultants to identify the commercial value of the Soviet artwork.

“We have just brought over two Soviet artists. and we’re beginning to introduce them and their paintings to gallery owners in Orange County and to other cities in North America,” Smith said.

Smith said his firm plans to introduce three to five Soviet artists to the U.S. art scene by the end of the year. The artists will be paid on consignment, usually between 10% to 15% of the selling price, he said.

One of the Soviet artists, Seymor Kaplan, has created a series of oil paintings on cats called “Twelve Months in the Life of a Soviet Cat,” which Princeton will print in a calendar for 1992. Internet also will help Princeton translate several children’s books and publish those books in the Soviet Union later this year.