There are always things to consider when showcasing your art. For some it is space availability and location within a gallery and for others its duration of an exhibit or accompanying art that may also be displayed along side their own. For others based on style or amount of experience there may not be any issues at all. However, There are a few things that you should consider to help you tell if the exposure equals your efforts when showcasing your art with someone.
First is to never forget that no matter how free the expression is in your artwork it is not free to own a building and run lights and promote a gallery. This is an investment from a business standpoint and as much as you don't have to worry about this the gallery owner does. An artist needs to be ready to price their artwork accordingly. This means that anytime a gallery has a commercial or a paid promotions, a location that is known to have high rent, or any other ad related expenditures it gets passed on to the artist. This means that your painting may have to reflect this when you set the price as you will probably have a larger percentage to pay for the consignment by the gallery. At an all time high of 50% making you have to sell your piece for about twice as much to hit your targeted value as the artist. For ex: you have a painting you did that you feel is worth 200.00 by experience. You would actually have to charge someone 400.00 which for some art would be a far harder sale or maybe even impossible depending on trends and quality of the piece.
Secondly you should have an estimate of what is the actual amount of traffic that will be seeing your art. If you are in a high end gallery that has large events but low daily traffic You may get the same results with a well designed online gallery giving you control of when your art is sold shipped and so forth. One of the problems that is run into often when you are a new artist is the gallery still needs you to close the deal. You will promote a piece and even maybe sell that piece yourself but then have to turn around and give a portion to the gallery even though you have created the exposure and the sale by your own proactive means. Kinda like signing up to have your art held hostage. You can't sell a piece in a show on-line without retrieving a piece from them at which a lot of them claim it under an agreement as a sale by them during this time period.
Thirdly and just as important is to go against your instinct to be different. Being able to recognize a pieces likenesses is key when trying to find similarly minded artist. If you have very intricate art and the gallery owner does not feel it will move part of you should put some thought into what they are saying. Remembering that the business is still present so more than likely they are telling you this not because they don't feel the potential of your art, but more along the lines of the experience with what has actually been document as selling from their particular establishment. this can save you alot of time hanging things with no results as potential art lovers miss out on your work at the perfect venue for you else where.
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Bullshit,years ago a gallery owner once told me I should paint "Santa Fe". My reply was "So i can look like every other smuck out there painting to match sofas. " I continued to paint in my own style and have achieved success on my own terms. Without selling out. Peace Anguspaul www.anguspaul.net
ReplyDeleteIf you reread you will notice the advice does not dictate what you paint but where you sell your own art. So if you are trying to sell your Angus Piece for ex. at a graffiti based urban venue and the owner says it won't move lets not be so bold to say you can sell to an aerosol crowd with the rate and consistency required. Or assume that they will have the clients that can afford your work for that matter. Also someone telling you to paint Santa Fe is a totally different issue. Being told what to paint would heat up any true artist, but we're focused on helping the novice navigate where to hang and get results. You have Outstanding art but when he told you to paint Santa Fe, like the article states " more than likely they are telling you this not because they don't feel the potential of your art, but more along the lines of the experience with what has actually been document as selling from (their) particular establishment." So you sold your own art, but did you ever sell one from the business where they told you to paint Santa Fe? That would be the difference. You listened to the owner and created an environment of your own from the resentment of such ridiculous advice. Am I correct? and This was done buy evaluating the owners awareness of his
ReplyDeletelocal art community and regular connoisseurs of art to his studio or gallery
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