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Visual artists are constantly worrying about what the standard artist/gallery relationship should consist of. Feeling insecure about how to handle these negotiations are natural…artists are not business people and are often ill-equipped as well as inexperienced at handling their own business affairs. Following is a set of guidelines that I recommend artists use when considering establishing a relationship with a gallery. Remember, the ideal gallery does not exist. The best way to use this information is as a standard, by which you can grade the level of commitment of a particular gallery. In that way, you can go into the relationship with an educated and realistic set of expectations.

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There are few things in the marketplace priced as irrationally as art. As in other areas of business, pricing is mostly determined by the law of supply and demand. Most artists typically have a big supply and little or no demand. Using this most basic principle, an increase in price is only justified when this balance shifts…either the demand increases, or the supply decreases. Although artists and galleries try to set prices based on the law of supply and demand and what the market will bear, there are always extenuating circumstances that contribute to the final price…where the artist is, in his or her career range, is probably the most important and also the most difficult to quantify. Medium, size, complexity, cost of production and previous sales history, also play important roles in determining the final sales price. But the bottom line could just as easily be determined by how much an artist is attached to a particular piece. Although I never recommend artists pricing works of the same size, same medium and same series differently, based on their attachment to it, it sometimes does occur.
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The Internet has become an unavoidable fact of life. Over just the last few years we have seen radical changes in the way this new technology is changing the way we live, think and shop. Although many artists, collectors and galleries continue to have fears and concerns, even their reluctance is slowly beginning to erode as they accept the inevitability of this powerful, wide reaching tool. In regards to the artworld, there are basically three different types of websites :

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There are many times when an artist is asked to compose an artist statement. Sometimes, it is in response to a specific inquiry by a gallery or collector, sometimes in response to a particular grant proposal or in conjunction with a curatorial statement or exhibition. Other times, artists just feel the need to explain their work. Most of the time, however, artists are not the best suited for this particular task. Regardless of one’s ability to write, writing about your own work poses unique problems that very few artists are equipped to deal with. Consequently, most artists’ statements become overly personal explanations about what art means to you and what you are trying to accomplish in your work things that are better saved for personal journal musings than for a public artist statement. Every artist wants his or her work to be understood and appreciated in the context in which it was made. However, very few artists are able to articulate intelligent insight into how to achieve that level of understanding, nor should they. Part of the joy, from an observer’s point of view comes from the primary experience with the art bringing to his or her own personal and intimate connection. If those things are spelled out for them, before they have an opportunity to develop that connection for themselves, a huge part of the experience of appreciating the art is missing.

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If you’ve ever considered going into print, there’s never been a better time. Recent statistics show the art market retail spending is on the upward march, with increasingly affluent and (hopefully) taste-conscious buyers looking to buy original and limited edition reproduction works.

Until recently however, most “enthusiastic amateurs” will have been put off by the cost of printing. Why should you have to commit yourself to spending the wrong side of ?1000 only to find out your masterpiece doesn’t sell? Well, the answer is you don’t anymore.  (more…)