RE: Dealing With the "Business End" of Being an Artist
This article is wonderful and desperately needed. No one teaches art as a business and people in the biz just seen to wing it or bs it. Something to add here however, is that quality can often come second to hype for buyers. I loved the work I did and even found a cosigner who wasn't a crook(never pay a monthly fee as well as a price percentage!). However in a college town especially, it comes down to what/who is 'popular' or 'edgy'. You can not believe the crap that sold for high tickets while much better quality work was 'reduced' or given back to the artist. Well, in my case, I had a lot ofs "we can probably find something like this at Walmart" after there bottom of the barrel 'offer' was denied. To all textile and Folk art artist/ devotees; hold your ground if you can-but it's going to get rough.
Thanks for your thoughtful comment!
Art-- in pretty much all formats-- is a "hard sell." It's a bit like sunsets... people pretty much universally love and adore sunsets, but they don't expect to PAY for them. So your work that's previously "amazing" tends to move to the realm of "nice, but I don't really need this" once a price tag is attached.
We are what I'd call a "side street gallery" which means we generally avoid the nepotism and popularity "hype" that dominates our main street galleries... so we're a bit of a "dark sheep" because we don't "play the game." Personally, that's an old "issue" from my previous art gallery experience in the 1990s... often the actual "art" was talking idiots into believing that pure garbage was "visionary" and "cutting edge." It was-- pardon the bluntness-- more of a "pissing contest" than about promoting great art.
And yes, the going CAN get rather rough.