Marketing Art: How the World is Changing for Art and Artists — and ALL Sales!

Slightly different type of article to end this month; a little less educational, a little more commentary; a little less about ART (specifically), a little more about societal trends, in general.

Things have changed a LOT in the art business, since I had an Art and Fine Crafts Gallery in Texas in the 1980's and 1990's.

Vintage sailboat on the bay

Perhaps the biggest change we have seen is the advancement of technology, on many fronts.

Not only do we have the Internet, we have digital publishing and printing, and then we have the instantaneousness of digital photography... and more and more artists using digital manipulation as part of their art.

About ART, Itself...

On the whole, the desire to be an artist and to pursue some form of creative expression has probably changed the least, in the past 30+ years. I would say about the same number of people choose to pursue their art "seriously," and the creative spirit, itself, is pretty much unchanged.

Art can be a trendy business, and so certain things have gone out of style, and others have come in and that's an eternal cycle that has been part of the art world for generations. Nothing new there.

The popularity of art, in greater society, also goes through cycles. 

Art — and especially "alternative" art — experienced somewhat of a downturn during the 80's, years generally regarded as "The Reagan Era." Culture in general shifted towards a business/investing perspective, and the more successful art tended to be fairly traditional and created by established artists.

Naturally, there were some exceptions, but not many.

After a couple of decades of growth, art now seems to have entered a different type of downcycle, this time more related to changes in the way we physically lead our lives, rather than social and philosophical changes.

The Way of Marketing and Sales

We have a friend staying with us as a houseguest, at the moment.

She is not in the art business, but she IS in the "handmade goods" business, being the creator and proprietor of a handmade soap and body products business. She derives a significant part of her income from attending arts and music festivals during the summer months. She ended up coming to visit because we are (more or less) "on her way" from the 2018 Cascadia Festival to her home in central Oregon.

Her observation — aside from confessing that her sales had declined 40% from last year's event — is that the nature of Festivals is changing. And that has been reflected in all the festivals she has been to, for a couple of years, now.

Festival operators seem to be "charging MORE for less," while the overall number of vendors seems to be declining and most vendors are reporting slumping sales.

How this relates back to the world of art is that she observed that almost all the art-related participants and vendors were simply gone from the festival. Instead of an area half the size of a football field, there were now just four artistic vendors/exhibits put together in an area the size of a small house.

Focus on EXPERIENCE

The focus is instead moving towards the experience of being there. 

Whereas that was always the core of the festival scene, the idea of "stuff" and "souvenirs" seems to be declining.

Which brings us right back to our trends at the Red Dragonfly Gallery: We see art becoming more and more of an interactive experience, rather than something you own and keep at home. I alluded somewhat to this in yesterday's post, as well, about the new challenges facing artists.

Very often, we see a typical visit consisting of someone taking their time to look at our gallery, declaring it "one of their favorites," taking a number of smartphone photos, and then leaving empty handed. I don't state that as a complaint, but merely to share an observed trend.

What is happening?

On one end, many art buyers are now in the "aging" part of the population and when people get older (and possibly retire) they tend to downsize their living spaces, and maybe even move into a "tiny house." 

In this phase of life people are getting rid of things, which means more "selling" than "acquiring." As a result of that, there is much more "secondary market" art coming to and competing with new art.

Meanwhile, increasing numbers of younger people are choosing different lifestyles than they used to — often thanks to technology and online opportunities. These lifestyle choices often don't include home ownership — more and more are choosing to be "cyber nomads" who travel from place to place with no ties. We even have quite a few of them here on Steemit, traveling and blogging their way around the world.

When your entire life exists in your backpack, you're not an art buyer, but you can certainly be an art lover.

And that's where we are seeing is this shift from art as "objects" to "experiences." Someone who has $1000 to spend on something is now more likely to spend it on an experience than a "thing" like art. This bears out conversations we have at the gallery more and more: An art admirer who just got back from a six week yoga retreat in Bali, and will be going to India next month.

But they still love the art!

Greater Culture

It's easy to lay blame for lagging art sales at the feet of online sales, but that's not necessarily all the picture.

When we look at such things as the decline and death of "The American Shopping Mall," it also isn't just about online shopping. It's also about a new generation for whom "hanging out at the mall" is no longer an activity... they meet with their friends in virtual space, most of the time... or at each other's houses for gaming events.

Whereas there might be art in "virtual spaces" that art is virtual... and not sold out of stores or from gallery walls.

Here in our small town, we have gone from about 20 or more art galleries (or spaces) just 8-10 years ago to currently eight. 

None of this is to say that sales of "things" (and art) is becoming obsolete, just that our focus is changing. And if you're an artist, you need to change and adapt with the world. In some ways, the practice of being an artist may move more and more towards olden times where most artists were able to do their work thanks to a wealthy "patron" who underwrote part (or all) of their cost of living.

Today — and in the future — that might be increasingly accomplished through crowdfunding and sites like Steemit.

Thanks for reading!

Red Dragonfly is a proud graduate through the @sndbox creative incubator program, part of the "Cohort 1" team of May 31st, 2018. Please support Sndbox and the @sndbox-alpha curation initiative!

The Red Dragonfly is an independent alternative art gallery located in Port Townsend, WA; showcasing edgy and unique contemporary art & handmade crafts by local and worldwide artists. All images are our own, unless otherwise credited. Where applicable, artist images used with permission.