Reality: First of all, galleries almost always have far greater expenses than artists. Secondly, selling art is a full-time job, not only at the gallery but also by phone, online, making visits to collectors or potential buyers, exhibiting at art fairs, hosting openings and events at their galleries, writing and sending newsletters and email updates, and more.
Gallery owners spend all day every day doing their absolute best to make sales. Misconception: Galleries get rich while artists stay poor. Reality: The large majority of galleries have just as much trouble surviving financially as artists do. A gallery owner getting wealthy by selling art is very rare indeed. Misconception: All artists contribute equally to the success of their galleries.
Reality: In the large majority of cases, only a few artists keep galleries solvent and afloat. Sales of art by a gallery's most popular artists often help finance shows for artists who tend not to sell that well.
Misconception: Galleries are wealthy because they're the link between artists and rich people. Reality: All kinds of people buy art and all kinds of people own galleries, most of whom are nowhere near rich.
The overwhelming majority of gallery owners and collectors are in this for one reason-- because they love art. It's that simple and no more complicated. Misconception: Just because a gallery has an artist's art, they have to exhibit it and give the artist shows. Reality: Far more often than not, galleries start slowly with artists, perhaps taking several works on consignment and showing them selectively to see how certain clients respond.
They also want to make sure the artists are responsible and easy to work with before getting in too deep. Assuming all goes well, shows will happen. Misconception: Galleries have power and influence in the art world; they control markets and determine tastes. Reality: The exact opposite is far more often the case. Few if any gallery owners have the ability to control or influence how the world responds to their artists.
Misconception: When an artist leaves one gallery and goes to another, their collectors automatically go with them. Reality: Unless an artist is already successful or hotter than hot, collectors' typically remain loyal to particular galleries and not necessarily to the artists those galleries represent.
Misconception: If an artist gets a gallery show, they're automatically going to sell lots of art and make lots of money. Reality: No guarantees whatsoever on this. Work hard, do what you can to make the most of your exposure, keep your fingers crossed and hope for the best Misconception: If a show doesn't sell well, the gallery didn't want it to. Reality: No gallery owner in their right mind would deliberately sabotage their own shows in order to make as few sales and as little money as possible.
That makes absolutely zero sense. Misconception: Galleries only show art that's salable. Reality: Galleries are much more than selling machines.
They bring new art and new artists to the attention of the public all the time. They deeply believe in the artists they show, in the validity of their art, and that the public at least deserves to see it-- whether they ultimately end up buying or not. Misconception: Good publicity or good reviews by critics automatically translate into sales. Reality: You hope. Romen January 18, at am Thanks for information. Leave a comment Cancel reply Your email address will not be published.
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Artist-Run Initiative Artist-run initiatives, also known as co-operatives, involve a group of artists coming together to split the costs and responsibilities of running a gallery. These outlets typically use a rotational schedule, meaning that artists may get a chance once every few months or years to show their creations. These galleries typically grant artists more control over displays, pricing and distribution.
These galleries may charge for their entire space for a period of time, or offer artists a wall for a set price for a period of time. Non-Profit Gallery Just like the business world is full of for-profit and non-profit organizations, so is the art world.
The upside? So many artists think all they have to do to get shows is send occasional emails, casually post on social media, periodically hit up the local or area galleries for shows, invite random art people to look at their websites, make occasional calls or visits to galleries, and generally invest minimal time and effort to get their art out into the public.
They think all they have to do is hunker down in the studio and that opportunities for exposure will mysteriously appear out of nowhere. This "If I make it, they will come" approach to getting shows is guaranteed not to get you anywhere fast, and in fact, will likely get you nowhere at all. There is no substitute for getting yourself and your art out in public, frequenting local art venues and events, and meeting as many people as possible along the way-- wherever and whenever you can.
So let's say you advance from the "show anything anywhere" phase to participating in a handful of group shows at decent local galleries to maybe getting a solo show or two at entry-level galleries that specialize in emerging artists to maybe even having your art favorably reviewed online or by influencers in the local community.
Even a successful show or two does not mean you're ready to approach better galleries, either in your area or anywhere else. As in the non-art world, you don't go directly from entry-level positions to head of the company or from being a local bar band to playing Madison Square Garden. You progress step-by-step and show-by-show; that's how artists get known. Are you beginning to see how this hierarchy works? For those of you who need a little more in the way of explanation, let's take a moment to look at how and why the best galleries come to show the artists they do.
To begin with, these galleries do not randomly select artists who happen to walk through the door or make contact in casual ways like by email, social media, mail or phone hardly any galleries anywhere do that. They don't even select artists based solely on whether they like the art or even on how good it is.
That's the shocking part-- your art can be really good-- I mean really really good-- and prominent galleries will not show you no matter what. In order to show at better galleries YOU as well as your art have to be a total match. The quality of your art is only one step in the process. There's also your resume, reputation, experience, accomplishments, awards, standing in the art community, social media following, your overall online profile, how you are to work with, your sales history, the quality of critical reviews of your past shows, and much more.
Simply put, the best galleries show the best artists.
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