How to Sell Art in a Gallery
It is sometimes hard for an artist to sell his art. It represents his heart and soul, but when the artist learns how to sell art in a gallery, he is taking care of his stomach.
How to Sell Art in a Gallery
In a perfect world, an artist would never have to worry about the mundane everyday matters of buying food and paying rent. People would revere their artists in the way they do their pop stars and athletes. Regardless of age or experience, the people who produce the art that beautifies our world would be free to worry about nothing else. Sadly, we do not live in a perfect world and the term “struggling artist” is well known. Learning how to sell their art in a gallery is usually a must for most artists.
Here are some practical tips for selling art in a gallery. Remember that your best customers are often collectors of art. These people are not necessarily looking for a pretty picture for an empty spot on a wall. They are looking for art with meaning and value. No one understands the meaning of a work of art or what it is trying to convey better than the artist that created it. The artist should be willing to be at the gallery to talk with the collectors and explain their work. If they can not be there, the gallery employees should be knowledgeable about the artist, his past work, and his prospects for the future.
Collectors are not only art lovers, but they are also investors. As investors, they will have a pretty good idea of value and will not respond well to a used car lot type of approach by a gallery art salesman. They will respond well to intelligent and truthful appraisals of the investment potential of a work or an artist.
Good art will always sell better out of a well lighted and carefully arranged gallery setting than in a dingy room or back yard garage sale. Art is a visual experience and it is important to enhance this rather than detract from it when you are trying to sell a work. It is often the visual impact of a piece in the gallery that will insure the sale. This could be more important than the proverbial thousand words.
It is important to remember that the appreciation of art is a highly personal matter. What is a masterpiece to one person will be a waste of paint to another. The overall atmosphere of the gallery needs to be positive, but opinion should be well respected. It is usually helpful to have a price clearly marked on a work for sale, or to have a printed price list available. The gallery is being up front about its conception of the value and worth of the work. However, it is important to be privately flexible also. It is not a perfect world and sometimes a piece of art needs to be a bargain. Although the artist may feel his work is his heart and soul, those things are actually still in his body and he can always produce more art.