Should Artists Work with Galleries or Sell Independently

Read Show Notes: https://hyperluxmagazine.com/should-artists-work-with-galleries-or-sell-independently/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Hey, wonderful humans. Welcome to another episode of the Curated Muse podcast. In this episode, we are going to focus on selling art... either through galleries or independently as an artist. Since starting in the art world over 20 years ago, there has been a really big shift with how collectors buy art and a big shift with how artists sell art. 20 years ago, you really did need a gallery. You really did need that partnership. But now in modern times, artists are taking their career in their own hands and they're selling a lot independently. They're selling through their website. They're selling through social media. So it begs the question, what is the point of selling with a gallery if you're able to sell on your own? And is it even worth it? As I look through different social media feeds, I love to do research, look on Reddit, look on social media, look on different... message boards about how artists are viewing galleries. There are a lot of people that are very pro-galleries still to this day, and they find value in those relationships. But I unearthed such a large echo chamber of people being absolutely upset at the gallery model. so much so that the negative talk around it is exorbitant. But it doesn't really fall under an umbrella of all galleries because every gallery operates differently. A lot of the anger comes from maybe the high commission or maybe the submission fee on top of the commission. There's so many different ways that galleries function that there isn't just one program that a gallery is running. And so that's something that artists don't often understand. When I moved to a new city a couple years ago, the community was a very small community, all focused on local and very little on outside of the city or the state, let alone the country. And the interesting thing about it was every artist that was exhibiting in these local galleries was were paying upwards of$250 a month to hang their work on a wall. And in the global art world, that's not the only way that it works. There are so many galleries that will bring artists on and they work on a commission, whether it's 50-50 or 60-40, but artists don't lose any money up front just to hang their art on the walls. But I'm telling you this because the whole community had no idea that there was even another structure. And I learned this when I shared the way that we did our gallery. When we got asked about the fees, we said, we don't have any. We basically work with artists in a partnership. We sell on a global level in person and online, and you will get a percentage of sales just like we will based on if we can sell your work. If the work doesn't sell, you are not out any money. So when we hear all of this hate and anger about art galleries, we have to look at the way that they do their program. But also on the other side of it, you hear a lot of artists lamenting that they can't sell art on their own. that they have literally no ability. They've tried on their website and social media, and they can't get anybody to buy their work. And so when you are an artist and you are looking to figure out what is best for you, you have to look at what are all of the options. And it's not always just one or the other. In life, things can be mutually exclusive, but they can also be mutually collaborative. You don't just have to sell in a gallery and not sell in your own. You don't have to just sell on your own and not in a gallery. You can do it all together. You can be an independent artist who sells art on your own and partners with galleries that you find their values to match your values and that you find that that partnership is advantageous for your career. And when I look back at all of those threads about people being agitated about how galleries run, most of them are focused on the fees and the commissions and one thing that I can share being also a gallerist curator and artist is that I can share both sides of this. And the really interesting thing I saw was other gallerists, other curators sharing the reasons why the commissions are high and why their programs look like this. A lot of people actually started to understand and others more modern, more focused on independence, really couldn't see the value of such a high percentage, which is typically 50-50, sometimes 65 And the reason why this is such a high commission, of course, as an artist myself, it does kind of bite me in the butt sometimes when I think about showing that's such a large amount to give away. But also being a gallerist, I understand that the gallery keeps their lights on. They have to pay for the building. They pay for marketing. They pay for staff. They pay for security and storage of the work. They also have a bigger connection to collectors than I do. I mean, maybe that's not the same for all artists, but I know that the majority of artists do not have such a large collector base because you have to think galleries aren't focused on one artist, so there's one or two collectors for that artist. They're focused on anywhere between 20 to even a couple hundred artists, meaning they have collectors that cross over and have interest in numerous types of art, which gives your work the ability to be collected by somebody you may not have had access to. And that's a really big opportunity for some artists. Other artists might say, that doesn't really create any value for me. I sell on my own and I'm good with that. Well, then you should do that. There's nothing wrong with selling independently. There's nothing wrong with going and doing your own journey. I am very much an advocate for artists having their own website, having their own e-commerce store, creating relationships with collectors, because as a human being, we should always forge our own success through the channels in which feel the best for us. However, we should also make sure that we're looking at every possible avenue to make sure that we're not missing out on something that may cultivate some really positive reward for us. The other thing I say when talking about galleries is although our programming is a certain way, there's a lot of other programming that isn't really advantageous for artists. For example, galleries that have a high fee right off the bat before you even exhibit the work. What is the point of that? Now, I'm not talking about calls for art that have a submission fee. That's a whole other thing that we've talked about in other podcasts. That's totally great. There's tons of calls for art out there that have minimal fees. And it's because they're looking at a wide variety of audiences. And to go through submissions takes a lot of time. To put those exhibitions together takes a lot of time. And it does pay for those admin fees. It does pay for that time so that people can actually take the time and look at those submissions. There are also galleries that have open calls and general submission options that don't cost anything. But when you are looking at ones that actually have a fee, this is a really good doorway for artists that are brand new or maybe want to change the market that they're in and have new experiences. The other thing you should look at when exploring galleries is if they have a track record for actual sales. I can't tell you how many calls for art that I get, numerous things that I research for this podcast and Hyperlux Magazine, where people will continue to submit to, and there's no historical record of any sales on the website. Sales should be transparent. You should be able to go to a website and see things that have been sold, see prices. And we also wrote an article about price transparency. Galleries that don't offer price transparency make it really hard for collectors because sometimes it feels predatory. When I call in and I'm interested in a piece or when I email and I'm asking about a piece, are you gonna adjust the price based on who I am? So transparency is good. We wanna see transparency in sales. We wanna see transparency in pricing. We wanna see that that gallery is selling. We also are very big about the exclusivity. If you're looking at galleries that are completely exclusive that say, hey, you must only show with us, We do not encourage that. Ten years ago, that was something that made a lot of sense. But now, it's a big pool. There's big and open opportunities that no artist should be pigeonholed into working with only one gallery. Now, I say this as a mid-tier gallery. I'm not talking about the blue chip world or certain other types of gallery structures where you might find exclusivity to be to your benefit. But generally speaking, exclusivity isn't. The way that we look at the art world is that it is completely abundant. That just because we show an artist and someone else shows an artist doesn't mean that there's competition. And just because I show in one gallery or show in another gallery means I favor one over the other. It's called opportunity. And opportunity is out there and we should go after it as artists and creators. Additionally, if you are selling through galleries and they are not selling your work, you're not finding that ability to create a sale, which is common. It happens. If a gallery is doing a group show and has 50 people, maybe the gallery will sell 10% of that work. But if you are showing with them consistently and you are not selling work with them, they might not be a good fit. However, you still might love that relationship and still want to show with them and you can. But just remember, every relationship should have some type of return of investment. It is a partnership. And us as galleries as well sometimes can't sell certain artists' work. Yet we love to show their work and we love to have it in shows because it's just amazing work. And maybe one day someone will fall in love. But even so, that's a different type of partnership. It doesn't have a financial reward. That doesn't mean that that relationship isn't beneficial. Not every relationship is has a return of investment in a monetary way, sometimes it is just a partnership that feels good. I have one gallery in particular that I absolutely love showing at and they rarely sell my work, but I love the owners. I love what they do. I love how they promote. I love the collection of work that they show and I'm just honored to be a part of it. So you have to look at things like that to decide if that works for you. And also when you're looking at galleries, do they have poor communication? Are they not great at communicating? Are they not great at keeping you up to date with what's going on? Do they not have a great digital presence? That is so important right now. Although if a gallery still has a lot of foot traffic, they're missing the boat if they're not focused on digital communications and connections in the world. That is such an important part of where we are and how the world is shifting for artists. Now, if you're an artist that feels like the gallery relationship is not great for you, you don't want to give up that percentage, you don't feel like this is where you want to go with your career, then you have to look at how to forge your own way. Do you have a solid website? Do you have a solid social media presence? Are you doing all of those things for yourself to create success? But remember, just because you have a website or you have a social media or you make really great work, selling art is different than making great art. I've seen absolutely gorgeous pieces of work that just sit there and never sell. And I've seen work, I know this is my own opinion, but clearly I felt the work was subpar. yet sells for hundreds and hundreds of dollars. So you have to look at it as an artist in selling your work. It's not always whether or not you're a good artist. whether or not you market yourself well, is whether or not there are collectors there that are interested in purchasing that work. You can sit on Instagram all day long and make tons of reels and spin around and do reveals and do tons of works in progress, but that might not equate to sales. And if you're not selling on your own, then maybe it's a good time to reach out and partner with a gallery and see if they can sell it. And if they can't, then it might be time to sit down and look at your work and ask yourself, do I want to be a professional artist? Do I just love what I do? How much do I care about sales? And if I care about sales, I need to find out why I'm not selling. And if I really only love art and the sales don't really matter, then keep doing what you're doing. Knowing whether or not that you wanna be a professional artist or you just love making art is important because being a professional artist has a lot of things that are not the most joyful parts of being a creator. And that's just facts. And we will do a podcast on that. But doing art that you love and maybe every once in a while having a sale, maybe every once in a while someone invests in your work and that's good enough for you and that's the joy that it brings. then you should do that. So I hope this was helpful in giving you some insights and whether or not showing in a gallery or going rogue on your own. And remember with every decision that you make, I've always loved hearing this from somebody. I can't remember who it was. I was gonna quote them, but now I can't. You can always change. You can always shift. No decision you make in your life as an artist or a person has to be final, but you have to make a decision. You have to decide where you wanna go so you can start down that path. If you find that that path isn't advantageous, then it's time to shift, maybe add something new in. As a human being, I believe strongly in the art of adapting, in the art of shifting and moving and bending with the wind. Because if we become rigid in what we believe and what we think, We really put ourselves into a little box that doesn't allow us to grow and explore and bloom and learn things that we didn't even know or understand things that we've never understood so that we can progress as artists and human beings. All right, I'll see you again in another episode.