One of the benefits of blogging and using Social Media for my art business is the networking opportunity I have with other artists. I have met many talented and intellegent creatives, such is the case with art blogger, Barney Davey.
I approached Barney and asked him to swap guest articles with me. Barney cleverly suggested doing a series of collaborative conversational style articles instead. For our first installment, we narrowed down our choices and decided to keep to a single art marketing topic. The subject we chose is one of the most heated topics among artists today…
Should artists work on getting into galleries, seek to build their own direct-to-collector distribution, or do both?
To read our response to the above question, don’t miss The Visual Artist’s Challenge: Should I Work with Galleries, Go Direct to Collectors Collectors or Both?
Let me know what YOU think. ~Lori
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As a Gallery Director of over 13 years I clearly have strong feelings on this issue. While I understand that social media is playing an important role in the marketing of most retail products and services I think it is important that art remain distinguished by the very fact that is a unique creation with a level of intrigue designed to engender a strong subjective response from the potential client. Allowing it to become an overtly commercial commodity like (dare I say it) a Kinkade mug or jigsaw puzzle, which can be purchased by clicking a “Cart” icon next to it, inevitably cheapens the work.
You mention that the collector wants a personal connection and better understanding of the artist. What better way to gain this than by seeing the painting in person, experiencing every brushstroke, catching the reflection in a carefully applied glaze and benefitting from an informed conversation with a gallery representative who can discuss their tastes, decor, what the painting means to them and features of the artist’s style that make it unique. By comparing individual paintings, either by the same artist or those who hang together in a show, within a gallery setting, the representative can educate the client and assist them in making an informed decision in which they can feel confident when they return home to hang their new aquisition.
Of the many galleries I network with, few if any have ever expected to simply “hang art and sell it off the walls”. With all due respect to the many wonderful and appreciative artists out there, others may be unaware of the level of promotion a well-respected gallery undertakes both before and after a show is actually hung. Images are e-mailed to clients, calls are made to build the excitement of the event, hundreds of invitations are mailed (tangible invitations which land in a real mail box, not a virtual one), press releases are sent out, magazines are contacted and advertisements placed.
Personal promotion by an artist of their work undoubtedly plays a key role in establishing their persona and building a presence in the art world, and there is no question that we are in an evolving and exciting era in terms of promoting art. A gallery would be remiss to think that it need not keep pace with these changes, and I believe there are ways of incorporating them into it’s marketing strategy, while retaining the artistic value of each individual work and sustaining ever important relationships with existing clients.
In short, a dedication to providing the best level of exposure and a commitment to sales is the common goal of both artist and gallery. My hope is that the lines between the two do not become overly blurry and that the wonderful artists I have the pleasure of working with every day remain focused on doing what they do best and continue to produce the finest of work while supporting their galleries while we do our job. Working together in this way can only lead to a win/win situation.
Hi Carey and thank you for the comment.
The whole point of our blog post is to encourage a healthy synergy between galleries and artists – not a division. I agree that nothing can replace viewing a painting in person, nor do I want it to! I love galleries and personally I am grateful for my galleries and mention them frequently in my blog posts to help drive traffic their way.
Direct marketing is the direct relationship between the producer of a product and the buyer. For years, many artists have sold this way through art fairs and studio shows. But also, direct marketing can be done via Social Media. For instance, if one of my ‘friends’ who I have built a relationship with on Twitter or Facebook is interested in my painting I can personally answer any questions, then send him or her to the gallery where my art is available. This creates that win/win scenario you spoke of. (more examples in the upcoming post).
Great galleries continue to work hard for their artists and are adapting to the changing market place. That said, artists and galleries do miss the glory days when art seemed to fly off the walls when there was no shortage of art sales!
As you stated above, personal promotion is important and now artists can use Social Media as a free marketing tool. In the article Barney and I mentioned that we believe in a healthy balance of working with galleries and self promotion.
There are a lot of creative ways for artists to market themselves while maintaining an honest and open relationship with their galleries. I can assure you that artists who have discovered the benefits of blogging and Social Media are working harder than ever to enhance their art careers which in turn benefits their galleries.
I hope you read the follow-up blog post which will be coming soon.
Lori
Hi Carey,
Thanks for the thoughtful reply. What you say is true. I have worked in two very different galleries that primarily sold original paintings. One of the first things I observed was how much effort went into selling art at that level.
We rarely saw “lappers.” You know, those sales that fall our of the sky into your lap. Nearly all came through the investment of time, money and effort to establish and maintain a relationship so that a sale could transpire at the right time. Yes, there were artists who had become so popular with collectors that much of their work was never publicly displayed. But, those were the result of years of building and catering to a small select group. And, it was a very small percentage of artists in the gallery who had such a following.
Anyone who runs a successful gallery has my utmost respect because I know the same entrepreneurs could have chosen many other fields and made more money and worked less hard to do it. That’s the deal. You don’t find people in it for the money as the first criteria.
All of us, consumers, collectors, gallerists, artists and those closely allied to the field are feeling our way along in a new era where doing business the old way is changing and doing business the new way is challenging. I think the most successful artist and galleries in the future will find new unique ways to help each other as never before.
There will always be those who go it on their own and make it going against the grain. But, for every one of those special characters, there will be dozens who succeed by following the path that offers them the best odds of achieving their goals. The saying about being cursed to live in interesting times certainly applies to us these days in the art patch.
Barney, thanks for your thoughtful reply to Carey’s comment.
Great post and discussion that applies to so many different types of business’s. For me it reminds me of the days of selling real estate in a strong market late 90’s. The word order taker was often used to describe on site agents who wrote contracts and sold homes all day. Of course we had to work hard and develope the relationship and maintain it but I believe the point here is that post 9/11 and given the slow economy and current market conditions, all business’s have to change and especially in resort towns.
Let’s face it, gone are the days of sitting back and having lots of traffic through our open houses and selling high volume (yes & of course we worked hard on the backend). Today we are lucky to have a few visitors a week and the need to get creative has never been stronger.
This is where I see the big value in social media. It is the power to reach a target market that might never of found you. These are people that will not be viisting our town, our open houses or our galleries. Twitter, Facebook and YouTube has forever changed the way we can reach a global target audience with the end goal of finding a loyal customer who at the end of the day buys his or her dream home and then goes to our local gallery and buys a beautiful piece of art from a local artist to hang in their new home.
I see us all having to change and here in my resort town we are catching up and in some areas leading the way. The personal connection between an agent or atist is an important step in building a relationship of trust. The cool thing about social media for me is that it opens doors and opportunities to connect with people from around the world and share with them what we do, sell and where we live.
Thanks again for the article.
Chris
Chris,
I have always been of the opinion that the housing market and art markets are the ‘canaries in the coalmine’ during challenging economic times. There is a direct correlation between selling houses and selling art. When no walls are selling, generally no art is selling. Yes, there are always those collectors with money and they ARE out there, but many of them are clutching their wallets right now too.
Social Media reaches out to the people who are not walking through the open houses in realestate and the art galleries.
Thanks for your comment.
Lori 🙂
Lori,
I enjoyed reading this informative article. It will be interesting to see how the art market plays out for the next five years – so much is changing. I like that artists now have a choice and don’t need “gatekeepers” to sell art.
On the other hand, three of my friends (professional artists) have more than doubled their income as a result of being taken on by high visibility galleries. Galleries who put ads in collectors’ magazines and do a really great job of promoting their artists are helping these emerging artists get noticed by a different group of collectors – different from the collector base they had while selling on their own.
On the third hand, I have friends who do not sell out of well known galleries, but in regional galleries and outdoor shows – a few of them make over 100K/year. Their work doesn’t show up in magazines or ads, but they have a solid collector base.
Today, an artist doesn’t necessarily need a gallery, but in some cases, they provide a great service for artists.
Lori, you are an artist with her finger on the pulse and I know you are aware that this is a passionate topic among artists and galleries. As always, artists have the choice to decide which direction suits their needs and marketing strategy.
Social Media has provided a new way for artists and galleries to tap into different market places – generally for free! I personally have a high regard for the gallery industry and will continue selling my paintings through galleries while using SM to broaden my reach as an artist.
Thanks for taking time to make a thoughtful comment.
Best – Lori
Thank you for the writing this article and all the comments! I have been an artist for over 40 years and I have done art shows, owned a gallery, show in galleries and for the past seven years I move to Scottsdale and participate in a three month art show. I look at my art career as a three legged stool. I need galleries, a show or two and the 3 month show in Scottsdale to survive as an artist! I finally (in the past five years) have the money to travel all over the world to study and photograph wildlife for my work and I am now living beyond the dream I had a young starving artist! I am grateful for all the hard work galleries and shows do for us and I have been working double time to get ready for a show right now before my husband and I fly to Rwanda to see and photograph mountain gorillas and back to Kenya for a ten day safari! Galleries, shows and I benefit from the choices I have made in my career! Got to get back to the painting on my easel!