Marketing of Fine Art Silk Paintings

Dealer: Investigate the gallery. Basic facts, like do they deal in contemporary art? Do they sell art similar to you work? If not- don’t waste your or their time. Try to visit the gallery. Tell someone you are an artist looking for a show. They will most likely give you their requirements for submissions. Most galleries get many requests and may have a form letter telling you what they want from you. If you can’t visit you can call and ask them for there submission policy. They may send it to you, or ask you to send a letter requesting it and may even want you to send a SASE for it. Be brief on the phone. Don’t expect too much. You can try mailing photos/color photocopies of your work with a brief note that you are looking for a gallery and want info from them about making a more formal submission. Someone will look at the work, however briefly. If it is good and they think they can sell it they will follow up. If you don’t hear back, don’t feel too bad. A few more things; Send them what they ask for. You may think an artist statement is dumb but if they want it send it. Don’t send too much. Just a few of your best works. Learn to edit you presentation. Slides, CD, Disks, and website URLS require more effort on the part of the dealer to look at them. Usually this effort is wasted effort. The dealer knows this, and will not bother. Unless otherwise requested, send photos. It is hard not to look at a photo. If it is good they will notice and will then ask for more info. Lots of work is sent to every gallery. Most people who send work to galleries are lousy artists. Even good work has to fit the taste of the dealer and his clients. If you don’t hear from a gallery you can follow up but if they liked the work they would call. No response means ‘no thanks’. Galleries that solicit you for artwork may be vanity galleries. This is okay just know what you are getting into. Try newer galleries. They have a greater need for artists, but probably fewer clients. Try to grow with them.

On getting an art show:

Dealer:First find a list of galleries in your area. (Try gallery guide) Visit them (or at least there websites) and find out which galleries are selling work like your own. You will probably want to show in a few different galleries until you find one that works for you. Then you will want to find galleries in different cities to show in. Try attending a few openings or just visiting the galleries. You can tell the staff you are an artist looking for a show but don’t take too much of their time. They are more interested in clients than artists during a show. Be friendly, dress well. Be business like. Don’t be high strung. You want to be someone the dealer feels comfortable working with. This goes both ways if you don’t get a good vibe from the dealer you don’t want to show there. You have to have a decent rapport. Newer galleries are more likely to need artists, but may not have the clients to sell to. Older, established galleries probably sell but don’t often need artists. Be aware that many people open a gallery because they think it is fun, and it is. But they will often not be the greatest business people nor have many clients. It is good if you can find a young, competent gallery, and grow with it. Contact the gallery (letter, e-mail, or phone) and ask them for their submission requirements. If you are doing this by mail some brief (a few lines at most) information about you is fine here as are one or two photocopies/photos of your work. Don’t submit a lot of work at this point. Don’t send slides at this point. Don’t send a CD at this point. Many will tell you they are not looking for new artists. Some will tell you how to submit work to them. Follow the instructions they give you even if you think they are stupid. If they want a bio or a mission statement, write one with simple declarative sentences. Try to avoid too much art-speak. If the gallery wants money to review your submission this is not a good first sign and you may want to pass on them. Send a few (5-10) color photo copies or photos of your work with your submission. These will be viewed right out of the envelope. If the work relays what the gallery wants the work will jump out at them. If it's really not what they want, that will jump out two. Most art submitted to a gallery is really bad. Ninety percent of submissions are out after five seconds. This will let the gallery make a snap judgment and shorten the time you need to wait for a response. If by some chance it is great then the dealer will immediately look at the rest of the packet, mediocre and it goes into a pile for formal review sometime down the road. Don’t worry too much about the photo quality. A decent film camera and a sunny day will work for almost any painting/sculpture. The color will not be perfect; every nuance will not be caught. A dealer knows this. Few works of art are of such a nature that the exact shade of color makes the difference between getting a show or not.

If you don’t hear back in a month you can call or drop them a polite note asking what has happened to your submission. Be aware if they loved your work they would have called when they got it. Do not expect to have anything returned by a gallery even if you give then an SASE to do so. Don’t send anything you really need to get back. Don’t spend too much on presentation materials. Galleries often review are quarterly or even semi-annually. This may mean quite a wait to here back from them. If they don’t call it means they don’t want it. Take a hint and move on. Lead time for a show varies but is usually six moths to a year. Most galleries book shows a year in advance. There are exceptions. Sometimes group shows are booked around a few artists and others are filled in. Group shows are good when starting out. The artists in a group shows will hopefully make sense, thematically, stylistically, regionally -something. Beware of galleries that represent a large number of artists, that many of the artists aren’t that good, and that the styles of the artists are not at all consistent. If such galleries ask for a good bit of money from you to be in a group show you are probably dealing with what is known as a ‘vanity’ gallery. They make most of their money from artists and rarely sell. While such shows may do no harm they will do little good. Some galleries may ask you to pay for post cards to be printed or some such expenses. You decide if this makes sense for you. Normally galleries take 50% of the sales price. You should discuss pricing of your works with the gallery. You probably should defer to them. Try to price cheaply to encourage sales. Your prices should go up over time. If you sell well because you priced very cheap your next show will be even better and your prices should increase, a bit. Don’t price so cheap you work seems like junk. The dealer will help you avoid that trap. Read the gallery contract carefully. Be aware of clauses regarding exclusive resonation (you may owe the gallery if you sell outside of them), length of representation, and nature of the show. Many artists are obsessed about gallery receptions. Don’t be. It is a party. Very rarely is something sold during a reception. If you have some issue about the contract hopefully it is about something more meaningful than the wine will be served.

Dealer's information was gathered over years of professional experience. He has generously summed it up to share this information with you and the world gratis. My thanks, Kirstin Ilse