A Take on the Gallery Market

Journal Entry: Monday, February 6, 2023

one of my paintings in a collector’s home.

Adapted from correspondence on Monday, February 6, 2023

Over the last 40 years that I have been in art galleries and selling art. I have thought about all the angles and yes, most of the angles don't favor the artists in a way that we would consider fair and equitable.

I would definitely change some of the details if somebody put me in charge of art gallery policies, but the dealers would start whining. But I must say, over the last 40 years a lot has changed mostly for the better in terms of gallery practice. Most galleries hold themselves to a higher standard than they used to. Still a lot of the arrangement favors the gallery not the artist.

One reason for this is that a business selling contemporary art takes a lot of risks trying to sell work that is experimental and unproven. There is no telling what will sell to whom and when. I am still selling things from at least 20 years ago. So that is how long things might sit before the right person comes along.

The collector market is also very small. Art is a luxury item, so it is not like selling furniture where there is usually a 'net 90' time frame involved where the furniture dealer has to pay for the inventory within 90 days of receiving it. The 90 days is to give them enough time to sell some or all the inventory before the payment is due. That’s is why there are seasonal sales, to dump the remaining furniture before they have to pay the bill. Art cannot be sold like that. So that makes the stable of artists partners in the business at least as far as their own work is involved.

On the other hand, art dealers spend all of their time promoting their gallery and the art in it, developing a network of collectors and usually paying rent for 2,000-3,000 square feet in premium markets which can be 20K to 100K a month. They might not have an investment in anything but the computers and lightbulbs but still, it is time consuming and pretty damn expensive to operate a gallery especially if there are multiple employees to operate the business. I like dealers who are always hustling and love what they do.

As an artist, though it is expensive to pay a 50% commission and allow up to a 20% discount on the works, you just have to take those expenses into account and adjust your prices accordingly. As artists it doesn't seem fair to us that the end consumer is paying such a hefty price but the fact is, they understand that this is what it takes to get reputable art and that the art has a reputable paper trail for provenance purposes if they want to be sure that the art will hold and increase in value over time.

That is the kind of people you want buying your art. That's the way I see it. The people who can afford to collect the art are spending disposable income. They are in a different economic category than the rest of us. They want to buy things that are rare and worth more than what they paid for the square feet of wall space that the art will hang on. These are people typically living in multi-million dollar homes and don't have to worry about money anytime in the near to distant future - possibly for generations. I talked to one collector who said he would not even look at a piece of art if it was under 300K. Wow.

So taking all of that into account, as an artist (most of whom I assume are generally poor) our best angle is to participate in that market place under those terms.

So far, I personally have been wary of attempting to jump into the top tier gallery market like a Gagosian-type gallery because I am afraid of those shark infested waters where it is all about investment value not really the art. BUT if one of those galleries approached me with an offer, I would take a hard look at it.

The advantage of working one’s way, as an artist, into the gallery/collector market is that then you have 'people'. The dealers become your people that deal with all of the nitty gritty of dealing with the collectors. It is a waste of your time and attention for you to try to sell the work yourself in my opinion. Then as artist, once you start to make an income through gallery sales you can work full time in your studio and be fully absorbed in your artistic process and as your work becomes more idiosyncratic and individual and you have a cohesive vision and unique voice and ongoing and improving quality production that is what the collector market is looking to buy into and that is when the right galleries will take an interest in representing you. It is easy? No.

So after 40 years and about 50 different galleries and occasional disasters over the years that is a succinct take on my current thoughts related to the business of art in what I would call middle-tier art galleries - good solid galleries but not the creme-de-la-creme galleries.

Outside of the gallery market I don't know much. That is the only way I have done things.

It is easy enough to create a personal creative lifestyle but not easy creating a SELF-SUSTAINING creative lifestyle - it is daunting and it can take many years to figure it out and get it set up the right way and keep your head on strait and keep your intuition clear but it is possible if you have the grit.

In my case I never had another idea all the way from high school. Of course, I did various other things to keep the wolves from the door, but mostly so I could keep developing my art. It is some kind of internal drive. If you don't have that gnawing drive it will be hard to keep going and not be disheartened.

It took my wife and I until my mid 50's to achieve the reliable self-sustaining part of the creative lifestyle. But then I have always lived in the hinterlands of the art world not in the epicenter. Maybe it would have happened faster if we lived in NYC many years ago. Who knows. I guess I like a challenge. Or maybe I just like living a quiet, peaceful  and affordable life with plenty of elbow room. NYC is kind of hectic and very expensive cliff dwelling.