[Art Problems in Hyperallergic] Those Artworks Aren't Gonna Sell Themselves

Artist are sometimes their worst enemies (edit Sigourney Schultz and Shari Flores/Hyperallergic)

This week in Hyperallergic, I ask dealers, curators, and organizers to give me tips on how artists can collaborate better. I collected a lot of advice you might be surprised by, but I also break down some of the contradictions that make this world so difficult to navigate.

Take a look:

Both dealers Daniel Kinkade and Phillip Niemeyer, the founder of Austin-based gallery Northern Southern, cited the importance of pricing consistency. “Understand that a 50% split is normal for all retail, not just art,” Niemeyer told me. He listed out other bits of advice: “Don’t be desperate, don’t fire-sale your work on Instagram unless you are done making art, and don’t sell out of your studio if you have a gallerist.” (“Fire-selling” refers to selling work at an extremely discounted price).

Of course, there are exceptions to all of these cases, which is what makes the business so challenging. 

Being desperate usually translates into spamming and harassing your dealer, but artists may also be forced to send multiple emails if the dealer is uncommunicative. You shouldn’t fire-sale your work, but you can fire-sale a bunch of old drawings with little resale value to make room in a flat file. You shouldn’t sell out of your studio if you have a gallerist, but many artists have galleries halfway across the country that never sell to local collectors. 

To read the full article, click here.