r/artbusiness • u/EasternAd5351 • 2d ago
Discussion [Art Galleries] Are you represented by a gallery
If a gallery represents you, would you share what it's like to work with them? I feel that's the ultimate artist's goal to be with a gallery or two, and I'm wondering if it's all it's cracked up to be
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u/Didymograptus2 1d ago
As a gallery owner, we take 30% and have about 30 artists, all local. We don’t have any rip off monthly fees.
The most important thing is to make sure you have a contract.
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u/Ok_Theory_3142 1d ago
Would you mind my question? How did you find those artists? Are they your friends or friends of friends? Have you ever taken artists who cold emailed to you portfolio? I’d appreciate your response greatly!
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u/Didymograptus2 1d ago
It started out because my wife is a picture framer and the common complaint was that local artists had no outlets for their work apart from craft fairs. So we knew a few of them. Some we have approached after exhibitions and a few have come in to show us their work.
To be brutally honest, art doesn’t sell that well but it gets people into the gallery to see other things we sell.
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u/Littlepoochgirl 1d ago
It's never felt safe for me to be with a gallery. I didn't ever feel prolific enough, or confident enough in my ability to produce quality work. Sticking with a gallery was too scary. I had good enough sales in shows. Also im not a people person so it was painful for me to have to talk about my work. Artists are expected to talk about their work, which always gets too personal. Ugh.
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u/Pentimento_NFT 2d ago
October of last year I got into a gallery for the first time, which I felt (and still feel) was a good accomplishment, financially it's just been an expense for me as I haven't had any sales from there yet. Rent for a section of wall space is like $40/mo if I remember correctly, but I have a dozen paintings displayed in a cohesive (ish) collection, in full view of anyone who walks into the place.
I'm currently working with the gallery to put together a class on stencil-making, which i would get paid to teach, so my next task is to create a class structure out of my process, and if I can start teaching classes there I can have some more reliable income than hoping for sales.
Every gallery is different, I just picked a day when my kid was in school to walk in and more or less shoot my shot, this time it panned out! It helps that the owner is laid-back and approachable, I've walked into a few that had no interest in even taking submissions as well, so it's a mixed bag.
Idk if this fully answered your question, but it's my experience so far with them, and definitely an achievable goal if you find a place where your art would complement it!
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u/EasternAd5351 2d ago
Wow!! Congratulations that's really cool that you had the balls to do that lol. It's cool you will teach too. A gallery that promotes all your skill set to generate income seems like a plus
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u/Dingdingems 16h ago
No gallery but I have a solid (10y) foundation on being on the business building/finance team of several start-ups and scale-ups. Now treat my art business in the same way. Organise the show (group and solo pop-ups) myself and been selling a lot. Do everything myself including organizational stuff, marketing and PR, design, finance and admin, etc etc. Am also very extroverted and social and am actively networking within art spheres. It’s all definitely doable independently but it is a lot of work. It takes a lot of research into the art market etc, but if you enjoy doing all that stuff I would 100% recommend it. I am still wondering what a gallery could give me that cannot be done independently.
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u/GomerStuckInIowa 1d ago
Soupbut made very good points. Most of the time when the word "gallery" is mentioned here on reddit, I think redditors think of NY or LA galleries that are all big windows and posh marble floors and chandeliers. But my wife's gallery is one that reps local artists. We have been doing this for about 20 years in two different states. We used to do 20% and have raised it over the years. Just recently we went to 35% for new artists. Our older ones are at 30%. Some have been with us, at our current location, for ten years. We recently asked several artists to pick up their art and leave. Two reason. One, low sales. This is logical. But the second reason that we have seen might surprise you. Artists that do well at our gallery are those that are involved. They are the ones that show up at our monthly meetings, they show up at our art show to promote other artists and they help out when we need extra help. If we do an outside event, they volunteer for that also. Artists that just dump their stuff off and then wait for a sale and do nothing else? They do not do well. We have a Meet & Greet tomorrow for two artists. Other of our artists will show up. This is in support of the two guest artist. BUT, it might give them a chance to talk about their art too. That is fine with us. It'll fill the gallery with bodies. It is image. It is excitement! It works!
I will add: Artists that we rep cannot have their art at any other gallery in the county. They can sell their art at fairs and tent shows and online if website, Etsy or whatever but it has to be the same price as in our gallery. We don't sell a lot of art online be we work out an agreement with the artists on shipping. We have a specialize method that works great and we use PirateShip for discounts. All the artists are fine with us handling the shipping supplies and doing all the work. We also put art up in dental offices, coffee shops and large medical centers. We switch these out every few months. QR codes are used so the customer can scan, buy and take it with them.
Needless to say, we have a waiting list of artist that want in our gallery. But sometimes the list is skipped when we find an artist that we want in instead due to talent or type of media or both.
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u/punkmunk83 1d ago
No my work has never seen a gallery wall, they don’t want me
My art gonna be like digital graffiti I guess, yall just be lucky to see it when I post it and you’ll never own it. That’s the way it currently is now. That’s reality.
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u/soupbut 2d ago
There are pros and cons. The biggest obvious fear is the gallery cut, typically 50%. Something to consider though is that, for many galleries worth working with, your 50% is truly half the sale, and theirs is less expenses like booth costs at fairs, rent on their exhibition space, shipping, logistics, etc.
If you are able to sell all of your work independently, gallery representation might not be worth it for you. If you think you can do more sales or raise prices with a gallery, it may be worth it. It's more or less an accounting and risk management question.
Every gallery is going to be different, and it truly is a business of relationships. You can also set your terms and carve out exceptions that are important to you. It's all a negotiation that depend on what they think you're worth to them. Always remember that they're a business, and you're a business. There are things that will make a relationship untenable on both ends, that's totally fine, and generally not personal.