cogitat
Fesshole 🧻I'm an artist and I hate the amount of commission galleries charge. If you like one of an artist's pieces, wait until after the exhibition and approach them privately: you'll get the picture for half the price and the artist will make more money.
Skwirrel
rubbel@SquirrelwithaninvisibleW @fesshole It's a brilliant tip if you hate galleries.
Jan Maris
GJ Groothedde 🇪🇺@fesshole You don't like to work for peanuts but you'd like other people to if if lines your pockets, amirite?
@Eetschrijver @fesshole
Don't worry too much about the financial situation of gallery owners. Especially compared to the average artist.
Don't worry too much about the financial situation of gallery owners. Especially compared to the average artist.
justmichelle@maris @Eetschrijver @fesshole I worked at a gallery for eleven years. (Assistant to the owner etc.) Trust me. Gallery owners are not hurting.
UkeleleEric@maris @Eetschrijver @fesshole yeah. We're not talking about galleries not covering their costs, but taking a ridiculous sized percentage. It can't cost the gallery more if they host an exhibition with higher-priced pieces than others of the same size, so a fairer way would be to charge a set amount per sale. That way, it would be in the gallery's interest to encourage more sales, not just selling a few of the higher priced items. And the artist can figure out what's most likely to sell.
Jez DuBois 🌎@fesshole I commissioned a painting from an artist I like. He cut me a huge deal, and still made more money than what he would have made at the gallery. We both were happy. I then later bought another of his paintings at auction for less than I would have paid new at a gallery. He didn't make any money on that sale, but he was pleased to hear I had the painting.
Inc Hulk 🧪@fesshole Art I have bought directly from the artist has involved a fantastic discussion over coffee, seeing the workshop and being very happy to hand over well earned cash.
Gallery exhibitions are fine for free champagne on opening day, but don’t buy the artwork there.
Gallery exhibitions are fine for free champagne on opening day, but don’t buy the artwork there.
john lehet@fesshole Right, no galleries, and people will just find our work by google searches. Oh. Maybe not. Well, surely AI can inspire people to look for us? Oh. Or maybe we need galleries to keep their rent paid and lights on.
@maris @fesshole I am in a handful of galleries and have been for a good while. Some of them have thrown in the towel, especially around Covid lockdown of course.
The one with which I have the closest relationship uses "shop sitters," where artists staff the gallery, and in return the commission is lower. It's still over 20% even with shop sitting. In my case it's a very bad financial deal, but I do it to support the gallery. I think most of us do that. At the end of a shift, often the day's sales are pretty low. I always wonder how the rent gets paid and the lights stay on. This is a small arts/crafts local-art gallery in Vermont. Maybe it works differently for different kinds of galleries in different markets.
I assume you have run galleries yourself so you know the financial situation better than I do. But it seems a dicey business to me. I would never try to run one myself.
i've run one gallery for a short time, but that wasn't representative for normal situations.
i look at the time it takes to paint, say, 50 paintings for an exhibition, made by, say, 10 painters.
and compare that to the time a gallery owner spends sitting there during the exhibition, receiving customers, doing some publicity, etc.
the 10 painters also have to pay rent, electricity, heating, etc. for their 10 studios.
calculate this and you see that 50% commission is completely absurd.
Joan Egert@fesshole If this makes the galleries close down coz nobody buys the art, the artists will not have any chance to exhibit their work.
L'égrégore André ꕭꕬ@joanegert @fesshole there are more ways to exhibit one's art than at a gallery, but more to the point is that a commission of 50% or so (that's been mentioned in the discussions) is in the average case no way near proportional to the costs involved.
Jo - pièce de résistance@Mabande @joanegert @fesshole
Artist-run galleries and cooperatives that are run on memberships, provide community, ensure members artists get a solo show and group show annually, often have better online presence and promotions, and shops to purchase members art. They get reduced rates on gallery space rentals, and take lower commissions.
Most are run as non-profits.
Artist-run galleries and cooperatives that are run on memberships, provide community, ensure members artists get a solo show and group show annually, often have better online presence and promotions, and shops to purchase members art. They get reduced rates on gallery space rentals, and take lower commissions.
Most are run as non-profits.