Are galleries obsolete?
If your goal is to sell art for a living, then for that purpose, galleries are merely one more place to interact with the public and prospective collectors. They aren't critical or even necessary for the purposes of sales and marketing. So while they are obsolete for practical purposes, they aren't useless.
It's better to have art on someone's wall than warehoused in your studio awaiting a gallery show. Or worse: ignored. Your work belongs in the marketplace. It must circulate to accrue value, and given the ubiquity of social media, the self-representing artist no longer needs gallery representation for their work to enter into circulation.
The conventional approach of pricing high without having created a popular demand is presumptuous and counterproductive. When the pricing is disproportionate to the demand, your potential base of collectors is barred from investing. It's far better to keep your costs low and aim for sustainability low prices, thereby accruing consistent buyers. This will allow you to grow the demand organically, and your price increases will occur as a natural response.
Arbitrary pricing is rooted in a monopolistic mindset, which make sense given that every artist is, in fact,a monopolist. The power of a monopolist is in their exclusive access to something which is scarce, so it goes to follow--according to conventional wisdom-- that the artist doesn't need to justify exorbitant prices. This misguided approach has resulted in widespread hunger among artists, not to mention the wasted creative potential.
Original artwork appreciates in value because there is only a finite amount of work an artist can create. However, until the artist is recognized, appreciated, and desired for their unique art, it won't appreciate. It must exist in the popular mind, or at least within its particular micro-market .
Your objective must be to increase popular demand for your art by making as many people as possible aware of its unique qualities and desirability. Then, once your ability to produce is exceeded by the number of buyers, the art can be steadily produced, sold, shipped as fast as you can produce it. A consistently filled demand will lead to consistently increased prices.
The gallery offers a trade-off to the artist. In exchange for allowing the gallery sole rights to show and distribute the art, the artist is granted access to the buyers. The gallery's role as a mediator is a thing of the past. They no longer monopolize access in any meaningful way.
Social media is a great example of how the Internet has broken down traditional barriers of communication and access between the individual and the collective. Today, the fate of the artist is not bound up in knowing the right people or living in the right place at the right time.
Use galleries when you can but don't rely on them to build your reputation. For that, you must break out of the artificial scarcity mindset of the gallery and enter the online art market.
If your goal is to sell art for a living, then for that purpose, galleries are merely one more place to interact with the public and prospective collectors. They aren't critical or even necessary for the purposes of sales and marketing. So while they are obsolete for practical purposes, they aren't useless.
It's better to have art on someone's wall than warehoused in your studio awaiting a gallery show. Or worse: ignored. Your work belongs in the marketplace. It must circulate to accrue value, and given the ubiquity of social media, the self-representing artist no longer needs gallery representation for their work to enter into circulation.
The conventional approach of pricing high without having created a popular demand is presumptuous and counterproductive. When the pricing is disproportionate to the demand, your potential base of collectors is barred from investing. It's far better to keep your costs low and aim for sustainability low prices, thereby accruing consistent buyers. This will allow you to grow the demand organically, and your price increases will occur as a natural response.
Arbitrary pricing is rooted in a monopolistic mindset, which make sense given that every artist is, in fact,a monopolist. The power of a monopolist is in their exclusive access to something which is scarce, so it goes to follow--according to conventional wisdom-- that the artist doesn't need to justify exorbitant prices. This misguided approach has resulted in widespread hunger among artists, not to mention the wasted creative potential.
Original artwork appreciates in value because there is only a finite amount of work an artist can create. However, until the artist is recognized, appreciated, and desired for their unique art, it won't appreciate. It must exist in the popular mind, or at least within its particular micro-market .
Your objective must be to increase popular demand for your art by making as many people as possible aware of its unique qualities and desirability. Then, once your ability to produce is exceeded by the number of buyers, the art can be steadily produced, sold, shipped as fast as you can produce it. A consistently filled demand will lead to consistently increased prices.
Art galleries have traditionally held the role of monopolist. An art show is nothing more than the owner of a building allowing access to a limited supply of unique items. By its nature, the gallery succeeds based upon its ability to monopolize highly desirable work. Even an obscure gallery could become an international sensation if it were to obtain access to rare art and thus become capable of wielding that controlled access for maximum financial advantage.
The gallery offers a trade-off to the artist. In exchange for allowing the gallery sole rights to show and distribute the art, the artist is granted access to the buyers. The gallery's role as a mediator is a thing of the past. They no longer monopolize access in any meaningful way.
Social media is a great example of how the Internet has broken down traditional barriers of communication and access between the individual and the collective. Today, the fate of the artist is not bound up in knowing the right people or living in the right place at the right time.
Use galleries when you can but don't rely on them to build your reputation. For that, you must break out of the artificial scarcity mindset of the gallery and enter the online art market.
Jack Larson
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