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| *SoulEyes Photography>>>Art Gallery |
How do artists make $? |
..and don't tell me it's talent. i go to many art shows and see a beautiful piece of work for $150, and then i go to another gallery and see a piece of equal beauty (and size) for $1500. What makes one more expensive than the other? I know about target audiences - is it all about catering your work toward what your target audience would like to see hanging in their house? And is the person selling the piece for $150 just targeting a lower-income type of buyer? Easiest way for an artist to make money on their artwork? Die. That causes the artwork prices to skyrocket drastically. Don't feel like dying? You have to get famous. There are two ways to get famous easier than others... cater to the masses or do something so drastic as to where people can't ignore you. (Doing your painting after tying yourself naked to the White House front gate would be an example, creating an entirely new style of art would be another). People buy paintings for pride. So they can show them off. This means the painting will sell for more if the painting AND the painter are famous. They want to say, "Hey, I have a painting made by *this person*" and have the people around say "oooooo" or EVEN BETTER "*This person* did this painting, in fact, it was their famous painting they did while tied naked to the white house!" And have everyone stare in stunned and amazed silence at the collector's art collecting skills. In fact, the negative publicity that most people would get for some actions actually become positive publicity for an artist. It's called moving inventory. The person who is selling for $150 wants to actually sell the painting. The one for $1500 might never sell and the artist will make zip. Art is difficult because all the value is in perception and not easily quantified. Usually, it is the artist's name the drives up the price of the piece and not the technical skill used in creating the piece. For artists to make money, they have to market themselves to create demand for their work. often by their other job. THANK YOU STEVEN B! There are a lot of different kinds of artists. There are those that say they make art but are designers. There are those that say they make art that are regurgitators. There are those that say they make art that are illistrators. There are those that say all people are artists. There are those that say elephants make art. Then, there are artists. Jamie The art biz is really funny.... stuff that is pure crap gets a run because someone discovered some guy.. and the crap is pure cartoons. Art, real art, tells a story, or emotes a feeling... anything else, is a cartoon, ala Andy Warhol. This is not to say that abstract work is not art.... . But just because it is expensive, doesn't make it art, and just because it didn't cost a lot doesn't make it non-art. Art, painting, is like poetry, or a good book.... it communicates, and it does so with absolutes in color, balance, perception, skill in painting techniques, texture, lighting, and so on. Carravagio was aRenaissance artist, Mian Situ is a modern artist painting the Asian experience in America, to name a few. Leonardo was an artist, yet lots of the stuff he did came out of his huge workshop which others did, but which he got credit. Carravagio painted only about 40 paintings.... a truly miserable human being, but good. Died at 34 or so. Google some of his stuff...amazing color, balance and control of light (subject matter is immaterial....) I have seen up close and personal some of the things Rembrandt did, and lots of it was sloppy. Well like anything else in this world it is just plain old work and marketing. You paint, you become good at it, and then you market yourself like crazy. It takes time to get known generally speaking, but if you are good, this can happen quickly. A lot of it is who you know. I was in galleries within my first year of painting... I have the talent and the demand and I spend a LOT of hours marketing myself and I have family members who market me too and help me get my foot in the door. I've been professional for under two years and I am making a modest income from my work, things are starting to become steady, but there are always ups and downs. The market is unperdictable you never know when you will have a good month or a bad one. I sell my paintings for about $600 for a 16X20 and I don't have a problem moving them at that price. People that sell for low prices just hurt themselves when so many artists are getting a few hundred for a medium sized piece, why sell for a little more than the price of your canvas and paints? Think, if plummers can charge outrageous prices, why can't artists ask for $15 per hour? Must they get only $3? I have a set price and that is based on what my market will support and that builds the more people like you and put faith (and their wallet) in your corner. Basically, the more collectors I have, the more my paintings cost. :) |
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