I am an art student exploring career options. What would be some things to keep in mind about showing in a galleries? How would I get started?
It depends where you are located in the world, some basic rules of thumb- make sure you are aware of galleries that do or don't take external submissions from artists. Be aware of wether or not galleries take a commission from sales, and if they do, how much. Make certain you are comfortable with an idea in your head of how much commission you are prepaired to let go of in order to sell your work, most galleries are at least 20% commission but as an artist you should really be prepaired to go as high as a 50% commission because they are doing half the work (that is not a harsh statement, I've been doing this for 10 years now and it is HARD to sell artwork as an artist, leave it to them if you find some good galleries and dealers- instead of spending half your time marketing, you can spend all your time creating).
Be aware of the type of art usually displayed in a particular gallery before you approach it, if you are completely out of line with what they usually represent, it's not benificial to either of you. DON'T LOSE HOPE!!! that's the most important thing- have confidence and don't give up. |
