RIP Art Gallery

I read an interesting article recently that I would like to share. The author is an art gallery owner that I’ve followed for a while. He has a great deal of experience and is from an art family, so many of his articles consider both sides of the art retail experience. In this article he gives many pointers that are useful in planning marketing strategies for the next few years.

IS THE ART GALLERY DEAD?

FLYING HIGH by Sea Dean on View at Ritchcraft Gallery, Lakeshore Rd, Kelowna BC

When I became involved in the art world as a professional artist, I was completely unaware that there are different kinds of bricks and mortar art galleries with different mandates. MUSEUMS, PUBLIC ART GALLERIES, RETAIL GALLERIES and ARTIST OWNED GALLERIES all have their place alongside, auction houses and online platforms, but it’s important to know the difference.

MUSEUMS
These are generally large scale public galleries that exhibit “important” artists work, past and present. They tend to be moderately conservative, waiting for artists to make a name for themselves before they will show or purchase their work. Probably the best you can hope for unless you regularly sell your work for millions, is to market art cards, small matted works and practical items like painted scarves in their gift shop.

PUBLIC ART GALLERIES
The are smaller publicly funded galleries whose mandate is to introduce a wide variety of art to local populations. Sometimes they hold exhibitions both juried and non juried to showcase local artists, but they are more interested in education than sales. Often they don’t exhibit prices along with the Works and sometimes they put interested purchasers in touch with the artist but prefer not to be involved with retail. Again they may occasionally have a gift shop where you may be able to sll small items.

RETAIL GALLERIES
This is the kind to target if you want to exhibit and sll your work. There are many stages to becoming an artist in a retail gallery, but it’s worth the effort if they do a good job in selling your work. The gallery owner in the article above is a good one to follow if this interests you. If these galleries also sell small impulse items, they are usually related to the artists they represent.

A sub-section of this type of Gallery is the rental space type, where you can rent space on a wall or display stand to exhibit your work alongside other artists doing the same. These may be juried to a degree, but the Gallery owner earns income from rental not sales, so may not be as motivated.

ARTIST OWNED GALLERIES
These are generally owned by a single artist or a group of artists agreeing to share expenses and work load. Sometimes these are in good locations with many active artists to help out and can be lucrative. Often, however they are set up in second rate retail centers that are not the ideal location for selling art. Check out the ones in your area because you may get lucky.

I hope this has helped clarify a section of the art world and set you in the right direction to market your art.