Art Marketing Session for Rachna Sansad Academy

The Marketing Of Art

19th July 2011

Create Value For Your ART

Now

rather than later



• Only a small percentage of artists become world famous

• Somewhat more artists achieve respectable levels of success within their lifetime and support themselves entirely by making and selling art.

• The great majority of artists supplement their art incomes by either teaching or by working at jobs not related to art


The most important first step towards becoming a full time artist is to keep making art


• You might think of giving up art until the kids are grown

• Or closing down your studio for a while because sales are low

DON’T DO IT


• Out of practice you loose out on the creative edge

• You cant charge as much per painting when you take sabbaticals

• Collectors approach with caution and buy conservatively

• Credibility problems with both dealers and collectors

CONTINUE MAKING ART EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE NOT SELLING ANYTHING


Continue making art even if you are dissatisfied with what you are producing

PERSEVERE

Work through the tough times and you will be glad you did


•Get your work out in front of the art buying public

• Your art is your business card

• It is your single best form of advertising

• Don’t let it gather dust in your studio

EXPOSE YOUR WORK TO ART BUYERS OVER AND OVER AGAIN


• Big businesses continually drum their identities into your head . Coke, McDonalds etc.

• Art is no different

• The more they see your work, the more they believe that you are a well known artist

• Make your prices available

• Contact information available

• Sooner or later, you start selling art


•Display your art at places that make it look good

• Where art buyers tend to congregate

• Where clientele can afford your asking price

•Ensure that you choose locations where people visit in order to see or buy art

• In places where they don’t, ensure that your art display is the centre of attention and that every single piece is available for sale


•Great exposure comes from donating your art to charity auctions

• Doing volunteer work for non profit art organizations

• Donating or lending your art to hang in the offices of art organizations


•Understand collector mentality

•Collectors require certain assurances because they are unsure, insecure and sometimes do not understand art

• Ensure good value when buying your art

• Some collectors buy on the spur of the moment

DEMONSTARTE THAT YOUR ART HAS VALUE


• Produce tangible evidence of your accomplishments

• Join recognized art organizations

• Have galleries publish a catalogue of your work

• Get listed in exhibit catalogues / directories

• Get your work reviewed

• Get featured in newspapers and magazines

ITS PROOF FROM THE OUTSIDE WORLD THAT YOU ARE WHO YOU SAU YOU ARE


• Document your art

• Explain your art and the medium

• Why you created it

• What inspired you

• What it represents

• Have two photographs taken of work in progress and completed work


• Your documentation helps collectors to speak about your art from an informed educated stand point

• They become your advocates and sales people

• Take periodic photos and videos of your work in your studio and include them in your journal

• track your art – know who buys them, how much they pay and under what circumstances they sell


• These records come extremely handy for your retrospectives

• Believe that you will have your retrospective

• Don’t think you will remember all details of your career when you do have a retrospective

GOOD DOCUMENTATION INCREASES THE VALUE OF YOUR ART


• Selling art is a competitive venture

• If you have got exposure

• If you have positioned yourself

• Now your job is to stack the odds in your favor


•Understanding collectors

• They love getting involved in the art community

• They spend time at galleries

• Join museum groups

• Go to openings

• Visit artists at their studio

• Talk about art

• Meet artists , dealers and fellow collectors


•Speaking abilities

• Build confidence to speak about your work before packed galleries

• Field spontaneous questions from the crowd

ARTISTS WHO HAVE SOCIAL AND CONVERSATIONAL SKILLS HAVE AN EDGE OVER ARTISTS WHO DON’T


•If you have problems speaking about your art

• Practice with friends

• Rehearse set responses

• With practice, you will learn how to handle yourself in the toughest situations


•Establish common bonds or interests with collectors

• Find out which of your art they like best

• See what price they are comfortable with

• Don’t forget to ‘close’

• work towards popping the money questions

• Is this something you would like to buy?

•Be responsive

•Observe what sales techniques work

• See what sells best and why

PROMOTE, MARKET AND SELL YOUR ART


•The art world is too fragmented. Instead of sharing and cooperating and learning from one another, different artist factions disparage each other’s art (eg. digital art / abstract / prints)

THERE IS NO RIGHT OR WRONG ART


THE FIRST SALE IS ALWAYS THE TOUGHEST


•Pricing

• Transit from the creative mode to the objective pricing mode

• Price your art competitively

• In group shows ensure that you are within the average range

• Out of place pricing is guaranteed not to sell


•When you cant figure out how to price

• Set yourself a sensible hourly wage, multiply that by the number of hours you take to make the art, add the cost of materials and let the total be your asking price


DON’T PULL PRICES OUT OF THIN AIR

DON’T PRICE YOURSELF OUT OF THE MARKET

Be honest about your position in the hierarchy of fame, fortune and accomplishment

DON’T MAKE YOUR ART SO CHEAP THAT PEOPLE WON’T TAKE YOU SERIOUSLY


• Settle for prices that make both you and collector feel more comfortable

• Be careful not to get too erratic

• Changing your price every time confuses everyone

BE ABLE TO JUSTIFY YOUR PRICE TO ANYONE WHO ASKS


• Ensure that the collector feels that he is getting value for his money

• Art prices are hard for many to understand , your job is to help them


• IRA (Individual Retirement Account)

• Your art will come to represent the past more so than it does the present or the future

PREPARE FOR THIS INEVITABLE TRANSITION

Keep aside a body of work - starting now


• Your art is currency and the art you keep aside for yourself is your IRA

• Sell a certain percentage of your work in order to survive and put aside a selection of quality pieces in order to provide for your future

• When your art increases in value so does your IRA

• Put aside enough art to support yourself and your family for the rest of their lives


•Don’t keep aside work that is not selling

• Keep important pieces of work , keep some that win awards

• Some that represent early examples of important transitions in your career

• Pieces that were particularly inspired

• Pieces that contribute to a cohesive overview of your career

• These are pieces you see labeled in exhibitions saying ‘not for sale’ or ‘collection of the artist’


• Some artists keep aside hundreds of works others virtually nothing

BE THE ONE WHO HAS KEPT WISELY

• Your work will begin appealing to a new generation of collectors who will be interested in what you did decades ago rather than what you are doing now


BE READY WITH SAVED ART

• Collectors will want to buy

• Galleries will want to show

• Believe it. Its retrospective time !


•All the documentation, records you have kept about art is going to come in mighty handy at this advanced stage in your career

• They will be a tangible proof of your significance as an artist and you will be a lot easier for new collectors

• There’ll be a trail leading right up to your studio door


CONTACT :

Mithu Basu

Founder

Dolna-the movement

M: 9820414732 T: 022 28410280

R O: 14 Saket, Shivdham,

Flimcity Road, Malad East, Mumbai 400 097, INDIA

Email: [email protected] URL: www.dolna.in

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.dolna.in/


THANK YOU

Education

Art Marketing Session for Rachna Sansad Academy