We've all done it; dreaming of striking it big while being grabbed out of obscurity by a well regarded, respected gallery owner or art superstar bristling with wealthy gallerist patrons who are looking for the next Basquiat. The truth is that there are literally hundreds of thousands of artists in the world and even the most well stocked gallery can never hope to more than scratch that surface. I'm sure that you are very, very good. So is this guy and that girl and all of them would remove a limb for Basquiatesque stardom. So stop trying to get in the galleries and start looking at what you can do yourself to achieve recognition and success in the art world. There are a whole bunch of very good reasons to be a self-representing artist:
1.You are beholden to noone. Being in a gallery is not a one sided affair. Gallery owners will not wait for ever at your beck and call while you create masterpieces. They are people with bills and lives and worries of their own and they need a cash flow, the same as you. Being your own man/woman means that you can be as creative or as slothful as you need to be.
2.You keep all your profits. Most galleries take between 40% and 70% of your takings from a show. If you figure that you have already paid for materials, framing and other such costs, you will figure out pretty quick that unless you are selling an artwork for $20,000+ (which is rare) then you aren't going to be trolling around NY in Armani suits just yet.
3.You control everything. Noone knows better than you about how you wish to portray yourself in the art world. Noone knows the meanings behind your works better than you do. You should use that to your advantage and be in control of advertising and networking and even the little dydactic panels that tell people what you were thinking while throwing resin and jellybeans at a store mannequin sprayed black.
4.You know where your unsold works are. As an artist it can be nerve wracking not knowing that your precious babies are okay. I worked in a gallery once where water was flowing down the storage room wall everytime it rained and the gallery owner did nothing. You cannot guarantee anything unless you do it yourself.
5.You become the node of your own network. If you are represented by a gallery and things turn sour and you are no longer represented, then all the contacts that the gallery worked in your favour are gone too. If you build your own networks then they move with you throughout your career. This is a massive thing! Use facebook or emails or even a stack of business cards but make sure you build yourself up and don't rely on a gallery to do it for you.
6.You can paint (or sculpt, or whatever) what you want. Say I do a painting of a bird and that bird is massively popular and so the gallery that represents me says "Do a whole exhibition about birds!" and so I do because I want to be famous and in the end I become known as the guy that only does bird paintings right? and I hate birds now. Avoid this by choosing what you will paint.
7.You can apply for grants. By being a self representing artist, you are eligible for a whole bucket more grants from state and federal governments and other organisations. If you learn how to apply for these (read their notes on their websites, talk to people and get someone to read your draft), then you can choose where to do your residencies, where to exhibit and all the other things that money helps artists do.
The truth is that you are more than capable of being a big name artist without being a gallery owned and operated artist. Be confident in your intelligence and abilities, be challenging and be sure of what you want to do and then work bloody hard at it. The world is your commission-free oyster.
1.You are beholden to noone. Being in a gallery is not a one sided affair. Gallery owners will not wait for ever at your beck and call while you create masterpieces. They are people with bills and lives and worries of their own and they need a cash flow, the same as you. Being your own man/woman means that you can be as creative or as slothful as you need to be.
2.You keep all your profits. Most galleries take between 40% and 70% of your takings from a show. If you figure that you have already paid for materials, framing and other such costs, you will figure out pretty quick that unless you are selling an artwork for $20,000+ (which is rare) then you aren't going to be trolling around NY in Armani suits just yet.
3.You control everything. Noone knows better than you about how you wish to portray yourself in the art world. Noone knows the meanings behind your works better than you do. You should use that to your advantage and be in control of advertising and networking and even the little dydactic panels that tell people what you were thinking while throwing resin and jellybeans at a store mannequin sprayed black.
4.You know where your unsold works are. As an artist it can be nerve wracking not knowing that your precious babies are okay. I worked in a gallery once where water was flowing down the storage room wall everytime it rained and the gallery owner did nothing. You cannot guarantee anything unless you do it yourself.
5.You become the node of your own network. If you are represented by a gallery and things turn sour and you are no longer represented, then all the contacts that the gallery worked in your favour are gone too. If you build your own networks then they move with you throughout your career. This is a massive thing! Use facebook or emails or even a stack of business cards but make sure you build yourself up and don't rely on a gallery to do it for you.
6.You can paint (or sculpt, or whatever) what you want. Say I do a painting of a bird and that bird is massively popular and so the gallery that represents me says "Do a whole exhibition about birds!" and so I do because I want to be famous and in the end I become known as the guy that only does bird paintings right? and I hate birds now. Avoid this by choosing what you will paint.
7.You can apply for grants. By being a self representing artist, you are eligible for a whole bucket more grants from state and federal governments and other organisations. If you learn how to apply for these (read their notes on their websites, talk to people and get someone to read your draft), then you can choose where to do your residencies, where to exhibit and all the other things that money helps artists do.
The truth is that you are more than capable of being a big name artist without being a gallery owned and operated artist. Be confident in your intelligence and abilities, be challenging and be sure of what you want to do and then work bloody hard at it. The world is your commission-free oyster.
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