2. Create Value For Your ART
Now
rather than later
The Marketing Of Art
3. The Marketing Of Art
• 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
4. The Marketing Of Art
The most important first step towards becoming a
full time artist is to keep making art
5. The Marketing Of 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
6. The Marketing Of Art
• 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
7. The Marketing Of Art
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
8. The Marketing Of Art
•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
9. The Marketing Of Art
• 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
10. The Marketing Of 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
11. The Marketing Of Art
•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
12. The Marketing Of Art
•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
13. The Marketing Of Art
• 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
14. The Marketing Of Art
• 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
15. The Marketing Of Art
• 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
16. The Marketing Of Art
• 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
17. The Marketing Of 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
18. The Marketing Of Art
•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
19. The Marketing Of Art
•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
20. The Marketing Of Art
•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
21. The Marketing Of Art
•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
22. The Marketing Of 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
24. The Marketing Of Art
•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
25. The Marketing Of Art
•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
26. The Marketing Of Art
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
27. The Marketing Of Art
• 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
28. The Marketing Of Art
• 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
29. The Marketing Of Art
• 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
30. The Marketing Of Art
• 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
31. The Marketing Of Art
•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’
32. The Marketing Of Art
• 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
33. The Marketing Of Art
BE READY WITH SAVED ART
• Collectors will want to buy
• Galleries will want to show
• Believe it. Its retrospective time !
34. The Marketing Of Art
•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
35. The Marketing Of Art
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: mithu.dolna@gmail.com URL: www.dolna.in
