UAL alumni Mike Ballard speaks about his experiences of selling at his degree show and subsequent shows, how he approaches selling and his tips about selling for student and graduates
20. After the degree show. Don’t panic if you didn’t sell or get with a gallery straight away.
21. If a gallery approaches you, do some research, speak to other artists who already work with them. Do not sign any contracts with anyone without seeking some legal advice. Most galleries work on a trusting relationship. Stay true to what you make and are about, just coz you sold a green painting, don’t just make green paintings from now on. Now is the time to really develop your work and focus on the future. Go to galleries you’d like to work with and try to get to know the curators and how the gallery operates.
25. If you are going full time as an artist. You will need to go and register at the job centre as self employed, which is a great laugh. Fill out the necessary forms, then go back to your studio and work.
Hinweis der Redaktion
The majority of work that I sell is through my websites and is print based, to people all over the world, through magazine articles about my work and through word of mouth. I also sell quite a lot of video pieces and have progressed my prices from £400 a piece to £1000 a piece (Editions of 3) since 2007.
Installations where the main piece is not for sale, think about prints and catalogues. If the show is an experience, then people will want some kind of souvenir, I.e a print of some form of documentation.
Made sales through Eamon Maxwell and Medeia Cohen, who runs the collectors exchange. Collector visited my show and wanted to buy both video pieces. Collectors talk to each other and so word spread and other collectors bought other pieces.