Can’t sell art just anywhere. The setting has to provide enough dignity for art to be taken seriously, since the same piece of art won’t look the same in a gallery or hanging on a fence in the park. This requirement for a formal presentation becomes a bottleneck in the distribution of art, and that’s where the sharks lay wait. Gallery facilities are either public or private, paid for by all the citizens or strictly for profit and that’s about it.
Public galleries can be spacious and inviting, well lit with sparkling conveniences, ample publicity and close-by parking, but after a perfunctory cracker and cheese opening these galleries remain mostly dark and unattended the remainder of the month. Periodically they show grade school children or sunday painting seniors, and overall the offerings of the public gallery are uneven. Private galleries ascertain the level of sophistication and the financial status of the visitor in a few moments of general patter and remain interested only if they sense the possibility of selling something. Choose old shoes from your closet and roam at will with no more than a nod, if that, coming and going. They look on art as merchandize and are more interested in resumes than whatever it looks like, and that’s they way they sell it too. If only there were some other way.
Occasionally a business which deals directly with the public will provide wall space to some local artist and they do this for a number of reasons. Some folks like art and for just helping the artist meet their customers they can have original art on the wall for free. Others might figure they’re paying so much per foot of floor but the walls are a bonus so why not keep the place fresh and interesting for patrons with changing art. In business offices original art can lend gravity to the conference room, look progressive in reception areas, and inspire creativity all along the line.
Let’s say it caught on and friendly competition for displaying the recognizable work of regional artists reached a tipping point. Suddenly original art would appear in salons and restaurants, in business and professional offices all over town. Long suppressed, a creative surge from studios would be met by a rapidly developing taste and appreciation in the community, and art would begin to flow off alternative venue walls and into homes and personal spaces. This public access to the independent artists in their midst would yield an authenticity and level of accomplishment neither the ‘art as charity’ or ‘art as portfolio investment’ models have been able to provide.
1 comment:
Well said. The only places my paintings have done reasonably well are restaurants, bookstores and online. I had a show at the Hamburg Barnes & Noble and sold three pieces from it with a follow up inquiry as recently as last week. A shame the manager of that store decided in typical corporate speak to "go in a different direction" and have no art at all.
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