MAGAZINE

Art and Stardom
Protocol Pointers
--For many artists, the primary purpose of their website is to attract the attention of art galleries and dealers. A well designed website showcasing quality Art will get the attention of arts professionals when they see it.
--But how do they find you in the first place?
--Send Letters of Invitation!
--It sounds so obvious but many artists forget that galleries are accustomed to invitations and query letters by mail. In the past, we all sent packages of slides, bios, prints, press clippings, etc... to galleries.

--Tour website considerably simplifies the process. Simply send an invitation to the gallery to view your work on your website. Your website becomes your convenient, always-available-to-anybody portfolio.
--Be sure to include your site address ( URL ) and email address in the invitation.

--Before approaching galleries, be sure to do a little up-front research. Firstly, you should check that they sell the style of work that you create.
--Secondly, find out if the gallery is looking for new work - that will save you the bother of sending information when it will bring no results.
--Add a Brochure or Postcard to your Letter. You can improve the results of your letter invitations by enclosing a brochure or postcard that showcases some of your work.
--You want to do everything you can to have the gallery director take time to sit and visit your website, and adding a postcard or brochure will considerably improve your chances.
--Galleries are quickly becoming much more comfortable with operating on the internet. Most have their own websites, so it makes sense that they are willing to work with you online.
--A very useful approach to a gallery is to email them to request their submission guidelines for new work. --The guidelines will tell you if they will accept an invitation to visit your website, or if they instead prefer a more traditional approach such as a slide portfolio.

--The big advantage of email is that allows you to approach a far greater number of galleries than you would be able to by regular snail mail. It is also much less expensive and time consuming. The downside is that your email will probably get less attention than a nicely crafted and presented letter.

--Maintain and use an Email list.
--We all like to think that our query letters will arrive like silver bullets in the perfect gallery and bring us instant fame and success.
-- The reality though is that repetition rules!
--There is a basic principle of marketing which says that a customer has to hear your pitch between 9 and 27 times before they will take action.
--The same applies to galleries and other arts professionals. They may not be ready for new work when you first present yourself, but at some point they will be looking.
--Make sure they remember you!
--That doesn't mean that you should be a painful boor and call the gallery director every week. It simply means sending updates about new achievements and events as they happen in your career. Some arts professionals will watch an artist for a number of years before taking action to include them in their stable of artists.

--A great way to do this is to use an automated email list management system. This allows you to send regular updates to your email list without the hassle of having to send individual emails. It also allows interested parties to sign up for your list on your website.
--Make use of all the 21st century tools you can to make your life easier!

-- There are several online art registries where you can submit samples of your work including images, artist statements, bios, etc.
--Registries are used by museum and gallery curators when they are looking for new work. Think of them as the central libraries of emerging Art in the online Art World.
--A little online searching together with asking your artist friends will reveal a wealth of opportunities to submit your work to local, regional and international registries.
--In our hearts, most of artists yearn to be found or recognized by a Kingmaker in the Art World - someone with the cachet to be able to make you a millionaire simply by whispering your name to an elite few art collectors.
--This does actually happens for some artists. For many of them, though, life as an artist is something of a struggle between the desire to be true to their artistic calling and the need to create enough income to have the privilege of being a citizen of planet earth.
--Artists don't want to modify their Art to suit the market - because they would no longer be artists - maybe craftspeople - but not artists.

--So, what to do?
--Many possibilities actually - but here is one to think about. Don't modify your Art - but find a context which allows it to be better understood by collectors and the general public.
--For example, if you paint beautiful landscapes you might be able to align with movements concerned with saving the environment. Your next show could be promoted as an environmental awareness event with a percentage of sales donated to a relevant charity. And the wonderful thing is that through your Art you will actually be raising environment awareness.

--Another context which Artcity21 has often noticed used - especially by photographers - is the desire of Americans to visit beautiful locations in Europe - especially in The Mediterranean area.
--The next best thing to actually going there is to have a beautiful photograph or painting in their homes.

--Another related context is aligned with helping travellers relive their experience in an exotic location - think of how many pieces of Art are shipped home from Hawaii or the Caribbean so that Mr and Mrs Tourist can remember the wonderful experiences they had there. And many of those works of Art are truly amazing and original pieces.

--Marketing Art successfully does not mean that you have to modify your work or your style. Take a look at the dominant themes that are of major interest in the public eye - and then find one or more that line up with your Art. After that, you are only limited by your Imagination!
--Gallery shows are critical if your artistic agenda includes getting your Art in front of people who count - curators, critics, collectors, dealers, and other influential art communitarians.
--When you get a show, either solo or group, you've got to take full advantage of the opportunity - the plaudits don't automatically roll in. You're suddenly out of the studio and into the Art World where a unique protocol prevails, and getting to know the territory, particularly from the dealer's perspective, comes in mighty handy.

--Basically, you and your dealer form a partnership, contractual or casual, the goal being for each of you to make the other look as absolutely astonishingly spectacular as possible.
--This is your Big Chance and your dealer's as well.
--Everybody wants to go up; nobody wants to go down. But here's the thing. You're showing your Art on the dealer's turf, namely their gallery, so the complete freedom you enjoy in the studio is suddenly tempered by the exigencies of the marketplace, not the least of which is that the dealer has to sell enough Art to make expenses or else the gallery folds.

--The dealer has skills, talents, rules, preferences, and ways of doing business that you are now subject to. So to make your transition from studio to gallery - from creative expression to presenting and selling the merchandise - as seamless productive, and mutually gratifying as possible, let's look at the trade-off in terms of what you get for what you give. You give your all, that's your end of the deal. In return, the dealer gives you two kinds of benefits. Obvious and not so obvious.

-- For example, when you show at a gallery, you get the exhibition space, a setting for your Art to be on display for as long as the show lasts. That's obvious.
--What's not so obvious is that a show gives you a mandate to create a new body of work, a deadline by which to create it, a duty to discipline yourself in the process, and a place for you to present it when you're done.

--The alternative is that you make Art on your own, when you feel like it, without time constraints, without structure, and without knowing whether anyone will see the results ... except maybe people who visit your studio.
--Getting an exhibition date gives you an artist something to work towards, the finality of having to have their Art ready, and the knowledge that it will show in public.
--When you've got that deadline, that duty to produce, interesting things can happen with your Art. Things that might not happen otherwise.

--You are forced to set up!
--From the moment you get a show, for as long as your relationship lasts with the gallery, the dealer acts on your behalf. That's obvious.
--What's not so obvious is that you get a knowledgeable Art World professional to dialogue with on a continuing basis.
--When you need help, you get it, especially when you're just starting out.

--Some gallery owners go especially far to nurture artists when they spot talent. They expect plenty, but at the same time, they believe in the artists they show, honour that belief and support them every step of the way.

--For most of gallery directors, working with artists is like a critique in Art school, where you both sit down and duke it out.
--Discussions might get difficult, times might get tough, but when an art gallery owner commits, you're in. As an artist you can't do much better than that.
--But there's more. The best dealers spot trends, recognize talent, and sometimes even influence tastes. --Simply put, they've got a grip on what the universe wants to see.
--Dealers try to envision what artists are capable of - many do, often ahead of the artists themselves - and then apply that vision to the big picture.
--This means if you get confused, falter, or lose direction, your dealer can provide overview, perspective, stability, or just plain support.
--This doesn't mean directing the artist as much as it means being there. The show is offered, the partnership is created, the gallery director stands back and lets things happen, but never far from the action. This degree of availability is invaluable to an artist.

--Dealers continually eye the future, the potential, all with you in mind. Today you get a show, and if that goes well, tomorrow you get another, and then another, and another.
--We're talking long term here; we're talking how good things can get if you hold up your end of the deal.
--Now in case you think Artcity21 is waxing sappy on dealers, you're wrong. Artcity21 is simply pointing out that a gallery show is a serious opportunity and when you get the chance, you can't hold back. No slacking, no chiselling, no cheating. You're up for public inspection and it's either impress the cognoscenti or else.
--Give less than 100% and you can blow it. Then it's back to random acts of Art in the studio and bobbing for buyers.
--People come to galleries to buy Art. That's obvious. What's not so obvious is why. Basically, galleries are time and labour saving devices where buyers can see lots of Art by lots of artists all at once.
--Unlike buying from an artist where there's one option - The Artist! - galleries offer many options, including going to another gallery.
--Art collectors don't have to beat the bushes, track artists down, make appointments, drive to unfamiliar neighbourhoods, gab with the artist after artist at studio after studio, feel pressure to buy, worry about offending anyone, and so on and so forth.

--Yes, lots of art collectors buy directly from artists, but most prefer galleries. They are safe friendly places to shop, particularly for people who don't have much experience, or who are trying to figure out what they like, or who want to go slow and get educated first.
--Your Art hardly looks better anywhere else than it does in a gallery. That's obvious. What's not so obvious is that the dealer knows the fine points of making your Art look absolute best.

--The dealer and the art curator know what to hang where, how to arrange it, how to progress it, and how to make sure you're satisfied while at the same time effectively presenting your case to the public.
--If we're talking about a group show, presenting the Art is additionally challenging in terms of what to hang where, maintaining the vision, minimizing confusion on the part of viewers, understanding the artists, avoiding chaos and conflict, and keeping everybody happy.
--The art curator knows how to assemble, mediate, and structure an exhibit where the focus is as much on the genre of Art as it is on the artists who create it.
--Moreover, select different artists from different parts of the world, perhaps, with different styles, with different looks, who may not know each other, who may have varying ego concerns, who may want particular walls in the gallery, and so on.
--This job becomes analogous to that of an orchestra conductor, making sure the concert comes off flawless. --Not easy to do, and when it's done right, everybody notices.
--The dealer sells your Art for you; you don't have to sell it yourself. That's obvious.
--What's not so obvious is that they also act as qualified intermediaries, and advocate for you in a variety of ways to a variety of people in a variety of circumstances.
--They field those uncomfortable questions like "Is this a good investment?" or "Do you think this is a good artist?" or "Why does it cost so much?" or "What's your best price?" and so on.
--Yes, some artists are good at selling, a few artists love selling, but most would rather have nothing to do with it.
--And at last but definitely not the least, having someone handle your sales gives you freedom to focus totally on your Art!

--The most experienced dealers sell hundreds, even thousands of works of Art. They know what to say, how to say it, how to convey that a work of Art is worth buying; they can even sense when collectors are ready to buy.
--Their galleries have reputations for being among the best in their fields, and collectors who go know what to expect when they get there.
--A successful art gallery is totally committed to establish track record of showing exceptional artists early on.
--There, people don't have to be sold - they go, they see, they buy. No matter how important your Art is or how brilliant you are, you can't beat having a respected dealer showing and telling people these things on your behalf.
--As for your Art World ascendancy, you get access to the dealer's connections with museums, curators, publications, major collectors, critics, and other art land arbiters.
--That's obvious. What's not so obvious is that the dealer acts as a translation service,
presenting and explaining your Art on a situation-by-situation basis.

--Different people understand Art in different ways. Different people require different kinds of information.
--Don't think for an instant that selling Art to a collector is anywhere near the same as presenting it to a curator or to a critic.

--Everyone is different and the more experienced the dealer, the more versatile he or she is at successfully conveying the significance of your Art.
--There you go. Understand the underpinnings of the gallery system and prosper.

--The better you know it, the further you get!
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