Help Yourself Grow

Choosing a Gallery to represent your art can be one of the most important decisions you make as an artist. This decision can affect who sees your stuff, and consequently who buys it. If you are an artist who specializes in realistic still life art, you probably don’t want to display your art in a gallery that caters to abstract and modern art or vice versa because the gallery won’t attract the kind of art patrons interested in your art. When considering a gallery, do some research to find out what kind of art the gallery you are considering specializes in. This is the first decision. Next you will need to decide if you are looking for a physical (walk-in commercial) gallery or a virtual (on-line) gallery.

Surprisingly there are a number of on-line and nuts and bolts alternatives for choosing where you will show your art. The words “on-line art gallery” can mean different things, however; an online art gallery most likely will be a website to display and sell art. For example: 1) An on-line art gallery can be displaying art work from their current, future, or past exhibitions, and be set up to promote the exhibition rather than to sell the work via the website.  2)  An artist presenting his/her own gallery, either on his own website and 3) Multi-Artist Sites or shared websites (ArtId, Fine Art America, Etsy, etc.), representing many artists working in different medias and genres. On a multi-artist site the artist either pays a monthly fee or agrees to a commission paid when the work is sold. These are usually non-exclusive and are a risk free opportunity for the artist to sell art worldwide. Search for them using "original art" or "online art gallery". The advantage of Online Galleries is that while the art buying public is growing, many people are still intimidated by walk-in commercial Art Galleries. If a potential buyer has access to a wide range of art viewed in the comfort and safety of their own home, they may relax and make a purchase. A lot of artists now have an online Gallery as well as a walk-in commercial Gallery which means that an artist can present a lot more art to a lot more people.

Cooperative galleries (sometimes called artist-run initiatives), are galleries operated by groups of artists who pool their resources to pay for gallery space, exhibits and publicity. Most cooperative galleries carefully jury their members. Also, unless they have received a grant to operate it, galleries of this type do require membership fees as members must share the overhead cost of operating the gallery.

Commercial art galleries derive their profit from sales of artwork, and thus take great care to select art and artists that they believe will sell and enhance their gallery's reputation. They spend time and money cultivating collectors. If the artwork sells, the gallery makes a profit and the artist is then paid. It is not unusual for a commercial art gallery to charge a 50% commission on sales.

Beginning artists can be confused by Vanity Galleries because they are not the only gallery which charges a fee to the artist; a vanity gallery charges artists fees to exhibit their work and makes most of its money from the artists rather than from sales to the public. Some vanity galleries charge a lump sum to arrange an exhibition, while others ask artists to pay regular membership fees and then promise to organize an exhibition with a certain period. Occasionally a vanity gallery will appear to have a selection process because the number of artists on the membership roster cannot exceed the available time slots for shows. Vanity galleries have no incentive to sell art, as they have already been paid by the artist. They are not selective because they don't have to be. Most Professional critics and reviewers tend to avoid them.

Choosing a Gallery to represent your art can be one of the most important decisions you make as an artist. This decision can affect who sees your stuff, and consequently who buys it. If you are an artist who specializes in realistic still life art, you probably don’t want to display your art in a gallery that caters to abstract and modern art or vice versa because the gallery won’t attract the kind of art patrons interested in your art. When considering a gallery, do some research to find out what kind of art the gallery you are considering specializes in. This is the first decision. Next you will need to decide if you are looking for a physical (walk-in commercial) gallery or a virtual (on-line) gallery.

Surprisingly there are a number of on-line and nuts and bolts alternatives for choosing where you will show your art. The words “on-line art gallery” can mean different things, however; an online art gallery most likely will be a website to display and sell art. For example: 1) An on-line art gallery can be displaying art work from their current, future, or past exhibitions, and be set up to promote the exhibition rather than to sell the work via the website.  2)  An artist presenting his/her own gallery, either on his own website and 3) Multi-Artist Sites or shared websites (ArtId, Fine Art America, Etsy, etc.), representing many artists working in different medias and genres. On a multi-artist site the artist either pays a monthly fee or agrees to a commission paid when the work is sold. These are usually non-exclusive and are a risk free opportunity for the artist to sell art worldwide. Search for them using "original art" or "online art gallery". The advantage of Online Galleries is that while the art buying public is growing, many people are still intimidated by walk-in commercial Art Galleries. If a potential buyer has access to a wide range of art viewed in the comfort and safety of their own home, they may relax and make a purchase. A lot of artists now have an online Gallery as well as a walk-in commercial Gallery which means that an artist can present a lot more art to a lot more people.

Cooperative galleries (sometimes called artist-run initiatives), are galleries operated by groups of artists who pool their resources to pay for gallery space, exhibits and publicity. Most cooperative galleries carefully jury their members. Also, unless they have received a grant to operate it, galleries of this type do require membership fees as members must share the overhead cost of operating the gallery.

Commercial art galleries derive their profit from sales of artwork, and thus take great care to select art and artists that they believe will sell and enhance their gallery's reputation. They spend time and money cultivating collectors. If the artwork sells, the gallery makes a profit and the artist is then paid. It is not unusual for a commercial art gallery to charge a 50% commission on sales.

Beginning artists can be confused by Vanity Galleries because they are not the only gallery which charges a fee to the artist; a vanity gallery charges artists fees to exhibit their work and makes most of its money from the artists rather than from sales to the public. Some vanity galleries charge a lump sum to arrange an exhibition, while others ask artists to pay regular membership fees and then promise to organize an exhibition with a certain period. Occasionally a vanity gallery will appear to have a selection process because the number of artists on the membership roster cannot exceed the available time slots for shows. Vanity galleries have no incentive to sell art, as they have already been paid by the artist. They are not selective because they don't have to be. Most Professional critics and reviewers tend to avoid them.