Value and bucking the Gallery System.

[Eugene Veszely]

Since I can post here I will...assuming Rob gives it the all clear.

I may have brought this up before but I can’t recall, forgive me if I have. As usual it will be fractured and rambly... To quote Blaise Pascal “I have made this letter longer than usual, only because I have not had the time to make it shorter.”

A recent email exchange with a friend got me thinking...How does one come to a price when selling art? I’m sure the professional artists on this board have their ways of working out the value of their art. It would be enlightening to hear how they do it.

In a recent conversation with on online friend (I think he badly undersells his work) I asked him how many paintings he produced a year...

“eight to twelve I reckon. I do put in long hours, but it's just how long they take. I wouldn't do it if I didn't think it was worth it though, not financially ('cause it's not), just in terms of the work.”

I think his work is great and he should be making a decent income, it saddens and baffles me that someone as good as him isn’t getting the reward and accolade for his effort. He spends up to hundreds of hours per painting. If a sparky or plumber or mechanic or whoever can charge $50-$100+ per hour, then surely an artist can get due reward? There are lots of really bad artists making a whole lot more money than Gareth...it seems audacity, shameless self promotion or being famous for being famous is worth more than talent and hard work. So what can those of us who are the shy and retiring type, who shun the spotlight and don’t like attention for attentions sake, do? Do we have a hope?

You can see some of Gareth's paintings here
http://www.garethmccorry.com/ and his blog http://stillaworldaway.blogspot.com/


Point two. I know nearly anything is possible...but do you think it is a viable endeavour to not partake in the Gallery System and make a decent living going it alone without having any gallery representation? I know some Galleries would be adamant that one can’t be independent and would say it is in your best interest to sell through them...more like their best interest. Do Galleries really deserve the 50%+ they take from the Artists? Most of the time I don’t think they do.

[Moderator [Rob]]

Your friend has considerable skill at rendering.

As for the galleries; I think the big galleries are worth the money. The small galleries simply don't have the client list to justify the percentage. A big gallery, like Gagosian, actually promotes the artist and makes them into a star. Some cute gallery in Auckland hasn't a chance on earth of promoting your reputation.

Starting small and getting a solid C.V. is baloney. We're not talking about getting a job and working your way up from trainee to assistant manager, any more than overnight stars like that willowy 20 year-old, Taylor Something-or-other who won an armload of Grammy awards slowly worked her way to the top. She was packaged and promoted (remember, once you finish manufacturing the pictures, both the art and you are commodities to be sold. Don't like that? Become an assistant manager) I doubt that she started singing in some neighborhood bar and then went on to a bigger bar in a city and on and on. That's how you pursue a job not how you become a star.

Like that pretty singer, you need to have someone who can really promote the work and you have to put your ego in the dustbin and aim your work at the market. If that's too much of a sellout of a rare and wonderful talent, then starve and grumble.

What we are talking about is marketing, not aesthetics. I've always had managers and reps. The only time I did it on my own was when I started writing books and then my attitude was to start at the top. My first publisher was Watson-Guptill, then I transferred to Random House. Yes, I know that there are lots of little publishers or even vanity presses where I could publish a book and then hawk it in hopes that a mid-level publisher picks it up and gives me a pittance because they haven't go the distribution channels.

I never confused the art with the marketing. They are two very different things and you have to make up your mind as to how stubborn you are about "your vision" and if that vision is all that different from a zillion other brush-owners.

These are tough questions that require rare honesty.