How to get your art into art galleries - or how I did it. Is it worth it these days though?

I've been a freelance fine artist since the day in 1993 when I took a watercolor class on a whim. I had recently graduated with a BFA in Graphic design from the University of Florida. I had the poor timing to get that degree just as the earliest Macs made most of what I learned irrelevant. Good design is still in demand but 99% of what a graphic designer does, doesn't involve that or the client won't pay for that extra touch. I was stuck in a crappy mind grinding, soul killing, wage slave labor job and went for that class like the proverbial drowning man after a straw. Fortune would have it that the teacher, Pat Lusk, was one of those rare types who taught what an artist needed to know and refrained from imposing her style on her students. I'll rant on that problem with art teachers in a future post. I could only afford to take two weeks - a total of four classes from her until I had to go back to the grind. It was enough though. Before the year was out (I started in October) I had already gained acceptance into juried shows and started winning awards.

Fast forward a few months. I'd been in enough shows that I was getting noticed. This is something you may want to do yourself. Join any local non-profit artists' group that is relevant to what you do. It helps if they have their own juried shows, but if not, you may find out from talking to other members what may be some opportunities. Examine what you are told with a critical eye. It's not unusual for artists to not be honest about opportunities that even they nay not be able to take.

I cannot stress this enough - USE CRITICAL THINKING AT ALL TIMES when it comes to your art and any possible career you want from it. Just because someone has a "gallery" does not mean they are legit, or even trustworthy. I have ample stories that indicate to the contrary. Artists, especially newbies, are pretty much a cliche' for gullible easy pickings.

Firstly, I'll cover much the same of what you'll find on other art career sites.

•Get a good body of CONSISTENT work together.
• Build a resume' but be HONEST about it. The caliber of the work comes first anyway.
•Make only artwork that you yourself love. If you don't like it and are only making it for selling, it's always easy to tell that and you'll be stuck with art you hate and can't get rid of. Imagine the horror of being in your twilight years and the piece you loathed becomes the one you're known for. I can't count how many paintings I've thrown on the burn pile for "quality control."
•Put together an old fashioned presentation package consisting of your CV/resume, color printed examples of your work and perhaps a cd or thumb drive with no less than 10 GOOD images of your work. If you do sculpture, then take at least two images of each work and limit the works to about 10.
• Set up your website/social media accounts dedicated to only your artist persona. Leave the personal stuff on another account.
•Find names of galleries within easy traveling distance. This is important for reasons I'll clarify later.
•Do your homework on what those galleries are like, what sort of art they sell, how long they've been in business, and any reviews.
• Find out the names of the proprietors and check if they will allow unsolicited artists' applications. Don't get your hopes up on this one. A contact form on their website is usually just for deflecting eager artists.

OK, now for some stuff you may not find on art career sites.

•Visit the galleries you've picked out as possible fits. This is why your first galleries should be as nearby as possible.
•Don't immediately advertise that you're a desperate starving artist looking for a big break. You'll be shown the door ASAP.
Besides, this is a two way street. You're evaluating the venue too. It's a lot like a job interview where you must stay aware that any opportunity may not be your opportunity. Take a long critical look at how the place is run. Are they responsible and look well run? Are they nice to customers? Hint- dress well and act like a customer. If they're rude to you, they'll be rude to someone who might buy your work and that seldom turns out well.

When I was in New York City for the American Watercolor Society show, I cruised around galleries in SoHo and Chelsea. Just for fun, I dressed like an average art lover and chatted up the employees. I took my time. I made careful observations on the type of work they were selling and what the prices were. I chose two that had work that was as close a fit to mine in genre and price. I had business cards at the ready. New York galleries are a cliche' when it comes to being aloof and hard to connect with. After I spent a reasonable amount of time chatting with the person on duty. I mentioned that I was also an artist, and why I was in town. By that time the person who I was talking to had been reassured that I wasn't some flaky "Artiste" and each time they were happy to get my card and immediately went online to check out my work. Both places agreed to have me send them the traditional presentation packet. Both places were agreeable to representing me. We exchanged names and contact info and that was as easy as it gets.

Did I go through with it? No. Why? I live in Florida. New York is a long way away and by the time shipping and all the other hoops to jump through were done, it was not cost effective to send it all that way just for the bragging rights of selling in a New York gallery. Do the math and find out all the laws & details before undertaking such a step. Also, it's hard to keep in close touch with venues out of town. I can't count how many times I've had work in a gallery that went out of business and "Forgot" to tell the artists about it.

Lesson - Artists are their own worst enemy when it comes to approaching galleries. I've been on the other side of the desk and I can tell you, the smell of eagerness and desperation comes in the door first before the artist. Free spirited eccentrism so respected in the artists' social circles has no place here. Artwork is a commodity and gallerists have to be sure your product meets their standards. Is it consistent? Is there enough of it to be a reliable supply? Do you have a recognizable "ism" that they relate to? Can you honestly and realistically say it fits with the other artists' work there? Is it in the same price range? It's not to your advantage to have artwork at the highest or lowest price point in a gallery. Too low and people will see it as inferior. Too high and people will see all the other work as a better deal. I've had a number of galleries approach me who didn't have artwork for sale at even half what mine runs. It's a tactic to use a more expensive artist to booth their prestige. Rarely does the most expensive work in a gallery sell. That takes work that most won't do. When your work is visible to the public in the best display areas you can find, the people who relate to it should find you. If this is not happening, step back and examine what and where you can be doing better.

PRESENT YOUR WORK AS CLEANLY AND APPROPRIATELY AS POSSIBLE. Do not expect a complete stranger to see your diamond in the rough. Use sensible, minimal, yet clean and secure framing or mounting as you can. I cannot remember all the times I've rejected work from shows or sent work back to an artist because of this. This isn't art class. There is no grade. Either it says "professional" or it goes home. This is where paying attention to art show/competition rules make for good training on how to present your work to a gallery. Follow those rules in the prospectus to a "T." They're nearly identical to what a reputable gallery would expect.

Back closer to home, I'd gotten various offers from art galleries. I have a range of horror stories about said galleries as well. So many in fact, the it will have to be in a post of it's own. In retrospect, the traditional manner of how galleries treat artists is far too close to how pimps treat their prostitutes. They are even called the same - a "stable" of artists. In my opinion, that's very telling and a big warning of how you can expect to be treated even if you're careful.

The word "Gallery" is a term that has been used liberally to describe an astonishing range of establishments, and often not in a good way. Derelict buildings, blocked off hallways, spare rooms, Vacant storefronts with no utilities. that's just a taste of the places I've seen that were called galleries. Seems artists are none too discerning, usually to their disadvantage, when trying to get into these places. Just hanging your work on a wall of these places by no means says that you've finally "made it."

Do all the paperwork and have EVERYTHING spelled out before any of your work enters the place. You absolutely have the right to read everything and bring a big old juicy Sharpie to cross out what you know to be wrong. Read up on as much art law as possible beforehand and be as polite as possible about disagreeing with the terms. Be ready to step away if those terms cannot be agreed on. Believe me I have plenty of experience that should have told me to walk away up front before having bad things happen and bad feelings all around. You're an adult and have to see to these details. Assume nothing. Keep the paperwork on file and scrupulously update it when needed.

Now for the second part of that title I wrote.

The world has changed a lot since 1993. For most of what I can see on all levels of the art world, galleries are going the way of the dinosaur. A large part of that has to do with the pimp metaphor I mentioned earlier. My patrons, who before they met me, had no idea that the standard "take" of a gallery averages 50%. They were horrified. Pretty much any businessperson outside the art world is horrified at that. That's not normal and is clearly not a sustainable model. When I started out, the average gallery commission was around 25%. That's still high but it appeared to work better. Then, word gets out to the galleries around the US that New York Galleries are taking 50% or more of the art sale price. Why they failed to pay attention to was that those NYC venues had staffs of people developing and promoting an artist and stayed with the trajectory of their careers, turning a $1000 painting into a $50,000 one. I'd give up 50% of that. I would NOT give up 50% of the price of a painting that I could sell for the same $1000 that a local gallery would do almost nothing to earn that commission. I've had galleries expect to take 65% -75% of the price of my work. No way. Those particular galleries went out of business anyway form poor management and expecting to reap the artists' sales as an easy fix.

•If a gallery expects you to pay to display - walk away
That's called a vanity gallery. They already made money off your hopeful "dues paying" and have no reason to lift a finger to sell your work.

•If a gallery wants access to your contacts list - walk away
All too many that are left think that you have the magic list of names of customers (that they didn't work for or with) who will come galloping in their doors and drop all their cash on their OTHER artists. A gallery is ideally where your work gets presented to people who would otherwise not know you.

•if a gallery expects to get commissions from you selling your work to collectors out of your studio, other locations, or other unrelated venue- don't just walk away, RUN
Believe it or not, this does happen. Artists are gullible enough to allow it especially if a gallerist is manipulative and exploitative. Nowhere else in the capitalist world does that happen - at least to my knowledge.

• If you see a majority of negative reviews online - walk away
Artists do have a reputation for being high maintenance and persnickety so there are likely to be some nasty stuff said about any place. Look at the bigger picture (pardon the pun).

•If a gallery expects you to cater or do any of the "grunt" work unpaid - walk away.
You'd be surprised t how slippery a slope that gets to be.

•if a gallery expects you to pay for their framing in order to put your work up for sale there - walk away
Chances are it's not really a gallery, more like a frame shop that sells art as a side gig. That's most of what you still see these days under the name of "gallery."

Here's the upside of that second part. Never in history has there been a more open and accessible way to find your collectors. It's still going to take a lot of work. You'll have complete control of it from top to bottom though. When I found my patrons, it was obviously not through a gallery. I found them in the "normal" world through personal acquaintances. Use your abundant creativity to read out of your comfortable arts world. Find that niche that you fill best. Work it. Traditionally galleries have been the gatekeepers between collectors and artists. That's a very sad thing I now know. I've discovered that collectors have all sorts of things they want to know about the artists whose work they like. Little of it has to do with what a gallerist decides is pertinent. For a gallery, it's just business, for you, it's your life's work. I'll never know where a lot of my best work went due to a few greedy gallerists hoarding the information out of the fear of me going behind them and selling directly to the buyers. That's deplorable and so is an artist who would do that to an honorable gallerist who really works with artists. I know, it's rare but there are a few still out there.

For the last four years, I've not been represented by any gallery and survived. Perhaps that may change in the future, but for now I have enough to do without that added trouble. I'm old enough to want to take my time and not find more pitfalls of selling through social media. I do know that any of it takes work, knowledge and personal responsibility. In a nutshell, I've found the best reading resources for running an art business are for small businesses NOT in the art world. It's been too insular for too long and see what's become of it.

That's part of why I'm here on Steemit. it's something that appears to have promise.